When Thomas Davis and his wife Annis and their family from Pillowell in the Forest of Dean decided to emigrate to Canada in 1890 they could not have known that their choice would have tragic consequences or that their personal tragedy would be remembered in Canada to this day. One of their boys, Thomas, would be killed in one of the worst mining disasters in Canadian mining history and another, William, would be shot dead by the police in one of the most violent strikes in Canadian labour […]
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 […]
Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) was one of the most progressive thinkers, writers and activists of the late19th and early 20th century. He was an early supporter of the Bristol Socialist Society and paid regular visits to the city. Now remembered and celebrated mostly for his support for libertarian socialism and gay politics, he also took up ‘green’ causes. Carpenter’s campaigns for smoke abatement have rarely been revisited. His serialised essay on the subject, The Smoke-Dragon and How to Destroy […]
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.
In 1917 in Britain, one of the government’s worst nightmares was developing. There had always been a ‘hard-core’ of opposition to the war on political, moral & religious grounds. Over the course of the war this opposition had developed as conscription was introduced. It began to be joined by industrial militancy as working conditions came under attack. With the February Revolution those opposed to the war could see an alternative and a way for the war to end. The authorities understood the […]
The Enigma of Hugh Holmes Gore: Bristol’s Nineteenth Century Christian Socialist Solicitor. By Mike Richardson. This is the second book published by BRHG. Find out more... Please circulate this flyer.
The Anglo – Catholic convert to the left, Hugh Holmes Gore, was a key figure in Bristol’s labour movement during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Gore linked Clifton Christian Socialists, morally concerned about the poverty and suffering caused by economic depression, with the working class revolutionaries in the Bristol Socialist Society. His eloquence as a speaker moved dockers and miners and attracted working class votes in local elections. He was popular as the ‘people’s […]
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 […]
Not A BRHG Event
The Haymarket, Chicago and Mayday On the evening of Tuesday May 4th 1886 near the Haymarket, Chicago, armed police attempted to violently disperse a few hundred members of a peaceful demonstration called to protest about the police killing of striking workers. As the police moved against the crowd a bomb was thrown by an unknown person wounding several of their number. In the ensuing chaos the police opened fire slaughtering demonstrators and police alike. In the days following the incident […]
Dear Friends and comrades, Swindon TUC would like to invite you to an exciting event to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the 1926 General Strike, to be held from midday on Saturday May 7th . As part of an afternoon of activities, we will assemble at midday at Central Community Centre (Emlyn Square, Swindon, SN1 5BP) for a march to re-enact and commemorate the large marches that took place in Swindon in 1926 to support the strike. Edwardian dress is encouraged, but not compulsory! Union […]
