This wood engraving of the riot in Mold was published in 'The Illustrated London News' in June 1869. The trouble in the town began after two coal miners were sentenced to prison for attacking the manager of Leeswood Green Colliery in the nearby village of Leeswood (Coed-llai).

The relationship between the colliers and John Young, the manager of the pit, had not been a happy one and had deteriorated greatly in the weeks which led to the disturbance. The miners were greatly aggrieved by the decisions and arrogant attitude of the manager: Young, an Englishman from Durham, prohibited the colliers from speaking Welsh underground and on 17 May 1869 he announced that their wages would be cut. The colliers were greatly angered by this decision and following a meeting which was held at the pit head two days later, a number of the men attacked John Young before frog-marching him unceremoniously to the police station at Pontblyddyn. Seven colliers were arrested and were ordered to stand trial at Mold Magistrates Court on 2 June 1869. They were all found guilty and the two alleged ringleaders, Ismael Jones and John Jones, were sentenced to a month's hard labour.

Not unexpectedly, the court case had attracted a great deal of attention in the area and a large crowd had started to assemble to hear the verdict. Aware of the problems that could arise, the Chief Constable of Flintshire had already ensured the services of constables from all parts of the county, and had asked for the assistance of soldiers from Chester earlier that morning. However, as the authorities attempted to transport the two prisoners from the court to the railway station, where a train was waiting to take them to the gaol at Flint Castle, the crowd reacted angrily and threw stones and other missiles at the officers. The soldiers fired shots into the crowd, killing four people. Soon afterwards, the crowd began to disperse and by the following morning, the streets were empty.

Although he was to strenously deny the connection, the first novel written by Daniel Owen, the Mold-born novelist and tailor, is largely based on the events which occurred in the town in the summer of 1869. The novel, 'Rhys Lewis', was first published in monthly instalments in the Calvinistic Methodist journal, 'Y Drysorfa', between 1882 and 1884.

Further reading: Jenny and Mike Griffiths, 'The Mold Tragedy of 1869' (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Llanrwst, 2001).