0:00:10 > 0:00:13Ever since the end of the Great War,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16we have commemorated those lost in battle.
0:00:16 > 0:00:17Like many other countries,
0:00:17 > 0:00:22Wales gave up its young men to fight and to die in the cause of victory.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27By 1914, Tiger Bay was already a multicultural community
0:00:27 > 0:00:30of immigrants, sailors and second-generation settlers.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34How did they feel about the call to arms?
0:00:34 > 0:00:37And how did they respond when the nation was plunged
0:00:37 > 0:00:38into a most terrible war?
0:00:47 > 0:00:49I've lived in Cardiff nearly all my life
0:00:49 > 0:00:53and I've worked in this area for many years,
0:00:53 > 0:00:56so I'm calling myself an honorary docks girl.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01In the modern-day Cardiff Bay,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04most of the boats here are used for pleasure, not profit.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09How was life in Tiger Bay 100 years ago?
0:01:12 > 0:01:15In the period immediately before World War I
0:01:15 > 0:01:19is a kind of high point of imperialism, of Empire
0:01:19 > 0:01:23and so there was a common idea, shall we say,
0:01:23 > 0:01:27of white supremacy, white superiority.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31On the eve of World War I,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Cardiff was one of the major ports in the world
0:01:34 > 0:01:37due to the high demands for Welsh coal.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41There were 250 tramp steamers registered in the city.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46Their crews were made up of white men above deck and black men below,
0:01:46 > 0:01:49stoking the boilers at temperatures of 90 degrees.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54The Black community was well-established in Cardiff
0:01:54 > 0:01:55by the 1860s.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59The Arab seamen then, the Yemenis and Somalis,
0:01:59 > 0:02:03who were a later addition to the port of Cardiff's community,
0:02:03 > 0:02:04it could be said that
0:02:04 > 0:02:08the opening of the Suez Canal is the vital link there in 1869.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16Within the first 48 hours,
0:02:16 > 0:02:186,000 men signed up for the army
0:02:18 > 0:02:23and 8,000 men transferred from the merchant fleet to the Royal Navy.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26Alongside the British Tommy,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29there were other soldiers fighting for King and Empire.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33Over 2.5 million soldiers came from its colonies.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37The situation both in African and Caribbean colonies
0:02:37 > 0:02:40was difficult economically, socially,
0:02:40 > 0:02:46and so it wasn't unusual for people to leave to seek their fortune,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49as it were, by coming to Britain.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Britain was a maritime nation.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00In the 19th century, it had become dependent on importing food,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03so the merchant navy was very much a part of the war.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05Without it, Britain would starve.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11Germany knew this, so the merchant ships soon became a target.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16The first Cardiff ship, Reardon Smith's Cornish City,
0:03:16 > 0:03:18was lost in September 1914,
0:03:18 > 0:03:22so the German submarine menace made itself evident
0:03:22 > 0:03:24quite early on in the war
0:03:24 > 0:03:27and, of course, was to be a continual threat
0:03:27 > 0:03:31to the British merchant fleet, including Cardiff's ships,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33scores of which were sunk during the war
0:03:33 > 0:03:35and many, many seamen lost their lives.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37But, during the early years of the war,
0:03:37 > 0:03:41it's certainly the case that the German U-boat commanders
0:03:41 > 0:03:43had a somewhat more gallant approach to ships.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55To find out about the experiences of the merchant seaman,
0:03:55 > 0:03:59I'm going to meet the descendants of James Augustus Headley,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03who was one of the earliest Caribbean immigrants to Cardiff.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07Now, I know you've been living in Loudoun Square, Tiger Bay
0:04:07 > 0:04:10for many, many years, your family have been here.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14Can you tell me anything about your family members' connection
0:04:14 > 0:04:16with World War I?
