The Riots
The riot is thought to have started on Friday 29 August when a gang of white youths attacked a Swedish woman, Majbritt Morrison. The youths had seen her the previous night arguing with her Jamaican husband Raymond at Latimer Road tube station. They had shouted racial insults at him and were incensed when she turned on them. Seeing her the next night, the same youths pelted her with bottles, stones and wood and struck her in the back with an iron bar, until the police intervened and she was escorted home. Morrison later wrote an autobiographical book, Jungle West 11, which included details of her ordeal.
Later that night a mob of 300 to 400 white people, many of them "Teddy Boys", were seen on Bramley Road attacking the houses of West Indian residents.
The disturbances, rioting and attacks continued every night until they petered out by 5 September.
The Metropolitan Police arrested over 140 people during the two weeks of the disturbances, mostly white youths but also many black people found carrying weapons. A report to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner stated that of the 108 people charged with crimes such as grievous bodily harm, affray and riot and possessing offensive weapons, 72 were white and 36 were black.
Read more about this topic: 1958 Notting Hill Race Riots