Horace William Halliburton: A hero of the Causeway Green ‘riots’

By David Gleave

I was well aware of the ‘race riots’ that took place in Nottingham and Notting Hill in the summer of 1958 but was intrigued by the title of Kevin’s contribution to the book, Before Notting Hill – The Causeway Green ‘riots’ of 1949.

It was evident that Kevin had made extensive use of a file held in the National Archives at KewPRO LAB 26/198 Disturbances in National Service Hostels Corporation hostels due to incompatability [sic ‘incompatibility’ is the correct spelling] of various nationals and I resolved to check the papers out for myself. When I did, it soon became clear that, although the disturbances (‘riot’) at the hostel in Causeway Green, Birmingham had been the most serious, there was trouble at a number of other hostels – Leeds, Nottingham, Castle Donnington and Cardiff, among others, are mentioned at various times. The issue was mainly to do with the hostility of white Polish and Irish workers towards black Jamaicans who shared the accommodation. Although largely to do with colour, the file also refers to trouble between white Polish and white Italian workers.  The issue did not start in 1949 nor go away after it; the file was opened in 1947 and not finally closed until 1955.[5] The National Archives offers background on the NSHC: ‘The National Service Hostels Corporation was set up in 1941 by Ernest Bevin, the Minister of Labour and National Service, as an independent non-profit making organisation to cater for the needs of workers arising out of their employment during the Second World War. In particular, there was difficulty manning the armaments industries because workpeople had to be sent from their homes to places where there was not enough living accommodation, and therefore the government decided to set up hostels in those areas. The Corporation was registered under the Companies Act 1929 as a company without share capital, within the bounds of ministerial policy and control. Lord Rushcliffe, the former Minister of Labour, was appointed Chairman of the Corporation. By the end of the War, the Corporation was managing 58 industrial hostels and providing over 30,000 places. After the Second World War, the main function of the Corporation was the provision of accommodation for workers employed away from home on essential reconstruction work. Following a ministerial announcement in November 1954, the hostels programme was reduced, and progressively the remaining hostels were closed. In 1956 the Corporation was wound up.’

The friction between the officials at the centre of government and the officials responsible for actually running the hostels on a day-to-day basis is very evident from the file. The Corporation wanted to limit the number of JamaicansThe assumption throughout is that the black workers were all Jamaican. in any one hostel and wherever possible to segregate them. Various numbers were bandied around for capping the presence of black workers in a hostel. The Corporation favoured no more than five, the Ministry were opposed to any cap at all but reluctantly agreed to thirty. The views of Ivor Cummingshttps://www.historycalroots.com/in-praise-of-ivor-cummings/at the Colonial Office were sought and his views noted on file:

‘Cummings feels no sympathy with Poles or EVWs [European Voluntary Workers] who try to freeze out his West Indians, and I gather he would not support willingly any suggestions that were likely to affect his clients detrimentally … His office are firm supporters of assimilation and would deprecate any attempts at segregation.’

In his article in the Gazette, Horace commented that:

‘we are little better than nomads, and consider it very unfair that, though we are British, we are the people to suffer. We have put up with a lot from the Poles, and did not start the recent fights. The Poles brought reinforcements from local hostels and we were outnumbered by four to one ….

It is not easy for us to find work in England. Even though I hold a London Matriculation Certificate and can speak three languages fluently, I still find it impossible to get a skilled job – because I am a coloured man …

The authorities have arranged for us to go to Coventry, but there are Poles in the hostel there, and they won’t give an undertaking that there will be no trouble.’Birmingham Gazette, 11 August 1949

Although Halliburton identified ‘accommodation and employment’ as the main issues, there is no doubt that, as was often the case, sex was also a factor:

‘When certain types of women were friendly with German POWs there was not much reaction. There was no real resentment against foreign workers but as soon as a coloured man was seen in the company of a white woman much resentment was in evidence and insults relating to their colour and parentage were shouted around.’Un-named ‘spokesman’ [TNA PRO LAB 26/198 quoted by Kevin Searle]. Although not named, it is likely Horace Halliburton was the source of this quote

Officials at the Ministry of Labour expected further trouble:

‘I should not be surprised, however, if the next report we get is from Weston-on-Trent, particularly if they are foolish enough to organise a dance there, as it is invariably in connection with women that these troubles seem to arise. On my recent tours round the Regions, I heard several times that the Poles in particular intensely resent seeing black men dancing with white girls, whereas the white girls all too frequently seem to prefer dancing with black men..’ He goes on to add ‘my personal assistant suggests that they are probably better dancers!’TNA PRO LAB 26/198

Whether this represents stereotyping or a simple statement of fact I leave the reader to judge!

