How a Boxing Day riot in the 1880s changed Newfoundland politics

Christmas is often called the season of peace, but in 1883 a Boxing Day confrontation between Protestants and Catholics in Harbour Grace led to a riot, five deaths and a public outcry that reshaped politics in the colony.

Around noon on December 26, between four and five hundred Protestant members of the Loyal Orange Association set out after church for a parade around the community. Dressed in orange sashes and waving a Union Jack, the men filed down Harvey Street, one of the Harbour Grace’s main thoroughfares, to the beat of a marching band. 

Orangemen were conservative Protestants, loyal to the British Crown and opposed to Catholicism and Catholic political authority. When they neared the head of the harbour, they were met by over a hundred Catholic men intent on preventing the parade from passing through Riverhead, a Catholic enclave.

The Catholics told the Orangemen to turn around, the Orangemen refused, and the two camps were at a standstill until the parade suddenly surged forward and a brawl broke out. 

Shots were fired on both sides: some by Catholic men who had brought rifles with them and some by Protestant sympathizers who had turned up to support the unarmed Orangemen.

Three men — two Protestant and one Catholic — were killed on the spot, and two more died later of their injuries. Seventeen others were wounded before police broke up the melee and read the crowd the Riot Act, a law that empowered authorities to disperse public gatherings when they became violent.

It was common for Protestant organizations in nineteenth-century Newfoundland to hold parades over the winter holidays.

Many men in the colony belonged to fraternal orders, which were partly social clubs that created opportunities to mingle, partly charitable groups that rallied support for community causes, and partly mutual aid societies that provided for their members during times of crisis. 

In Newfoundland and Labrador, most fraternal organizations were affiliated with a religious denomination. Catholics had the Fishermen’s Star of the Sea Association, and Protestants had the Loyal Orange Association and the Society of United Fishermen.

The Catholic fraternities typically held annual parades on St. Patrick’s Day, but scheduling a Protestant celebration was a bit more complicated. 

Orangemen’s Day, which commemorates the victory of Protestant British king William of Orange over Catholic king James II at the Battle of the Boyne, falls on July 12th. That was the height of the fishing season when most rural men couldn’t afford to take a day off work. 

Instead, Protestant organizations took to holding their processions over the winter when there was a brief respite from the seasonal labour of fishing, hunting, planting and sealing. St. Stephen’s Day (December 26) and New Year’s Day were popular choices for parade dates.

Harbour Grace had a history of political violence — previous elections had sparked riots and shootings – but relations between Catholics and Protestants in the community had been peaceful for decades. 

At Christmas 1883, though, tensions were running high.