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This chapter explores the inter-locking causes of the seaport riots. These included the high level of post-war unemployment in the merchant navy and the tension caused in overcrowded ports by the arrival of increased numbers of black people to work and settle. The social dislocation produced by the end of the war and the problems created by four and half years of conflict are also evaluated. In 1919, rioting in the ports constituted a wider part of dissent and violence among sections of the working class left disenchanted by their peacetime prospects. The National Seamen's and Firemen's Union (NSFU) was the oldest and largest seamen's union and traditionally adopted an ambivalent stance to the presence of sailors from overseas on British ships. The compliant behaviour of the NSFU left many merchant sailors feeling powerless. Furthermore, colonial workers in France were involved in riots.

This chapter concentrates on the events of the seaport riots, and the common and contrasting themes in the rioting that occurred across Britain. The rioting in Liverpool was fiercer and more sustained than that at any of the other seaports during 1919. The murder of Charles Wootton drew attention to the wider fortunes of the black population in Liverpool in 1919. There was enmity between black British and white foreign sailors in Cardiff. The violent row between white American service personnel and black British colonial sailors was not an isolated incident in south Wales. Soldiers and former troops had a prominent role in the rioting in south Wales. The ‘sex’ issue was passed as both a convenient and a ‘racy’ explanation for the rioting. Military service and ex-service personnel were involved as both victims and assailants in the riots around Britain's seaports.

This chapter investigates the make-up of the rioting crowds, including analysis of the gender, ages, birthplaces and occupations of rioters and others linked with the riotous outbreaks, and also examines the job competition and attitudes towards links between black and white people. Fourteen black and white women were named among the rioters and related persons influenced in some way by the seaport rioting. There were 155 male black and Arab rioters, and 80 male white rioters. White rioters came from a range of unskilled urban occupations and were not predominantly seafarers. It is also shown that certain members of the white crowds were well prepared to escalate trouble whenever it erupted. The sentencing procedure exhibited that black male rioters were more likely to be imprisoned than their white male counterparts.