THIS was the unedifying spectacle of Silsden police station, with boarded-up windows and damaged tiles, after a Saturday night riot on April 8, 1911.

“The extraordinary outbreak of mob violence at Silsden,” commented a Keighley News editorial, ”is indicative of a remarkable state of feeling in this usually quiet and orderly little town.” For some time, added the press, “a section of townspeople have thought they had a grievance against the local police”.

The trouble began when a group of men taunted two policemen on duty, who refused to be drawn. However, the unauthorised ringing of the fire buzzer brought out the fire brigade on a false alarm and, more seriously, hundreds of people impelled by curiosity or mischief.

The police retreated into the police station, which for an hour was assailed by stones, bricks and bottles. The wife and three children of Sergeant Bell, who lived on the premises, took refuge in the cells.

When police reinforcements arrived by motor car from Keighley, they were accused of striking several inevitably innocent spectators with their batons.

Official retaliation was remarkably lenient. Of three men arrested at the scene, two had their cases dismissed and the third was fined 40s, plus costs and damages.

The photograph has been supplied by Mr Kevin Seaton, of Shann Lane, Keighley.