0:04:16 > 0:04:22Well, yes, because my mother's father was a merchant seaman
0:04:22 > 0:04:26and his ship got torpedoed in World War I
0:04:26 > 0:04:28and he was captured by the Germans.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31He survived and he returned home
0:04:31 > 0:04:33and he told my mother all about these things,
0:04:33 > 0:04:35and so long after he was deceased,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38my mother would repeat those stories,
0:04:38 > 0:04:40so they're sort of folklore within the family home
0:04:40 > 0:04:43about his time with the Germans. My mother said that
0:04:43 > 0:04:47- he would never have a bad word said against any German...- Wow.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50..because while he was in captivity,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53one of the German soldiers used to look after him
0:04:53 > 0:04:55and give him his own dinner
0:04:55 > 0:04:59to make sure that my grandfather was well fed, you know,
0:04:59 > 0:05:00during the crisis.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04And so, how he got home, I don't know that part of it
0:05:04 > 0:05:06but he did survive it,
0:05:06 > 0:05:11in a sense very fortunately because as a merchant seaman community,
0:05:11 > 0:05:15many of our grandfathers and uncles went on those ships
0:05:15 > 0:05:18and they were torpedoed and didn't survive.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21Perhaps the most horrific incident
0:05:21 > 0:05:24was that of the Torrington Cardiff Steamer,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28stopped by a submarine off the Scilly Isles in April 1917,
0:05:28 > 0:05:33where the crew took to the lifeboats and the submarine surfaced.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36The captain was taken below in the lifeboat,
0:05:36 > 0:05:38the crew were lined up on the deck of the submarine
0:05:38 > 0:05:42and the submarine then dived, leaving them all to drown.
0:05:42 > 0:05:47James Augustus was awarded two medals for war service.
0:05:47 > 0:05:52During the Depression, my mother was pressured to sell the gold medallion
0:05:52 > 0:05:57to make ends meet for us to survive, so unfortunately we don't have both.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00So, do you have any idea when James Augustus Headley
0:06:00 > 0:06:02first came to Cardiff?
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Oh, yeah, he arrived here in the late 1890s.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08But my mother was born in 1909,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11so he was here at least ten years before she was born
0:06:11 > 0:06:16- and he married our grandmother. - Agnes Jolly.
0:06:16 > 0:06:21What was her life like living in the Tiger Bay community
0:06:21 > 0:06:24with a black husband?
0:06:24 > 0:06:27The issue of being in an interracial marriage in Tiger Bay
0:06:27 > 0:06:30was an issue for the white women themselves
0:06:30 > 0:06:32because nine times out of ten,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36the Valleys families or other Cardiff white families
0:06:36 > 0:06:38ostracised them completely.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41In order to overcome that,
0:06:41 > 0:06:44they made a sisterhood with all the other white women
0:06:44 > 0:06:45who did the same thing.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49In the Armed Forces during the First World War,
0:06:49 > 0:06:54again there was essentially a colour bar.
0:06:56 > 0:07:02The War office were reluctant to allow black men to enlist,
0:07:02 > 0:07:07essentially, even those who came from Africa and the Caribbean.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12The general intention was to keep African or Caribbean regiments
0:07:12 > 0:07:16separate from other regiments of the British Army.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18Of course, those that were recruited in Britain,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21the situation was a little bit different
0:07:21 > 0:07:26and we find both a reluctance of some recruiting offices
0:07:26 > 0:07:30to recruit black soldiers, black men.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38In Cardiff, this racist attitude was quite evident.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Black men tried to join up but were turned away.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44"A number of coloured men have lately presented themselves
0:07:44 > 0:07:48"for enlistment, but up to the present, Recruiting Sergeant Ashton
0:07:48 > 0:07:51"has been reluctantly compelled to decline their services
0:07:51 > 0:07:54"until such time as the War Office considers it politic
0:07:54 > 0:07:56"to form a coloured-race battalion."
0:07:57 > 0:08:01Why was there such a reluctance to deploy non-white troops?
0:08:01 > 0:08:04There was talk of starting a black battalion
0:08:04 > 0:08:07between the ports of Cardiff, Newport, Barry and Swansea.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09This never happened.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Some black men did join Welsh regiments,
0:08:16 > 0:08:18like this soldier in the 1st Mons...