The manager of the hostel, while claiming to have shown ‘tolerance and sympathetic understanding’, issued a pretty clear ‘them or me’ ultimatum that he ‘would be unable to remain if the Jamaicans are retained.’

On 21 August a special service was held at Birmingham parish church. Halliburton attended as representative of the Jamaicans and Wledystew Rozycki represented the Poles.

The Reverend Bryan Green, in a spirit not universally shared by the Anglican clergy elsewhere, said:

‘there is a problem here, one of our most crucial problems – the relationship between races. If the church takes a lead she has got a gospel for the new age.’Birmingham Gazette, 27 August 1949

Horace William Halliburton

After a brief spell in the spotlight in August 1949 Horace Halliburton disappeared from view until a project, ‘Connecting Histories’https://www.search.connectinghistories.org.uk/Details.aspx?&ResourceID=1158&PageIndex=1&KeyWord=halliburton&SortOrder=2, picked up on his article the Birmingham Gazette.  That project concluded that:

‘little else is currently known about him or his time in Birmingham. How long did he stay in the city? Was he involved in any local organisations? What kind of work did he find in Birmingham?’

This sounded like the sort of challenge we enjoy (!), what more could we find out about Horace Halliburton?

Quite a lot as it turned out!

The birth of Horace William Halliburton was registered on 8^th September 1924. His father was Malcolm Haliburton of 55 Water Lane, Kingston, Jamaica, and his mother was Marion Haliburton (nee Miller). His father’s occupation is shown as ‘cultivator’.

The article in the Birmingham Gazette contains some biographical information:

‘From 1941 until 1944 he worked in the administrative section of the public works department in Jamaica and at the age of 19 emigrated to the United States. For several months he worked in American factories but went home in 1945 to resume employment in the engineering section of the Public Works Department. He came to this country in May of last year, spent six weeks in London, five months in Scotland and eventually arrived in Birmingham last November. He has knowledge of Latin and can speak Spanish fluently.’

This contains useful information and gives some clues about his education (judging by the variety of work he undertook – roles in administration, factories and engineering are mentioned – he had been educated to a good standard) but of particular interest is the reference to his arrival in England. The suggestion that he reached London from Jamaica ‘in May of last year’ (i.e. 1948) made me wonder whether he could have been on board the Empire Windrush (although the Windrush didn’t dock at Tilbury until 22^nd June), but his name does not appear on the passenger list. This gave rise to the thought that he could have been a stowaway. That there were stowaways on board is well known, fifteen of them were arrested and appeared in court. Horace Halliburton was not one of these men.

We know there were others who escaped detection. Windrush passenger Alford Gardner has referred to four men he helped smuggle aboard ‘we got them on and we got them off’ he said with his trademark chuckle in an interview for David Olusoga’s programme for the BBC, The Unwanted – The secret Windrush files. There is also the story told by Aldwyn Roberts (aka Lord Kitchener):

‘And the boat reached Tilbury, the water was brown and red. Well it’s the time I really realised that people are really brave. All those stowaways jumped from the ship into the water and started swimming. And I was wondering if these fellas were not afraid of alligators, because that water it seemed to me must have some kind of reptile in it. Anyway they went ashore…. About a week after, I went to a place called the Paramount, where they could dance, there was a lot of dancing there. To my surprise, many of the stowaways were in the Paramount jiving, dancing and what have you. I had to laugh, I couldn’t believe it. A man just stowaway and, after a couple of days, he was in a dance hall jiving and dancing around.’

Having visited Tilbury and seen how inhospitable the waters of the Thames look, this has never entirely convinced us, Aldwyn Roberts was, after all, a story teller by trade.

But there is no doubt Horace arrived in England as a stowaway, an obscure file held at the National Archives confirms this: ‘this man arrived in 1948 as a stowaway from Jamaica’TNA CO323/1911/4 (I will return to the contents of this file later). However, as will become apparent, it turns out he could not have been on the Windrush.

Let’s see what became of Horace after the article appeared in the Birmingham Gazette. On 3^rd May 1950 he married local girl, Doris Glaskett. Doris was born on 20^th June 1928. She appears in the special census of 1939 living at 125 Wellesley Street, Birmingham, with her parents William (born in 1894, a bus driver at the time of the census) and Elsie (born 1896, unpaid domestic duties) and three others, presumably siblings of Doris, whose names have been redacted.  Doris, age 11, is, as you would expect, at school.

