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newspapers were again trying to blame his sailors for the sins of civilians and convinced that "probably not more 200" of his men actually participated in the riots and these at the instigation of civilian bootleggers, Murray took no steps to rescind the standing order that allowed another 9,500 sailors to go ashore to join the official VE Day festivities on 8 May. By the time the mayhem ended later that day – after the
Admiral and Mayor Butler drove through town in a sound truck ordering everyone to return to their homes and barracks, and imposing a curfew on the city – there were three men dead (two from alcohol poisoning, and one a possible murder), 363 arrested, 654 businesses damaged and 207 establishments looted to some degree. Sixty-five thousand quarts of liquor, 8,000 cases of beer and 1,500 cases of wine had been "liberated" from liquor commission shelves. The total price tag: more than $ 5 million (over $ 87 million in 2024), including the cost of replacing 2,624 sheets of plate glass.
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celebration "be joyful without being destructive or distasteful." By midnight, downtown
Halifax was filled to bursting with more than 12,000 celebrants who had no place to eat or relax. Without licensed bars to go to, they rioted instead, setting ablaze tramcars and a police paddy wagon, smashing windows, looting liquor stores and denuding shops of merchandise. On Barrington Street, there was so much broken glass in the street it spilled over the top of the curb. One reporter who wandered through the downtown devastation the next morning compared it to "London after a blitz."
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claimed there was never anything for them to buy on store shelves anymore because ungrateful come-from-aways had bought it all, or the military had commandeered it to supply a departing convoy. Though there were honourable landlords, friendly merchants and plenty of locals eager to make the visitors welcome, there were also rumblings from early on in the war that
Halifax ("Slackers", as the sailors called it) would get "what was coming" when the war finally ended. Fear, in fact, dominated planning for the celebration of the Allied victory. Organizers decided that on
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initial disorders on each of the two days, May 7 and 8. Subsequently the insufficiency of the police forces, service and civilian, employed, as well as their faulty direction on both days, and the passive conduct of the Naval
Command in allowing naval personnel to continue unchecked on the afternoon of May 8 without taking any steps to deal with the situation until a very late hour, when the disorders had begun to play themselves out, explain the length of time during which the disorders continued.
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The disorders which actually occurred on May 7 and 8 owe their origin, in my opinion, to failure on the part of the Naval
Command in Halifax to plan for their personnel ... Once started, the development and continuance of the disorders were due to the failure of the Naval Command to put down the
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found that "the disorders of 7th and 8th May cannot be attributed to any one cause but rather to a series of events which led a normal body of men, prepared to celebrate in an innocuous manner, to disorders of a serious nature", although the Board also felt that leadership failed when "no steps were
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The riots might have ended that morning, as hungover sailors and civilians, many clutching their ill-gotten booty, stumbled home to sleep off their night before. But Murray was not informed of the events of the night before until he opened his morning papers at 9:45 AM on 8 May. Assuming that the
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During the war, Halifax's population doubled; its facilities did not. There were huge lineups to get into the city's few restaurants, several-hour waits outside movie theatres. There was no legal place anyone could go to buy a drink, but there were dozens of illegal ones. For their part, locals
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believed his sailors had won the peace and deserved their chance to celebrate. Late on the afternoon of 7 May 1945, the day
Germany surrendered, he overruled the advice of his senior officers and allowed more than 9,000 of his men to go ashore for the night, with the mild admonition that their
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Board of
Enquiry held in HMCS Stadacona 15–21 May 1945 to investigate the circumstances leading up to Naval Participation in the Recent Disorders in Halifax and the extent and nature of any breaches of discipline by Naval Personnel, 21 May 1945, Canadian National Archives reference RG24 vol.
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Board of
Enquiry held in HMCS Stadacona 15–21 May 1945 to investigate the circumstances leading up to Naval Participation in the Recent Disorders in Halifax and the extent and nature of any breaches of discipline by Naval Personnel, 21 May 1945, Canadian National Archives reference RG24 vol.
753:, it is generally accepted that the underlying causes were a combination of bureaucratic confusion, insufficient policing, and antipathy between the military and civilians, fueled by the presence of 25,000 servicemen who had strained Halifax wartime resources to the limit.