0:08:19 > 0:08:23..and Private Duncan in the Welsh Guards.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26"Darkie Duncan enlisted at Cardiff three weeks ago.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29"He was employed on the dock where he picked up boxing.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31"When asked about his tuition, he replied,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35"'You have to do a bit of it in Cardiff or you go under.'"
0:08:35 > 0:08:38The Welsh Guards were formed in February 1915.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41This photograph shows some of their first recruits.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43This could be Private Duncan among them.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52There is at least one man we can identify.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58I've come to the Local Studies Library in Cardiff
0:08:58 > 0:08:59to read about him.
0:09:02 > 0:09:03Oh.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08"Patriotic Negro."
0:09:09 > 0:09:13"Private Eustace Rhone, 3rd Welsh, is a negro
0:09:13 > 0:09:17"who had been for four years a seaman on the SS Camlake
0:09:17 > 0:09:22"prior to enlisting at Liverpool into the 3rd Welsh.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25"He was very popular at the training quarters.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29"He is married and has made his home in Maughan Street, Penarth."
0:09:30 > 0:09:32Quite a great picture there.
0:09:36 > 0:09:37To find out more,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40I'm heading to the National Archives in Kew
0:09:40 > 0:09:43to meet genealogist Cat Whiteaway.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45Oh, wonderful.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48So, this box contains more information about Eustace Rhone.
0:09:48 > 0:09:54- Wonderful.- So, this is all the documents from the Board of Trade.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57All the logbooks of the various ships.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00- Coming in and out of the ports of Britain?- All the ports, yeah...
0:10:00 > 0:10:02- Yeah.- ..of a certain time.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05If you remember rightly from the newspaper clipping...
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Yes, that's the ship that Eustace was on, the Camlake.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10Yeah, the SS Camlake.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13- So, this is the logbook for that ship.- Right.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16- We've got have the list of the crew.- The crew.
0:10:16 > 0:10:17I think he's number 16 there.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19There we are. "Eustace Rhone."
0:10:19 > 0:10:20Yes, described as...
0:10:20 > 0:10:22The shorthand for donkey man.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26OK, what would he have... What was his job description?
0:10:26 > 0:10:29Doing the hard labour, doing the work under the...
0:10:29 > 0:10:31- not on the top deck, basically.- Wow.
0:10:31 > 0:10:32OK, so, yeah.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36But he's got very good ability and very good general conduct.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39And then...at Garston...
0:10:40 > 0:10:46On 14th April 1915 E Rhone, I'm assuming is Eustace Rhone,
0:10:46 > 0:10:53donkey man, JL Jones, donkey man and T Dring, sailor,
0:10:53 > 0:10:58having joined the army, were paid off to go to their depot.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00- Wow.- Incredible.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02Specific details.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04- The absolute date of when...- Yeah.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Garston is near Liverpool, so he gets off the ship,
0:11:06 > 0:11:08joins the army with two friends.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11With two friends who are also on the ship.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13On board the Camlake with him, yeah.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18Some people joined out of, you know, a kind of sense of adventure
0:11:18 > 0:11:21with the belief that the war was soon going to be over.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24Other people joined for economic reasons.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28Some joined for patriotic reasons.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30They identify with Britain,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33with the whole idea that the country needed them and so on.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Others from the Caribbean and Africa as well as other countries
0:11:38 > 0:11:43believed that they were proving that they were just as good as,
0:11:43 > 0:11:48as patriotic as, any white person,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51and that as a result of this sacrifice,
0:11:51 > 0:11:55they expected that if they were going to suffer equally
0:11:55 > 0:11:58in the trenches or in the merchant fleet,
0:11:58 > 0:12:04that they should be treated equally when the war ended.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10To learn more about Eustace Rhone,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13I've come to meet author Gwyn Prescott.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17This is the regimental history of the Welsh Regiment
0:12:17 > 0:12:20and here we see the 3rd Battalion.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23Which is the one that Eustace joined.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26Exactly, that's the one that Eustace Rhone joined in Liverpool.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29Now, the 3rd Battalion was the reserve battalion
0:12:29 > 0:12:33and they trained men to replace any men who retired
0:12:33 > 0:12:38- or who were injured or ill or died.- Yes.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40You'll see here that the 3rd Battalion
0:12:40 > 0:12:44at the beginning of the war were in the barracks in Maindy
0:12:44 > 0:12:47but within a matter of days they moved to the castle.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51- As in living, training...- Yeah. - ..they lived within the castle grounds?
