The start of lockdown in March was marked by panic buying and stockpiling up and down the country, including Hitchin.

While we hope a dreaded 'second wave' can be averted this autumn, many are also hoping there won't be a run on essentials in our supermarkets.

But did you know, something similar happened in 1914, during the 'Hitchin riots', which saw some of the ugliest scenes ever take place in our town.

Read on for the first in the series of our Hitchin Nub News REWIND nostalgia and heritage features: The 1914 Hitchin Riots - a very middle class affair.

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For many in Great Britain the onset of war in 1914 came as a great shock.

Hitchin was no different after battle was declared on Germany on August 4 – as witnessed by the fact the town's local newspaper at the time failed to even discuss the European conflict until August 8, four days after hostilities were announced.

While Hitchin had a reputation as a genteel market town in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the onset of the Great War left the population of the town shocked and worried.

This fear manifested itself in a rush of panic buying on Tuesday, August 4, 1914.

Countdown to a very middle class riot

With Hitchin, then as now, renowned for its large number of shops and businesses, a wave of worried people swarmed to buy provisions in the centre of town – with reports of merchants being forced to close during trading hours as they were completely overwhelmed with customers and had to replenish their empty shelves.

Frayed tempers among townsfolk rose even further when a number of Hitchin businesses, on experiencing the unprecedented spike in demand, increased their prices for staples such as bread, flour and bacon.

On the evening of Wednesday, August 5, the day after war was declared, a large group of angry middle-class Hitchin locals met in Market Place to protest at what they saw as unjustified price hikes from greedy merchants in the town.

Soon a rumour spread that one of the most prominent stores in the whole of Hitchin was behind the price rises and the unruly mob headed from the square to Moss's Corner.

The modern-day site now plays host to the Vodafone shop, but back then the store was built in 1899 for prominent Hitchin firm WB Moss, provision merchants and grocers, on site of the former Trooper Inn pub.

Imagine the scene as an enraged, confused and somewhat fearful mob descended on worried Hitchin merchant Moss to vent their grievances at him and his staff.

Contemporary reports estimate at 7pm that evening the crowd had swelled to around 2,000 in number.

The protest took on a life of its own and upon finding the owners absent, decided to march onto Mr Moss's rather grand home, 'Westbourne' on Bedford Road.

Hitchin Past Policing website described the events. "The protestors entered the grounds of the house and ripped up shrubs and trees and even cut a garden hose into small sections. Dark threats were uttered against Mr Moss and his family. Stones were thrown and windows smashed and the more militant members of the group called for the house to be burnt down.

"The constabulary arrived under the command of Superintendent Reed. The police officers invited Mr Moss to come out of his house and address the gathering. However, when he tried to do so he was shouted down and the crowd made a rush to get at him. The officers drew their staffs and beat off the protestors.

"Having conferred with Mr Moss, Superintendent Reed then stepped forward and addressed the crowd, informing them that prices in all Mr Moss's shops would next day revert to those being charged before the declaration of war.

"Not convinced the crowd moved back to the town centre where the windows of Moss' shop in Bancroft were broken before the riot eventually petered out about midnight."

How intriguing that a violent riot in Hitchin was quelled through the promise of price cuts from shops in the town.

However, not content with threatening Mr Moss, an even larger crowd assembled 24 hours later for a second act, this time focused on a certain Mr Bowman.

Many will recall Bowman's Mill on the Arlesey Road in Ickleford, but the focus of the crowd's ire on that warm summer night in 1914 was his large - and now long-gone - flourmill near to Hitchin Railway Station.

Anger rose with the realisation that Bowman was not only a town councillor but chairman of a body called the Urban Food Control Committee.

The new protest on Thursday, August 6, 1914 had been boosted in size through the addition of a large number of working class men joining in what had essentially been a very middle-class riot the day before.

The labourers, who lived in the slums near what is now Queen Street, had seen the price rises placing even the simplest of foodstuffs well beyond their reach, in a move that they did not repeated.

As the evening wore on the mob once again decided to target a dwelling and surged to Bowman's large home on The Avenue.

Just as the mod were about to take the law into their own hands, possible bloodshed was averted when the doughty Superintendent Reed of Herts Police and his men placed a cordon across the road, while appealing to the better nature of the baying mob.

The demonstrators, a mix of middle class and working class protestors, were swayed by Read's exhortations. It is not known if they were also swayed by the threat of possible force from the police.

Herts Past Policing website concluded of the events of August 1914 in Hitchin: "With prices returned to their pre-war levels the grocers of Hitchin set about using the local press in a weak attempt to convince locals the price rise was unfortunate but necessary to protect food stuffs against panic buying and stock piling by the rich. Few were taken in."

With thanks to the Herts Past Policing and Herts Memories websites.

With Hitchinites placated by the cessation of price rises and calm restored to a quiet part of our county, many from the town signed up for the war effort as part of the Hertfordshire Regiment.

Almost 900 officers and men from the battalion of Herts men fell in action between 1914 and 1918, with more than 2,000 wounded or taken prisoner. Men from this battalion earned a reputation as a solid, reliable unit and, among nearly 200 gallantry medals won during the war were two Victoria Crosses, including Frank Young of the Hitchin Company of the Herts Regiment.

Read Hitchin Nub News for more from our REWIND series, a regular look back on past events in our town and surrounding areas. Please get in touch if you would like to write an article for this series.