Cannon Street Riots - Residents and or witnesses needed for interview!

JonnyHistory

Well-known member
Hi Everyone,

As the title says I am currently working on a oral history project cantered around the Cannon Street race riots.
Ideally I am looking an individual who was a teenager or early 20s at the time and is happy to be interviewed (around a 30 minute interview can be face to face or zoom/phone depending on preference of the interviewee), questions will be focussed on their perception of the riot then and how their view has changed over the subsequent decades. (this maybe subject to slight changes as I am still working out the exact questions)

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help, I was raised in cannon park during the 80s and 90s and whilst some spoke of the riots they have remained a bit of an unanswered question to me and I am keen to know more about my heritage and the place I grew up.

Regards,

JH
 
they would be 100+ years of age now for the race riots.

a lot of german families and business got smashed and attacked in the 'newport' inc cannon st area during the wars.

bare in mind that Bolckow was a German - so were Winterschladdens - with the steelworks came plenty from the Germanic regions, many in supervisory and management positions - there was a German embassy in Middlesbrough and a regular trade route to Hamburg by ship .

there should be a gazette article on the 'race riots' as part of the Remember when series.
 
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they would be 100+ years of age now for the race riots.

a lot of german families and business got smashed and attacked in the 'newport' inc cannon st area during the wars.

bare in mind that Bolckow was a German - so where Winterschladdens - with the steelworks came plenty from the Germanic regions, many in supervisory and management positions - there was a German embassy in Middlesbrough and a regular trade route to Hamburg by ship .

there should be a gazette article on the 'race riots' as part of the Remember when series.
I think they would be in their 80s for the age range I am looking for but yeah, I knew it would be tough to find any subjects. I am not looking for anyone directly involved, just anyone who was a child then (teenager/young adult) ideally.

Thanks for the information above, the anti German sentiment especially is interesting I will definitely look at this further as part of the wider reading. I have to have an interview subject though as this is a oral history project, if I cannot find a subject then I will have to abandon this project and look to another significant event in the NE later on in the timeline.
 
put your request out to the care homes ?- that the best chance of finding someone from the age bracket that your looking for from the Cannon Street area

you may get a story/tale/evidence of someone whose parents where there and passed on the info to them - my great and grand parents where living up that way in those days, my Nana was the first to tell me about the race riots when i was just coming into being a teenager in 1972/3

good luck
Thanks JVM, I knew it would be a tough thing to research, there is not a huge amount of academic writings on it and taking place in 1961 means witnesses to it are going to be few in number now. It has always been a thing of interest to me though so hopefully (fingers crossed) I can find someone and produce something that adds to the narrative of the riots.
 
I think they would be in their 80s for the age range I am looking for but yeah, I knew it would be tough to find any subjects. I am not looking for anyone directly involved, just anyone who was a child then (teenager/young adult) ideally.

Thanks for the information above, the anti German sentiment especially is interesting I will definitely look at this further as part of the wider reading. I have to have an interview subject though as this is a oral history project, if I cannot find a subject then I will have to abandon this project and look to another significant event in the NE later on in the timeline.
If you are on FB try the Memories of Middlesbrough page, it maybe of help.
 
If you are on FB try the Memories of Middlesbrough page, it maybe of help.
I have pretty much no social media, FB got deleted a few years ago and not missed it a single day. Would they have a section in their publication I could perhaps put an ad in though do you know? Or perhaps i could ask (throws up in my mouth) the Gazette for help!
 
I do not think that the riots JH is alluding to has anything to do with Cannon Street's German occupants or history.
Didn't the troubles centre on a premises called the Taj Mahal and wasn't there a murder trial of Hassan Said who was not guilty of killing John Joseph Hunt ?
 
My granny was born in Eve Street (off Cannon Street in 1907), but she passed away in 1982. Her nephew married a German woman in 1960 and brought her back to Teesside. I think she had a tough time and they divorced. My granny got on well with her. but other people she met were luke warm and I know the German lady was very clean conscious and that caused some problems in working class Teesside at the time.
 
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I was born in Petch Street, about 50 yards from Cannon Street but we moved to Park End in 1955. Some of my uncles were still living down there (if they were not at sea) when the riots kicked off, but they have mostly died now or are in ill health. I believe they took place in mid-summer because we were on holiday in Scarborough and read about them in the Mirror or Express which was the most popular paper at that time. There's lots of information out there on the internet and you could also try the Gazette archives. It's a bit late to look now, but if I come across anything over the weekend I'll point it out to you.

You don't need to participate in the social side of Facebook, just sign up. I don't interact with anyone but use it as a resource. You can search through the Memories of Middlesbrough site as mentioned earlier and there is also a group called Cannon Street Revisited (or something like that) who must hold some information. They also had occasional gatherings where old residents of the area would talk about old times over tea. Worth checking out. Also, try the Dorman Museum - some helpful staff there.
 
JH - I will ask my mum she is 85, it will take a while before I speak with her (few weeks). She was not living in Cannon Street but like I said her Mum was born there. My granny did tell me there were running battles with Police in 1926 at the time of the General Strike. Have you looked in William Lillie's history of Middlesbrough? published 1968.

In 1955ish, Middlesbrough FC had one of the few black professional players in the UK and an Italian goalkeeper. My family always talk about them in positive terms and always did.
 
I will ask my mam she worked in the area during the riots. She has said the riots started after a trial and people were unhappy with the verdict
 
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