0:12:51 > 0:12:55Yeah. Yes, that's right there was a castle in the castle grounds.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59The officers were accommodated in the Marquis of Bute's apartments.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01Apartments!
0:13:01 > 0:13:05But the men, the other ranks, were housed in the stables,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08outbuildings and mainly under tents in the castle grounds.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22It's quite incredible to think that just over 100 years ago
0:13:22 > 0:13:26that Eustace Rhone would have been stationed here in Cardiff Castle
0:13:26 > 0:13:30and the tent may be right on this spot. It's amazing.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40To hear about the 3rd Battalion, I meeting Tim Whiteaway.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Two months sort of training in this environment here in Wales
0:13:45 > 0:13:48with the 3rd Battalion and then he finds himself in France
0:13:48 > 0:13:51and really, I don't think anything he's done here
0:13:51 > 0:13:53has sort of prepared him for any of that.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55He spent most of sort of August and September
0:13:55 > 0:13:58holding this line of trenches back here in Vermelles,
0:13:58 > 0:14:01but later on he's in part of the Battle of Loos,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04which is 25th September 1915.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07- Right.- Which is a huge, experimental battle.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09What do you mean by experimental?
0:14:09 > 0:14:13It's experimental on two fronts, really, because the scope of it,
0:14:13 > 0:14:15I mean it's absolutely enormous,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18there's 48,000 men are going to take part in this attack.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22- Right.- Nothing has ever been done of that scale before
0:14:22 > 0:14:26and they're also going to use an experimental weapon, the gas.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30"September 24th.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33"The final preparations for the battle were made.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36"The wind was south-east, but showed signs of changing."
0:14:38 > 0:14:40This is a huge amount of gas all along the front,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44you're talking 6,400 cylinders, 150 tonnes of gas.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49"September 25th.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52"At 7am to my amazement, we heard that they would use gas."
0:14:54 > 0:14:56"And at about 7:30, the show started."
0:14:57 > 0:15:02"We saw clouds and clouds of white and brown smoke rise into the air,
0:15:02 > 0:15:04"but the clouds remained stationary
0:15:04 > 0:15:07"and seemed to drift back instead of forwards."
0:15:10 > 0:15:16Half an hour after the medical team were treating 950 Allied troops
0:15:16 > 0:15:18- back here with gas injuries.- Right.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22So, at seven o'clock in the morning, all of Rhone's group,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25- they get ordered to take the front-line position.- Yeah.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27And they actually, successfully,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31- go through the first and second line of the German defences...- Mm-hmm.
0:15:31 > 0:15:32- ..without loss.- Wow.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Now, that's recorded that they don't have a loss at that stage
0:15:35 > 0:15:39of the 2nd Welsh, so that means Rhone must have been with them
0:15:39 > 0:15:41- and he must be alive at that point.- Right.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44So, this is about one o'clock in the afternoon.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47And what's happened to the gas at this point?
0:15:47 > 0:15:51- It's still just sort of being... - A lot of it's... Because it blew in the wrong direction,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54it has been dissipated but it's... the gas is heavier than air.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57- Right.- So anything like a trench or a shell crater,
0:15:57 > 0:16:01it's going to sink into it.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04So, the Germans by now have re-manned
0:16:04 > 0:16:06their final line of defence
0:16:06 > 0:16:10and this is when they start literally mowing men down...
0:16:11 > 0:16:14..and the 2nd Welsh start to take casualties
0:16:14 > 0:16:18and they're literally pinned down in shell craters, possibly full of gas,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22for a good two hours, till four o'clock in the afternoon,
0:16:22 > 0:16:26Rhone was taken by the 29th Field Ambulance.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28But do we know what those injuries were?
