When the nation's press descended after howling mob took over town

Yahoo

23-03-2025

IN 1910 news editors all along Fleet Street were dispatching their top reporters by the fastest train possible to Droitwich, a fairly sleepy mid-Worcestershire town not particularly known for undue violence or steamy scandal.
But in January of that year everything changed because there was a riot going on.
It made national headlines when the mayor of Droitwich felt forced to read the Riot Act to quell a hostile mob in the centre of the gentile spa town.
The so-called Droitwich Riot led to a major case at Worcester Assizes a few weeks later when 12 local men stood in the dock accused of 'unlawful riotously and tumultuously assembling to the disturbance of the peace'.
However, by the end of the headline-making two-day trial the whole affair had descended into a complete farce.
The riotous events in Droitwich were on the General Election night of January 29, 1910, when votes in the Mid-Worcestershire constituency were being counted.
It became clear the seat had been won from the Liberals by the Unionist (Tory) candidate, the Hon JC Lyttelton, who was later to become the ninth Viscount Cobham of Hagley Hall.
This sparked fears among some people the local salt-making operations would come to an end.
Droitwich had been famous for its salt for centuries but there was a wind of change in the air.
Political feelings were running high in the town although there emerged two sharply-differing accounts of what happened on the night.
The police were to paint a picture of 'a howling, hostile and vicious mob' terrorising the streets of Droitwich.
Yet several witnesses at the Assize hearing maintained there had been little more than 'good-humoured hooting and shouting and the singing of political songs'.
What could not be concealed, however, was a trail of damage, including broken windows at two pubs, the Barley Mow and the Waggon and Horses, as well as at the Conservative committee rooms.
And as midnight approached the mayor of Droitwich, Councillor Gabb, felt he had no alternative but to read the Riot Act.
This he did with some bravery, albeit with the local deputy chief constable at his side, when he walked into the centre of the crowd and read the text by the light of a candle.
It was a wonder none of the rioters blew it out.
Shortly afterwards a contingent of at least 50 policemen 'charged' the assembly and 'wielded staves' to disperse it.
After hearing all of the evidence and on the advice of the judge, the Assize jury decided not to convict any of the men.
All of whom were salt-makers or labourers.
The jury said they felt just one man 'deserved much censure'.
But the judge pointed out it would be difficult to find one man guilty of a riot and so everyone dispersed again.
This time the defendants to the local pubs and the newshounds back to Fleet Street.
Only 12 years later the Droitwich salt-making industry, which dated back to Roman times, was to close because of its relatively small output.
After 1922 the UK sourced its salt primarily from the Winsford rock salt mine in Cheshire, which is the UK's largest and oldest working mine, while today much is imported from Spain.