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tram service would stop for the day, to discourage sailors from going downtown. Liquor commission outlets, restaurants, retailers and movie theatres all decided to shut and shutter their premises, ostensibly to prevent trouble.
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Tensions had been building for six years as war transformed
Halifax from a small and conservative maritime city into what a British admiral called the "most important port in the world," the Canadian Headquarters of the
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victory in Europe. This rapidly evolved into a rampage by several thousand servicemen, merchant seamen, and civilians, who looted the City of
Halifax. Although a subsequent Royal Commission chaired by Justice
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and the western terminus for the vital North Atlantic convoys to England. By 1945, Halifax had become a bustling, overcrowded, underserviced port city.
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1945 rioting and looting by civilians and servicemen in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
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Correcting the record on Stoker 1st Class Verne LeRoy Turner’s cause of death
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1391:(PDF). Library and Archives of Canada. Retrieved 12 August 2009.
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Headquarters established for Royal Navy's North American Station
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Message from Murray to all Naval Staff in Halifax on 9 May 1945
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blamed lax naval authority and specifically Rear-Admiral
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Open Gangway: The (Real) Story of the Halifax Navy Riot
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Open Gangway: The (Real) Story of the Halifax Navy Riot
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1417:"Report on the Halifax Disorders May 7th–8th, 1945"
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1348:Sailors, Slackers and Blind Pigs: Halifax at War
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1362:An East Coast Port: Halifax at War 1939–1945
795:. Unsourced material may be challenged and
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1013:Departing Halifax for Northwest Rebellion
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1019:Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts
43:This article includes a list of general
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1445:Halifax Daily News article 60 years on
1402:CBC video footage of the Halifax Riot
1485:20th century in Halifax, Nova Scotia
793:adding citations to reliable sources
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1500:Riots and civil disorder in Canada
1389:"Report of the Kellock Commission"
1305:"Report of the Kellock Commission"
1228:Looted shoe store after the riots.
1032:Departing Halifax for the Boer War
1026:Local Council of Women established
757:Halifax at the end of World War II
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1495:Military history of Nova Scotia
1480:History of Halifax, Nova Scotia
1450:Article in the Northern Mariner
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109:Military history of Nova Scotia
1407:CBC archive photos of the riot
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1378:, Lancelot Press 1981,
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64:more precise citations.
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742:World War II
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122:Citadel Hill
99:
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18:Halifax Riot
1251:V G Brodeur
1238:Roy Kellock
1021:established
995:established
988:established
981:established
974:established
919:established
887:(1759–1996)
881:(1980–1996)
875:(1750–1996)
869:(1749–1996)
747:Roy Kellock
738:Nova Scotia
660:Impressment
393:Sinking of
370:Sinking of
308:Tallahassee
62:introducing
1474:Categories
1337:References
841:History of
275:Chesapeake
45:references
1314:12 August
873:Dartmouth
776:does not
734:Dartmouth
635:from 1954
625:from 1916
615:1916–1919
605:1914–1919
595:from 1871
585:1869–1871
575:from 1867
565:from 1860
555:1803–1816
545:1793–1802
535:from 1791
525:1776–1783
515:1775–1783
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495:1775–1784
485:1756–1762
475:1744–1762
465:1717–1758
455:1717–1757
445:1689–1761
435:1677–1779
387:1942–1944
237:1760–1761
1436:Archived
833:a series
831:Part of
805:May 2013
675:Category
100:a series
97:Part of
1461:website
879:Bedford
861:History
797:removed
782:sources
730:Halifax
680:Commons
126:Halifax
58:improve
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1188:VE Day
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909:1749:
904:Events
835:on the
726:VE-Day
310:escape
103:on the
47:, but
1343:11208
1329:11208
1308:(PDF)
1262:Notes
1086:Other
1380:ISBN
1366:ISBN
1352:ISBN
1316:2009
1289:ISBN
780:any
778:cite
732:and
410:1945
400:1945
377:1918
364:1917
354:1917
344:1899
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306:CSS
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147:1690
791:by
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