0:16:28 > 0:16:31- Have you got any idea? - At that stage we don't.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34- We know that Rhone died of them... - Right.- ..two days later.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39Now, the record for his death says he died of gas poisoning.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42But the irony is he died because almost...
0:16:42 > 0:16:44what do they call it? "Friendly fire."
0:16:44 > 0:16:46Astounding really, because in 1918
0:16:46 > 0:16:50they did a huge amount of analysis of the gas and the upshot is,
0:16:50 > 0:16:54what they found was out of 2,600 men,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58they actually only identified seven men
0:16:58 > 0:17:01that died as a result of this gas on this day.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03I am very shocked that it's only seven.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05That's really shocking.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08- It is a surprising thing.- I would have expected higher numbers.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11It's extraordinary that it's our...
0:17:11 > 0:17:15that the person we're tracking from Wales, and he's one of the seven.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31By 1916, the merchant navy were short of crew.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35Yemeni and Somali seaman arrived in Cardiff in significant numbers.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41Ali Janrah was one of these men.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43He lived on Bute Street
0:17:43 > 0:17:47and rescued his captain after their ship had been torpedoed.
0:17:49 > 0:17:54Another from Somalia, who served King and Empire, was Askar Farah.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56He was to make Cardiff his home.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59His daughter Judy still lives in the city.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04It's a story I don't like telling but I've got to say it.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06My mother - I mean, we weren't rich
0:18:06 > 0:18:09and she relied on his allotment note
0:18:09 > 0:18:11and it didn't come
0:18:11 > 0:18:14and she was desperate to feed us
0:18:14 > 0:18:17and a rag and bone man came along
0:18:17 > 0:18:19and she gave him to him.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22And what he give her for it, I don't know,
0:18:22 > 0:18:25but I know when my father found out
0:18:25 > 0:18:28that's the only time I've seen him cry.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31So, what did your father say when he found out?
0:18:31 > 0:18:33He just broke his heart crying.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35Giving like a sob.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40And he said, "That was my life." And he walked out.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50I've come to see genealogist Kat Whiteaway again.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54She's found more information about Eustace Rhone.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57This is Eustace Rhone's medal card.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59So, he's got these three medals.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03- Right.- So this extra line actually gives us information
0:19:03 > 0:19:05regarding the medals.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07- That date there.- Mm-hmm.
0:19:07 > 0:19:12So, in 1921, they're talking about the disposal of his medals
0:19:12 > 0:19:14because he didn't ever collect them.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16They were never sent to his parents,
0:19:16 > 0:19:20- they were never sent to anybody else and they weren't collected.- OK.
0:19:20 > 0:19:21Right, right.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24So, essentially, Rhone's three medals are still available.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28So, alongside his medals, as you would today,
0:19:28 > 0:19:30if you serve in the army, you get a pension.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33So, these are pension records.
0:19:33 > 0:19:34OK.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37All of Eustace Rhone's details here.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40- Quite hard to read. I've had one blown up.- Right.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42So, he died in September 1915.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46You can see on 5th January 1916.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49That says sole legatee,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52so the sole beneficiary to his entire estate and effects,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55is this lady, Mrs Emma Jane Thompson.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58- So she gets the money...- Yeah. - ..but she doesn't get the medals?
0:19:58 > 0:20:01- Yeah, either didn't get them or didn't want them.- OK.- Yeah.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04- So, to find out a little bit more... - About Emma Jane.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07His beneficiary. His will.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12Right. Now, there's Mrs Emma Jane...
0:20:12 > 0:20:14- Oh! Rhone?- Rhone. Yeah.
0:20:14 > 0:20:21But she's not listed as Rhone on the pension certificate.
0:20:21 > 0:20:26- Yes.- "To the end of my death, I will leave all my money to my wife,
0:20:26 > 0:20:32"number 70 Maughan Street, Penarth, South Wales, near Cardiff."
0:20:33 > 0:20:37"Signed..." That's Eustace Rhone.
0:20:37 > 0:20:43Do we guess, maybe, that she became Mrs Thompson afterwards?
