We are in the middle of the 181 th anniversary of a pair of riots that played a fundamental role in shaping Toronto, yet most of the people here have never heard of them. That's sad, in part because they are among the most unlikely named events in the history of any city. Let me set the scene for you.
Key players in the riots were the police and fire departments of Toronto. .At the time, police and firemen were appointed by the elected officials of the city. Most of the city Councilors and the Mayor himself belonged to the Orange Lodge, a group dedicated to 'maintaining the Protestant ascendancy throughout the British Empire. These Councilors and mayors would then appoint other Orange Lodge members to the force, who would then indirectly sway further elections by not doing anything about violence and intimidation by the Lodge on elections days, or they would directly influence the elections by partaking of the violence and intimidation at the polls on election day, so more Lodge members were elected, who would appointed more fellow Lodge members to the Police force and fire department, and so on, and so on.
From the time of 1839 to Confederation in 1867, the Orange Lodge was involved in no less than 29 riots in Toronto. At first the riots were political, but after the arrival of the famine Irish, sectarian rioting began to occur in Toronto. From 1852 to 1858, Orange and Green clashed in force no less than six times. The Catholics almost always got the worst of it, if not during the fighting, then after the dust settled, for they were the ones who were arrested, charged and convicted.
Irish Catholics accounted for 67.3 percent of all arrests in Toronto in 1858. Irish women accounted for 84.4 percent of all female arrests in 1860. At the time, the Irish accounted for 25 percent of the population of the city. In the case of Orange/Green riots, the police could not be counted on to attempt to break up the riots with any sort of impartiality. In fact, they were more likely to join the riot on the side of the Orange, or to stand by and do nothing, and make some arrests later if the Greens were putting up too spirited a defense.
The system of policing could not stand in a growing, increasingly sectarian city. Calls were made periodically to reform the system but little was done. But then a pair of very odd riots occurred just weeks apart in 1855 which finally kick started the long needed reform of the police department. This time the Protestants could not ignore the problem nor lay the blame on the Catholics and throw them in jail, because on these two occasions no Catholics were involved. The first riot, whose anniversary is today, is known to historians as 'The Fireman's Riot'.
On the night of June 29th a fire broke out on Church St. Two fire companies responded, one of which was the local hook and ladder company. At the time, fire carts were pulled by the men themselves, and the men who pulled them were often young, and brash and had earned themselves the nickname of 'Rowdies.' The fire companies took pride in being the first on the scene. So when these two companies collided at an intersection in their race to the scene, tempers flared and neither would give the other way. In their attempts to put out the blaze, the companies were colliding and getting in each other’s way again. Before long, the companies dropped their hoses and began fighting with each other. Constables swooped down to try and separate the companies, but the companies responded by turning on the constables and giving them a sound thrashing. A bystander was also assaulted. In the fury of the moment, the constables actually arrested several of the firemen and laid charges.
At the trial, however, a curious thing happened. The constables developed amnesia. Their testimony was deliberately scrambled and contradictory. The firemen, I should mention, were also members of the Orange Lodge, and the perception to all the public was that some sort of deal had been reached between the members. Future father of Confederation and publisher of the Globe newspaper George Brown said as much in editorials in his paper. Public disgust over the event was considerable, and it was about to increase over one of the most unlikely named events in any city’s history- the Clown Riot.
(Side note: words cannot describe how happy I am to live in a city which had a major historical event named 'The Clown Riot'. It is sometimes also called The Circus Riot, but it shall forever be the Clown Riot in my heart.)
On July 12th, still in 1855, the Howe Circus from America came to town. On the evening in question, some of the clowns of the circus headed over to Mary-Anne Armstrong’s place of business on King St.- historians call it variously a “speak-easy”, a “house of ill-repute”, a “bordello”, or a “brothel”, of which there were many in Toronto. A fight broke out between one or two of the clowns and some local patrons over who was- ahem- next. Or perhaps it had to do with a clown knocking the hat off a fireman. The sources vary.
It should be noted here that the term 'clown' did not quite carry the same meaning in 1855 as it does today. In addition to performing the clowns had to work in breaking down the big top tents and caring for the animals, as well as dealing with the rigors of travelling North America in the 1850's. Like the firemen, they too had earned their own nickname: roustabouts. Their stay in Toronto meant that the clowns had a rare evening off, and so they headed to a local establishment. As the History Guy noted when discussing this event on his YouTube channel, in retrospect, mixing rowdies and roustabouts with alcohol and sex was probably not the best of ideas.
Whatever started the fight, it was short and and to the point, and it left two of the local patrons, both of whom belonged to the same Hook and Ladder company hat had been part of the riot on the 29th, were injured rather badly by the clowns.
Word quickly spread through the Orange Lodge that one of their own had been beaten. The next day members of the Hook and Ladder Company went to the circus to find the “Yankee SOB” who had beaten their fellow. Fighting broke out. At first, the Circus defended itself, but then more members of the Toronto Fire Department arrived followed by more members of the Lodge and the Circus members were forced to flee, some even jumping into Lake Ontario to escape the violence. The circus tent was pulled down, the wagons overthrown and the firemen lived ironically up to their name as they set everything ablaze. Police Constables were on the scene from the beginning, but they either joined in the riot or did nothing as their lodge brothers laid waste to the circus. One of the few who tried to stop some of the rioting was called a “damned Papist”- a terrible insult for an Orangeman, coming from another Orangeman- for his efforts. Eventually the Mayor, himself an Orangeman, disgusted with the whole affair, called out the army from Fort York, and they were the ones who dispersed the mob and restored order.
Efforts were made to uncover the identity of the rioters, but, the constables on the scene were unable to recall seeing any accused rioter at the scene, despite standing only feet away.
Police reform now came into the forefront of municipal politics. Talk began of having police independent of any secret societies. The new force would be more strictly trained, along a military model, and would be free of political patronage. It was to be, in a word, professional. One of the primary elements in their training was to be, not surprisingly, dealing with riots.
The reform was slow and took time, but the first elements were in place by the end of the 1850’s. In 1859, the entire police force including the chief was summarily fired and replaced with new recruits who were to be more representative of the people of Toronto. The new force, consisting of 58 constables, even had 8 Catholics, although they were shut out from the top positions. Chief Constable Sherwood was replaced by William Stratton Prince, who lead and trained the early force. Slowly, a new police force began to take shape.
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