Interestingly, the marriage of Horace and Doris took place in Wandsworth, London. The marriage certificate clears up the mystery of why they married so far from Doris’ home. Horace’s address is shown as Jebb Avenue, SW2. Anyone familiar with that part of London will instantly recognise this as the address of HMP Brixton. We will see the reason for Horace’s incarceration shortly. It is also worth noting that Doris was heavily pregnant, the couple’s first child was born just twelve weeks later. In spite of these inauspicious circumstances, Doris’ mother, Elsie, was one of the witnesses. Whether she approved or disapproved we cannot be sure but at least she turned up!

But Horace wasn’t present for the birth of his child. On 6^th May, just three days after the ceremony, he boarded the SS Bayano at Avonmouth bound for Kingston, Jamaica, where he was scheduled to arrive on 20^th. The Colonial Office confirmed that ‘there is no need for Jamaican Government to provide escort on voyage’ and that the prisoner would be ‘in the charge of the captain’. The passenger list shows his last UK address as ‘police custody’. ‘England’ is shown as his intended country of permanent residence so clearly he intended to return.

The reason for his departure is apparent from the file held at Kew. The authorities in Jamaica had asked for him to be returned under the Fugitive Offenders Act of 1881. He led the British police something of a dance before they finally caught up with him but they got their man eventually and he appeared at Bow Street magistrates on 20^th April 1950.  The file doesn’t say much about why the Jamaican authorities wanted him to be sent back, a memo dated 6^th May simply refers to ‘obtaining execution of a valuable security by false pretences.’

We have to turn to the Jamaica Gleaner to find out more. The first reference to the case against Horace appeared in a short piece in the Gleaner on 6^th May 1948 that refers to the ‘£4,000 forgery case.’ The case was postponed as one of the defendants, Horace, ‘has not yet returned from England.’ The reference on 6^th May to his ‘return’ from England is just one of the reasons we know he was not on the Windrush which did not dock at Tilbury until June. Conclusive proof that Horace was not on the Windrush can be found in the 22^nd April 1948 edition of the Gleaner which reported that Horace Halliburton ‘is now serving a 14-day sentence in an English prison for stowing away.’ The Gleaner confidently predicted (wrongly as it turned out) that he would be extradited to Jamaica at the end of his sentence.

It is probably idle to speculate which ship Horace had stowed away on but I will anyway. The Royal Mail ship ‘Pampas’ docked at Tilbury from Kingston on 29^th March. This wasn’t really a passenger ship but nonetheless three passengers are listed (there is no mention of any stowaways). The date of arrival does seem a reasonable fit with the Gleaner report that Horace was arrested and served time in prison.

On 20^th July 1948 the Gleaner reported under the headline ‘No news of Halliburton’ that the case of ‘the famous £4,000 forgery’ had been adjourned again as mystery surrounded the defendant’s whereabouts, of the various rumours, ‘the most persistent is that he is in France.’  A second person, John Johnson, a shopkeeper, had been added to the charge sheet that now included conspiracy.

On 22^nd May 1950 the Gleaner was able to report that ‘Halliburton arrives to face charges.’  There is plenty of colourful detail:

‘the SS Bayano berthed alongside the No.2 pier shortly after 1 o’clock yesterday morning, three CID men were among the first to go on board. They took off 25 year old Horace William Halliburton, former Montego Bay clerk, who was extradited from the United Kingdom to face trial on alleged charges of fraud. Halliburton, who is ill, travelled home unguarded and disembarked from the ship in pyjamas, overcoat and slipper. He is held on fraud charges involving a sum of approximately £4,000 property of insurance companies represented by Fletcher and Company, with whom Halliburton had been employed as a clerk. He was taken to the Montego Bay hospital. He will appear in Court as soon as his condition is deemed favourable.’

On 3^rd July the Gleaner reported that Johnson’s bail was set at £1,500 and that Horace was still in hospital. But then, on 5^th July, the Gleaner reported that the case had started. Horace ‘is still a patient in the Montego Bay hospital but was present at Court today.’ A third defendant, John Rex, ‘is reported to have left the island for Cuba on the same day that Halliburton was brought back to Montego Bay.’ The paper details the five charges, in addition to a conspiracy to defraud charge, there were four charges relating to four forged cheques. We learn from a witness that ‘Halliburton was first employed to his company in 1945 and was in charge of the Claims Department in December 1947.’

This was only a preliminary hearing, on 5^th December the Gleaner reported that:

‘the trial of Horace Halliburton and John Johnson on charges of fraud began in St James Circuit Court yesterday before His Honour Mr Justice MacGregor…. The charge arises from claims purported to have been made by persons allegedly injured in motor vehicle accidents.’

