Alas, as events would show, Watford became a town of shame following scenes of drunkenness, assault, the plundering of property, arson and malicious damage, when hundreds of men and women rioted

[...]

Superintendent Wood, the Watford police chief, had twenty men under his command. Unfortunately, half had been dispatched to Hemel Hempstead, whose own ‘rougher element’ was causing problems of its own.

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Two hundred specials (from 500 volunteers) were then sworn in to assist the regular policemen quell the riot. After being issued with an assortment of truncheons, they charged at the mob, smashing heads and dragging off ringleaders, arresting twenty-eight men and eight women. There being insufficient room in Watford’s police station, they were taken directly to St Albans prison.

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Later, the rioters appeared before the Watford magistrates. They were brought on wagons, thus disappointing the crowd, who expected them to arrive from St Albans by train! Luckily for the rioters, no charges were brought under the Riot Act, which carried a maximum life sentence of penal servitude. Instead, they faced charges of assault, larceny (theft) and attempted arson.

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Sentences ranged from ten months’ hard labour to fines. The prisoners were then marched from the court and through the town. Shackled and disgraced, they were placed into wagons and carted off to jail. Justice Phillimore, at St Albans assizes, expressed the hope that the monarch would make a full recovery from his serious illness, and added, ‘The people of Watford have permitted themselves to indulge in riotous excess. The ringleaders should suffer the punishment they deserve.’