To mark the centenary of the 1926 General Strike and miners’ lockout, BRHG members are involved in a project to commemorate the strike in Bristol and the surrounding area. The outcome of this will either be a number of pamphlets on general strike themes or a book containing a number of essays. The aim is for the publications to be launched in April or early May 2026 and that the launch will coincide with a commemorative event. The centenary of the start of the strike will be on May 4th 2026. The […]
How a garden city became a housing estate, 1943-1963. A salutary lesson for current planners can be drawn from this detailed examination of the failure of an ambitious project in the immediate post-war environment to live up to its expectations. Houses were desperately needed: What principles should underpin a new ‘settlement’? Where should the houses go? Who were they for? And what provision should be made for the likely political and financial changes over the timescale of the project? […]
This was a warm and extraordinary performance. It captured the spirit of the Clarion clubs, a nearly – but not quite – lost world, dear to the hearts of many radical historians. It was brought to us by Neil Gore, a man of many parts it seems, actor, songsmith and musician, dramatist, compere, promoter, ticket collector, programme seller, lights technician, and slide projectionist. This summer, Neil is AKA Robert Blatchford (1851-1943), likewise a man of many parts, and the hero of the […]
To celebrate Mayday and three new Bristol Radical History Group publications focusing on the vibrant labour history of Bristol we are bringing the authors together at Tony Benn House for an early evening event. Deference and Dissent: Labour relations in a family firm by Mike Richardson is a study of the printing and publishing company J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd from 1855 to 1927, providing a window into the working lives of compositors, letterpress machinists, and bookbinders and their relationships […]
Not A BRHG Event
BRHG are very pleased to invite Isabella Lorusso to speak about her book at International Women's Day in Bristol. Saturday March 2nd - 15:30-16:15 - Lady Mayor's Parlour, City Hall Fighting women is a choral book, a set of interviews conducted with Spanish women who took part in the civil war. Some took up arms and fought on the front, others joined the POUM, Free Women or different anarchist groups. They all fought against Francoism and for the emancipation of women, and together they achieved […]
The next Bristol Radical History Festival will be on Saturday 20th April, from 10am-4.30pm. Once again our partners at M Shed will host us, for what will be our 6th Festival, at the museum on the city’s historic harbourside that tells the story of Bristol and its unique place in the world. We warmly invite you to join us at this popular and free event. So put the date in your diary now! Then tell your friends, fellow workers & communities, comrades and networks. Our festival organising team […]
Not A BRHG Event
The Martin Parr Foundation (MPF) is presenting a valuable exhibition of photographs & ephemera to mark the 40th anniversary of the Miners Strike 1984/5: One Year! Photographs from the Miners Strike 1984/5. The exhibition will run from 18 January to 31 March 2024, at the MPF building at 316 Paintworks, Bristol BS4 3AR (check this page for map, access, transport etc) Alongside the exhibition wil be a series of events - see here for tickets - of which the following are recommended: 18 January, […]
Not A BRHG Event
5.00 pm, Thursday 18th January at the Newport Rising Hub, 170 Commercial Street, Newport NP20 1JN. Professor Nick Carter of the Australian Catholic University and former Head of History at University of Wales, Newport will introduce the Conviction Politics Project. This is an international digital history project exploring the impact of radicals and rebels transported as political convicts to Australia on their place of exile. In association with Six Points Publishing and Our Chartist Heritage. […]
