Bideford-born shoemaker, John Gregory (1831-1922) wrote poetry, was a pioneer trade unionist, socialist, peace activist and poet. Through his life and work it is possible to trace working-class political thought from Chartism through Radicalism to Socialism. Admired for his trade union work by Ernest Bevin and Ben Tillet and for his poetry by both Tennyson and H G Wells, the time has come for him to be rediscovered. Biographer Gerrard Sables talks about Gregory’s life, his works and his […]
During the Abolition bicentenary of 2007, Bristol Radical History Group commissioned a commemorative plaque to celebrate the anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Clarkson and the Bristol sailors who provided him with evidence of the horrors of the slave trade. Join us at the site of these momentous events, the Seven Stars Pub, for the unveiling of the plaque at lunchtime. Download a Plaque unveiling invitation (650KB jpeg file) Watch highlights of the unveiling: If you see this text the video has […]
This April is the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough football disaster which killed 96 Liverpool fans and injured hundreds more. Twenty years on, few people know what actually happened and the (now admitted) lies told by the Police to the press at the time remain as many people's memory of events. The coroner and the inquiry narrowly restricted their investigations. Numerous judges have thwarted attempts by the survivors, families and campaign groups to have the events investigated. […]
Roger introduces the film Sir! No Sir! shown by Bristol Indymedia at the Cube Cinema Bristol. The talk discusses the ways in which the Vietnam War was resisted internally and the impact that has had since on warfare in general. link to the films website.Bristol Radical History Group: 2006 Bristol Radical History Group (BRHG) have organised a bewildering range of history events; staging walks, talks, gigs, reconstructions, films, exhibitions, trips through the archives and fireside story telling. […]
Stories and music round the fire at the Boiling Wells site, St Werburghs City Farm; 7.30 - 10 pm. BYO drink. Tales told by Martin Maudsley and friends, with salty songs and feisty fiddle tunes from the ‘Cheese Strings’. Bring and burn an effigy! Limited numbers, don't be late... Director of Bristol Storytelling Festival, Martin runs regular adult and children’s story telling events at the Scout Hut on Redcliffe Wharf.
In a 1970 article advocating ‘social history as the history of society’, E.J.Hobsbawm concluded that it was ‘a good time to be a social historian’. ‘Even those of us who never set out to call ourselves by this name,’ he wrote, ‘will not want to disclaim it today.’ Twenty years later, Keith Wrightson recollected how it felt to be present at that dawn. ‘The past teemed with questions which had scarcely been asked, let alone answered,’ he wrote. ‘If they were considered of little significance in […]
But William, libro ij° de Regibus, seyth (says) that this kyng kepyng a feste at Pulkirchirche, in the feste of seynte Austyn, and seyng a thefe, Leof by name, sytte [th]er amonge hys gestes, whom he hade made blynde afore for his trespasses -- (quem rex prios propter scelera eliminaverat, whom the King previously due to his crimes did excile) -- , arysede (arrested) from the table, and takenge that man by the heire of the hedde, caste him unto the grownde. Whiche kynge was sleyn -- (sed […]
Bristol Radical History Week wouldn’t be the same without a performance from Bristol’s favourite pirate punkers ‘The Surfin’ Turnips’. Tonight they play a special acoustic gig with their Dorset brothers-in-cider Who’s Afear’d and newcomer Paul McCoch. We will also be perforimg a reconstruction of the Regicide of Edmund I which will also be performed a Pucklechurch on Sunday. All proceeds go to the Thomas Clarkson: Abolition of Slavery plaque for which we and the Seven Stars are currently raising […]
Why History Matters... And Why Radical History Matters More - David Cullum An analysis of the nature and importance of radical history in the public domain. Commonalty and Commonweal 1381-1649 - David Rollison Beginning with the story of a heretical hermit who, in 1357, was accused of terrorizing the respectable rich peasants of Hertfordshire and the king’s Justices by rousing the labourers of the county and preaching that the Statute of Labourers was ‘blasphemy’, this paper is a discussion of […]
Radicalism, Monarchy And The Lost Liberties Of Anglo-Saxon Egland 1790-1820 - Steve Poole Although the English Jacobins of the 1790s were frequently characterised by their enemies as Republican followers of Tom Paine, in reality many of them could only commit to following Paine so far. The Rights of Man were all very well as long as they could be advocated without dumping long standing and cherished beliefs in an anglo-saxon golden age of elected chieftans and voluntary association - historical […]
