Walter Ayles
Subject Index: Radical Bristol
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Slaughter No Remedy
The life and times of Walter Ayles, Bristol Conscientious Objector
Walter Ayles was a fighter – but a fighter who didn’t believe in killing. He fought against unemployment and ruthless employers but also against the pro-war fever that led to the First World War. A Bristol councillor before the War, he was sent to prison for his opposition to it. Soon after his release, he was elected the MP for Bristol North. This pamphlet outlines the life and times of a man who fought for socialism and peace.
James Acland and The Bristolian
Keeping it Spikey since 1827
The Bristolian local broadsheet is well known in this city for exposing corruption, lies and duplicity amongst Bristol’s ‘high and mighty’ of all shades of political persuasion. What is less well known is that the paper was originally founded by James Acland, a radical agitator, who first wrote, financed and published a daily version in 1827. Its pages contained scathing attacks on the Corporation, Magistracy and wealthy Merchants who made up the oligarchy that controlled the city. Acland […]
The Maltreated and the Malcontents
Working in the Great Western Cotton Factory 1838-1914
The history of Bristol’s Great Western Cotton Works in Barton Hill, which opened in 1838, is little known. The story of its workforce — mainly low-paid women and children — has never been told. From the 1830s to the early twentieth century, Barton Hill workers endured long working hours, high rates of industrial accidents and ill-health from the cotton dust and humidity. Moreover, they were subjected to wage cuts and fines by a series of unrelenting managers. Divided along age and gender lines […]
The Bristol Deserter
Alfred Jefferies And The Great War
The years leading up to 1914 saw a wave of strike action across Britain; at the same time there were fears of war with Germany whipped up by the press and in popular culture. Some like Bristol’s Trade Union Leader Ernest Bevin argued that workers’ interests were the same worldwide and that war would be disastrous. Nevertheless, when war broke out, patriotism won out over international brotherhood. Thousands of workers were persuaded to sign up to Kitchener’s army, including hundreds who worked […]
Barton Hill Cotton Work Plaque
At 7pm on wednesday 24 june 2015 at Barton Hill trading estate, Maze Street, Barton Hill a new plaque Cottom Works plaque will be unveiled. then afterwards at St Luke's church hall for a talk with tea and refreshments.
The Lawbreakers
Arrowsmith and the ‘Bristol Revolution’ of 1831
I was fortunate enough to acquire, among a collection of books, both the 1884 and the considerably expanded 1906 edition of Arrowsmith’s Dictionary of Bristol, edited by Henry J. Spear and J. W. Arrowsmith. Concurrent with other research I have been conducting into the Bristol riots of 1831 I perused the entry in each edition and was struck by the volume of revisions. It should initially be noted that the account given in the 1906 edition is substantially longer. As such it is perhaps the detail […]
Strikers, Hobblers, Conchies and Reds + The Berkeley Poachers’
Book and pamphlet launch
Members of our very own Bristol Radical History Group will share some choice snippets from their research as an appetiser to promote two new publications, including the group’s first book-length collaboration. Strikers, Hobblers and Conchies is published by Breviary Stuff. Watch this talk
City Under Fire
The Bristol Riots and Aftermath
From Dreadnought Books The riots of 1831 gripped the city of Bristol for three days at the end of October. Most general histories of the city include some reference to this infamous event. ‘This lively row gave Bristol the biggest advertisement in its history’ (Columbus p. 16, 1893), yet it has rarely received more considerable attention. There appear to be only four book-length histories: ‘A Citizen’ (John Eagles) produced his assessment in the following year, The Bristol Riots, Their Causes, […]