0:20:43 > 0:20:45She was actually Mrs Thompson before.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48Even though Eustace calls Emma Jane his wife
0:20:48 > 0:20:50and very clearly leaves his personal effects to her
0:20:50 > 0:20:53and they were living together at 70 Maughan Street in Penarth,
0:20:53 > 0:20:55I can't find a marriage certificate anywhere.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57Ah, so they were...
0:20:57 > 0:21:00Might also answer why she didn't go to collect his medals,
0:21:00 > 0:21:02cos she couldn't prove that she was his wife
0:21:02 > 0:21:05but, I don't know, different departments
0:21:05 > 0:21:09and the will, obviously, gives everything to her without question.
0:21:09 > 0:21:10Yes.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15The war ended at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month
0:21:15 > 0:21:17in 1918.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19Some 35,000 Welshmen had died,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22including a thousand black sailors from Cardiff.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26For the land fit for heroes, election promises weren't fulfilled.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31It's a time of great unrest, 1919.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37Police strikes, workers' strikes, councils of action,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39concern about a whole range of things.
0:21:39 > 0:21:44Minority communities can just become seen as scapegoats
0:21:44 > 0:21:48for wider economic and political problems.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52What was happening in relations between races in Cardiff
0:21:52 > 0:21:56was in some ways turning the Empire on its head.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59It was normal in the Empire for white men and black women,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02but, of course, what was happening in Cardiff
0:22:02 > 0:22:03was entirely the other way round
0:22:03 > 0:22:06and that was seen as inverting not just the racial order
0:22:06 > 0:22:09but the sexual order as it were.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13White women, it was held, should be protected from black men.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18During the war,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22Tiger Bay's ethnic population had grown from 700 to 3,000.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24With the returning white sailors from the navy,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27there was competition for jobs on ships.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32The frustrations of unemployed veterans exploded in June 1919.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34It was a tense situation
0:22:34 > 0:22:37and the multicultural community found itself under attack
0:22:37 > 0:22:40when a series of race riots ripped through Cardiff.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43One of the men who found themselves under attack
0:22:43 > 0:22:45was James Augustus Headley,
0:22:45 > 0:22:47who at the time was living outside Tiger Bay.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49Quiet as it is today,
0:22:49 > 0:22:51you have to imagine what it was like on that summer day
0:22:51 > 0:22:55when 1,000 white men came rampaging down this street,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58looking for my grandfather and Joseph Friday,
0:22:58 > 0:23:01that also lived on the other side of the street.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04This is the location and this is the house,
0:23:04 > 0:23:07and my grandfather, luckily he survived
0:23:07 > 0:23:09by getting out the back door.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13My mother and her mother, they ran up the stairs.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17My mother was hanging in my grandmother's long skirt,
0:23:17 > 0:23:21terrified cos when they looked down from upstairs from the landing
0:23:21 > 0:23:25they could see through the glass a flashlight or something
0:23:25 > 0:23:28and the next thing they know, the front door was bust in
0:23:28 > 0:23:33and men ran into the little room in the front, smashed everything up,
0:23:33 > 0:23:37poured paraffin on the table with the idea of burning it down.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39Of course, when they realised
0:23:39 > 0:23:41the house didn't belong to my grandfather,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43they didn't burn it down,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46but anyway, when they got a hold of my grandmother, they beat her up.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50But my mother, as terrifying as it was and obviously traumatic for her,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52they never touched her at all.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56But after that, you know, my grandmother became withdrawn,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59according to my mother and life was never the same after that.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04My grandfather said, "Right," he said, "I know what I'm going to do,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07"I'm going to sea, I'm going to save enough money
0:24:07 > 0:24:09"and I'm going to buy a house in Tiger Bay,"
0:24:09 > 0:24:11and he said, my mother said this,
0:24:11 > 0:24:16he would dare any white man to step over our threshold uninvited.
0:24:16 > 0:24:17I admire him tremendously
0:24:17 > 0:24:21because he was an ordinary seaman at the time.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25He wasn't earning huge money but he managed to get enough money together
0:24:25 > 0:24:26to be able to buy a house.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28I think that was an amazing feat.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34I want to know more about these riots.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37I'd always assumed it was the black people rioting.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43- So, this is the newspaper cuttings for 1919.- Wonderful.
