The Peace Day celebrations of July 1919 in which the Town Hall was burned down are notorious in Luton's history – and an event the town seemed to want to forget for decades afterwards. Recorded here will be contemporary accounts as they were published in newspapers, documents and ex-servicemen's magazines at the time. As thousands of words were devoted to the build-up, the riots themselves and their aftermath (including court cases), there will be a large number of posts accessible via the links below of related events from June to October 1919, reproduced here in on-going form 100 years after they occurred.

Pictures from prints in the Wardown House Museum and Luton News collections, plus advertisements and articles which appeared in the local press in 1919.

Information sources: The Luton News, The Luton Reporter, Beds & Herts Tuesday Telegraph, Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph, DS&S Journal, documents at Wardown House Museum and sundry incidental items from national and regional newspapers.