We could find no further references to the trial in the Gleaner archive until 16^th March 1951 when there is a report that the Court of Appeal ‘on Wednesday threw out a bid by John A Johnson to have his conviction quashed or his sentence varied.’ The report comments that Horace Halliburton had been acquitted at the December trial but added ‘the St James circuit trial will be remembered for the berating given to the jury by the judge, Mr Justice MacGregor, who declared they were “either imbeciles or dishonest men” for acquitting Halliburton.’

Whatever the Judge may have thought, Horace was a free man and he returned to England, disembarking from the RMS Mauritania at Southampton   24^th October 1951 after a little under eighteen months away. He headed straight back to Wellesley Street in Birmingham to be reunited with his wife and to see his baby for the first time. He gives his occupation as ‘fitter’ (his occupation on the marriage certificated had been shown as ‘clerk’, while that of his father was shown as ‘planter’).

Unfortunately, according to a report in the Gleaner, Horace fell foul of the law in October 1952. An altercation with a Birmingham bus conductress over a pack of cigarettes led to ‘some unpleasantness… which led to Halliburton hitting her across the face, causing her nose to bleed…the Police were called… Halliburton at once apologised for his conduct and said he had lost his temper.’ The paper added that he was ‘a man of irreproachable character.’  He was found guilty of assault and fined £3. Obviously his behaviour is inexcusable but the report contains a little snippet that illustrates the issues faced by men like Horace. Described as ‘a chartered accountant’ he was ‘working in a factory because he could not get employment in his own profession in this country,’ working in low skilled jobs for which they were over-qualified was something many of the Windrush generation experienced.

The couple had a second child, a daughter, in September 1952 and Horace’s occupation is given as ‘machine tool maker’ and his address is shown as Harts Road in Birmingham. Less than a year later, in August 1953, Doris boarded the SS Antilles at Southampton. She took her daughter with her but, apparently, not Horace or their son. She was travelling to Jamaica as a ’tourist’ and must have had the opportunity to meet members of Horace’s family during the four and a half months she was away. She got back to England in time for Christmas, disembarking from the Reina de Pacifico at Liverpool on 23^rd December and heading back to Birmingham with her daughter who had celebrated her first birthday during the trip.

Doris may not have known it, but she must have been pregnant with their third child when she set off for Jamaica because she gave birth in May 1954. The birth certificate now shows Horace’s occupation as ‘banana planter’.

After this we have been unable to trace any further references to Horace in the UK but we know that he must have returned to Jamaica at some point because of a report in the Gleaner dated 2^nd April 1959. He was driving his father’s car when it was struck by a truck and unfortunately ‘as a result of the accident Horace Halliburton’s mother lost her left arm.’ The driver of the truck who was reportedly driving in a ‘careless, dangerous and reckless manner’ was found guilty, fined and banned from driving for five years.

In March 1978 The Gleaner reported the funeral service of Horace’s father, Malcolm Halliburton, and the report gives us a glimpse of Horace’s background. His father was a Justice of the Peace, described as a ‘planter’ and World War One veteran’ who was ‘respected by all… He will always be remembered by those who knew him for his generosity to the people who served him, and as a good father and godfather.’ Clearly Horace came from a respectable background.

Back in England, Doris continues to appear in the electoral registers of 1955, 1957, 1960 and 1965. Her address in the first three of those is Wellesley Street where she was living with her father. By 1965 she had moved to nearby Heaton Street. There is no mention of Horace in any of these registers and so it seems likely the couple had separated. Doris died on cancer in 1983.

Publicly available records suggest that Horace eventually went to live in Florida from 1984 to 1999 and subsequently to Arizona.

Efforts to contact his relatives have so far been to no avail but we would very much like to fill in some of the blank pages of his life story.

Conclusion

When you start researching an individual you never know where the journey might take you. My original interest in Horace Halliburton was in connection with his fight against racism in a Birmingham hostel in 1949. I hoped I might identify a heroic figure who continued the anti-racist struggle and who triumphed against the odds.

As you have seen, his story is more complicated than that. That he arrived in England as a stowaway is beyond doubt but there are more difficult issues – the fraud case against him in Jamaica (he was acquitted) and the assault in Birmingham – show him in a less than heroic light.

But, not many historical figures have lived a life free from blemish and so I think Horace still deserves to be remembered for the brave and articulate stand he took against racist aggression in 1949. In a podcast for the National Archives, Kevin Searle sums up the importance of the role played by people like Horace:

’the story provides an important example of resistance as the Caribbean tenants were certainly not passive victims of the attacks or management policy to remove them as many refused to be moved on and this narrative of resistance in the face of racism of course serves as a recurrent theme of black British history.’

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