Epsom Riot Remarkable scenes were witnessed at the funeral of Station Sergeant Thomas Green. The whole route from Lower Court Road, where he had lived, to the Ashley Road cemetery was lined with rows of people. The High Street was crowded - rarely had so many people assembled in Epsom before. The procession, in which over a thousand men took part, included eight hundred police officers and river police, sixty special constables, the local fire brigade, postmen, most of the local council, officers from the Canadian army, comrades of the Great War and patients from the Horton War Hospital. Every shop on the route was closed and most of the houses had their blinds drawn. The funeral service took place across the road from the police station in Ashley Road in the Wesleyan church (now Epsom Methodist Church) to which Thomas Green belonged. The church had also been damaged in the riot. The procession arrived at the Ashley Road police station lead by V Division Band playing Chopin’s Funeral March. The number of flowers sent was huge. They filled the front room of Thomas Green’s home in Lower Court Road, where he had lain the night before his funeral, and spilled out across the front garden. There was a tribute from Lord Rosebery marked ‘Honour and Regret’. On the head of the coffin was a beautiful wreath of roses, lilies, carnations and stocks from his invalid widow - her writing could only just be deciphered as she was recovering from a stroke. “With deepest love to my dear noble husband who was killed doing his duty from his broken-hearted wife and daughters Lily and Nellie”.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 13:41:00 +0000
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