0:24:43 > 0:24:50So, the police, as you can see here, straightaway the South Wales News,
0:24:50 > 0:24:54Thursday June 12th 1919, talks of a racial feud.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57"The white versus the black feud."
0:24:57 > 0:25:00- It is, isn't it?- "..has extended to Cardiff and Barry."
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Friday 13th.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05Friday 13th, indeed, yeah, 1919.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07"Renewed riots at Cardiff."
0:25:07 > 0:25:10"One man killed and two others in a grave condition."
0:25:10 > 0:25:12- "Somali's death."- "Somali's death."
0:25:12 > 0:25:14"Negroland."
0:25:14 > 0:25:17Yeah, amazing to see that written in a newspaper.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20The Western Mail describes the cause of the trouble
0:25:20 > 0:25:22as a colour problem and sex relations.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26"Nothing could give the British white seaman greater offence
0:25:26 > 0:25:30"than to find that a sister or other relative
0:25:30 > 0:25:34- "had attached herself to a coloured man."- Yeah.
0:25:35 > 0:25:40Here's the deceased, Mohammed Abdullah, 21, single,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43a ship's fireman of 264 Bute Street.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47"The coffin was conveyed in an open hearse
0:25:47 > 0:25:49"and was enshrouded with the Union Jack.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53"The deceased, a native of Aden,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56"had served on British ships as a fireman and was a British subject."
0:25:58 > 0:26:02No-one was brought to justice for the deaths in Cardiff.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05It was those who were under attack who were blamed
0:26:05 > 0:26:07for causing the problems
0:26:07 > 0:26:10and one of the solutions proposed by the government
0:26:10 > 0:26:16was that where ex-service men and others could be repatriated,
0:26:16 > 0:26:22particularly to the Caribbean, that repatriation should take place.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24One particular ship, the Orca,
0:26:24 > 0:26:26carried troops from the West Indian Regiment
0:26:26 > 0:26:31and also took some of those who were being repatriated from Cardiff,
0:26:31 > 0:26:37so you had both those who had suffered under the riots in Cardiff
0:26:37 > 0:26:40and those who had suffered
0:26:40 > 0:26:42as a result of being in the West Indian Regiment
0:26:42 > 0:26:44and being discriminated against.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49"The Orca left Cardiff on 31st August.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53"The commander reports that they came on board with a grievance
0:26:53 > 0:26:56"that their patriotic services in the mercantile marine
0:26:56 > 0:27:00"during the war have been entirely disregarded
0:27:00 > 0:27:03"and they contend that they have been repatriated
0:27:03 > 0:27:06"in unreserved disgrace without means to support themselves
0:27:06 > 0:27:09"and without facilities to obtain employment."
0:27:11 > 0:27:14This is a telegraph from 1919.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18"The Orca had mutiny with coloured troops
0:27:18 > 0:27:24"and civilians require armed guard on arrival at Barbados.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26"It will arrive there noon Tuesday.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28"Keep all boats away from ship."
0:27:29 > 0:27:32One of the British West Indies soldiers, Private Lashley,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34was shot dead.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37Five of the prisoners were manacled.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41So, these men who left the colonies to fight for the mother country
0:27:41 > 0:27:43returned in shackles.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49In particular for the Black servicemen,
0:27:49 > 0:27:53they show how this involvement in the war
0:27:53 > 0:27:57made absolutely no difference to their status at the end of it,
0:27:57 > 0:28:02and for many that must have been the most significant thing,
0:28:02 > 0:28:04that you risk your life,
0:28:04 > 0:28:07you've survived four years
0:28:07 > 0:28:10and you come back and you're under attack again.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14These demobilised men must have wondered
0:28:14 > 0:28:16why did they enlist at all?
0:28:16 > 0:28:20Why risk their lives on the front line or on the merchant ships?
0:28:21 > 0:28:24Those who remained in Wales had survived one battle
0:28:24 > 0:28:26but another was just beginning -
0:28:26 > 0:28:30a battle for acceptance that would take generations to win.