The Battle of Stockton-on-Tees, often referred to as the Battle of Stockton, took place on 10 September 1933 at Market Cross in the High Street of Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England. It was a clash between members of the British Union of Fascists and anti-fascist demonstrators, including local communists and supporters of the Labour Party. The march was an early attempt by the BUF to rally support in depressed areas, but the anti-fascists protested and drove out the BUF supporters who had been shipped in from other areas.
Background
Stockton had been hit hard by the economic recession following the Great Depression. The BUF had made previous attempts to hold meetings in Stockton, but they were frequently heckled or attacked by anti-fascists. It was therefore decided by the BUF to make a show of strength. One reason given as to why Stockton was chosen for the rally was to base the growth of the movement on that of the Nazi Party, which rose from a grassroots movement in small towns that suffered economic hardship. Stockton was a small town, and at the time opposition was weak as there was only one Labour Party MP in Teesside at the time. The plan for the rally, however, had been leaked to local trade unions. Although no-one seems to know for certain how the plan was leaked, historian Richard Griffiths has suggested that the leader of the BUF rally, Captain Vincent Collier, was actually a plant working for the Jewish Board of Deputies and possibly also working for MI5. With neither the Labour or Conservative Parties offering solutions to the problem, locals turned to more radical organisations, with members of the Communist Party of Great Britain, the Independent Labour Party and the National Unemployed Workers' Movement thus decided to set up a "reception committee" ready for the arrival.
Events
The BUF arrived via a convoy of coaches during the afternoon of 10 September 1933, bringing in 200-300 members from Tyneside, Manchester and Lancashire. They parked on the southern side of the River Tees, on the Thornaby-on-Tees side of Victoria Bridge. They then went to Stockton High Street, to the Market Cross area and attempted to hold a rally led by Collier. However, they were attacked by up to 2,000-3,000 anti-fascist protesters who had hidden themselves in the side streets around the High Street, who then began heckling and spitting at Collier. Although there was little police presence at the start, with just seven constables on duty across the whole town centre, the police later ordered the BUF to leave the High Street, so they went to Silver Street to protect themselves, but this ended up trapping them. Both sides then armed themselves with staves, sticks and pickaxe handles. The anti-fascists also used various missiles including stones, half-bricks, knuckledusters and potatoes with razor blades inserted into them. More police officers arrived to separate the two groups and to escort the BUF back to their coaches, with some BUF members marshalling in Silver Street, a narrow lane linking the High Street to the quayside. However, some BUF stragglers had to out-run the anti-fascists, while other BUF members broke ranks and attacked the hostile crowd. Reports claim that up to 20 members of the BUF were injured. Amongst them was Edmund "Ned" Warburton, brother of John Warburton, of Bury, who was hospitalised and later blinded in one eye due to a stone being thrown at him. No arrests were made by the police on the day. Reaction to the event different between the police and press reporting of the battle with: "The police were naturally keen to demonstrate that they competently and successfully handled a difficult situation, while the press were keen to sell papers and sensationalise the events. While the reality may lie somewhere in the middle of these accounts, local contemporary accounts of the ‘Battle of Stockton’ ardently subscribe to the more violent version in order to demonstrate the local residents’ rejection of fascism and the event itself is remembered as a precursor to the more famous Battle of Cable Street."
Commemoration
In August 2017, an organisation called The Battle of Stockton Campaign was founded in order to commemorate the battle, and to make it as well-known as the better-known Battle of Cable Street, a similar event that took place in London three years later. On 9 September 2018, a plaque marking the battle was unveiled at Market Cross by the town's mayor, Eileen Johnson. Other speakers at the commemoration were Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham, North-East MEP Jude Kirton-Darling, actress and President of the Spanish Civil War Memorial Trust Marlene Siddaway, convener of Cable Street 80 David Rosenberg and Unison's Claire Williams.
