Bristol was rocked by two major strike waves in the late 19th Century, the first (1889-90) marked the emergence of ‘new unionism’ representing male and (significantly) female unskilled and semi-skilled labourers. Victory in these strikes improved pay and conditions for workers but led to an organised counter-offensive by employers in the autumn of 1892. The response of workers was a second strike wave which united miners, dockers and female confectionary workers, culminating in 'Black Friday' on […]
New WEA Course: History of the Women’s Movement (1968–1988)
Dr Debi Withers is running a new WEA course in Bristol entitled History of the Women’s Movement (1968 – 1988): An introduction. Details below:
Tonight is an evening to find out more about the situation in Northern Syria and the region that the Kurdish groups and those that support them call Rojava. We are going to show two films and have some speakers discussing and facilitating a discussion about supporting the situation in Rojava and what we can do in Bristol and the wider UK to raise awareness and support the struggle for an autonomous and secular region in Northern Syria. We will try and encourage a space for all those interested […]
Not A BRHG Event
Quaker Meeting House, 126 Hampton Road, Redland, Bristol BS6 6JE A free event on women and conscientious objection to military service. Note: Registration is required for this event, details here. Speakers will include:- Professor Lois Bibbings, University of Bristol, author of Telling Tales About Men: Conceptions of Conscientious Objectors to Military Service During the First World War (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009) will look at how World War 1 Conscientious Objectors were […]
During the 1930s a small group of ultra-nationalistic women, who considered themselves feminists, joined Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists. Surprisingly some of these women were former high ranking members of the suffragette movement. Over 50 regional branches of the British Union of Fascists, with Women’s Sections, opened across the United Kingdom. The branches were established to promote and normalise the ultra-right and to position fascism as an acceptable political choice within […]
The Maltreated and the Malcontents on History Workshop blog
An article posted on History Workshop journal website by Mike Richardson on the Great Western Cotton factory in Barton Hill based upon his recent book The Maltreated and the Malcontents published by BRHG.
During the First World War Sylvia Pankhurst's newspaper, The Dreadnought was the most consistently anti-war publication. It not only opposed the global conflict but condemned the crushing of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland, supported the 1917 Russian Revolution and campaigned for a revolution in Britain. Professor Newsinger is the author of numerous books including The Blood Never Dried: A People's History of the British Empire (2006), Fighting Back: The American Working Class in the 1930s […]
Not A BRHG Event
At Waterstones, use Union Street Entrance. Sheila Rowbotham recounts the interweaving lives of four women and two men – Helena Born, Miriam Daniell, Gertrude Dix, Robert Nicol, and William Bailie – as they migrate to America from Bristol, Edinburgh and Manchester. Radicalised by the rise of socialism, they cross the Atlantic dreaming of liberty and equality. Their lives open fascinating slants on both political and cultural movements and upon influential individuals like Walt Whitman, Eleanor […]
The West of England and South Wales Women's History Network is pleased to present a free showing of Make More Noise! Suffragettes in Silent Film. Make More Noise is a selection of silent films from the British Film Institute National Archive exploring the representation of suffragettes in the early 20th century. From footage of suffrage demonstrations to anarchic women's comedy, the collection was brought out to complement the release of Suffragette. The film will be shown at the Salt Café Deli, […]
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 […]
