News Feed - Bristol Radical History Group

Strike! – The 1926 General Strike in Gloucester

An afternoon of talks to commemorate the centenary of the 1926 General Strike, featuring authors Tony Conder and Stuart Butler of BRHG pamphlet: A Tale of Two Towns: Nine days in Gloucester and Stroud, May 1926 The event will consist of three talks, looking into details of the General Strike in Gloucestershire. 1pm: Stuart Butler – 'Stroud and the General Strike'. How did Stroud‘s workers respond to the Strike Call? Stuart's talk will look at the strike in the Stroud area and stretch up the […]

Pianoforte

The Story of Mary Frost

Publicity flyer featuring Mary Frost the Chartist

Adele Cordner’s new play is inspired by Sylvia Mason’s book: Mary Frost, Wife, Mother, Chartist (see BRHG review). Get ready to dive into the captivating life story of Mary Frost - a woman at the centre of the Chartist movement & the 1839 Newport Rising. Welcome to Pianoforte - The Story of Mary Frost! Join us at Horfield Parish Church Hall to hear the captivating tale of Mary Frost as we unravel the story of this remarkable woman. Don't miss this unique opportunity to immerse yourself in […]

Nautical women – women sailors and the women of sailortowns.

This talk explores the stories of women whose lives were inextricably linked to the sea. These include the women of sailortowns struggling to keep out of the dreaded workhouse and resisting the prowling press gangs; and of the courageous and skilful cross-dressing women sailors, some of Bristol, who went to extraordinary lengths to hide their gender. The stories of these women challenge our stereotypes of women in earlier societies and reveal the courage of those who ‘ran away to sea’ by […]

General Strike Centenary Series

By Randell Brantley

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. As part of this effort, BRHG has released a series of 8 pamphlets, covering aspects of the strike in Somerset, Bristol and Gloucestershire. Buy The Series Of 8 Pamphlets General Strike Centenary Series #1 The Spirit There Is Magnificent: The General Strike in Bristol, May 1926 Rob Whitfield ISBN 978-1-911522-90-4 #2 Standfast […]

The Spirit There Is Magnificent

The General Strike in Bristol, May 1926

By Rob Whitfield

“All railways stopped, no papers published and trade union men … ordered to stop work” Bristol’s trade unionists were ill-prepared for a General Strike when the call came from the Trade Union Congress to support the locked-out miners. The government, however, had made extensive preparations with warships sent to the docks, troops to the electricity power station and special police constables on the streets. Nevertheless, workers pulled together with impressive resolve and energy as detailed in […]

Standfast and Solid

The 1926 General Strike in Bath and its industrial hinterland

By Trevor Turpin

A city of two halves. A century ago, Bath was, as today, popular for its Roman Baths and Georgian terraces. Although hidden from its genteel visitors, it was also an important industrial city with an extensive coal mining area in its hinterland. Unsurprisingly then, it played a prominent role in the 1926 General Strike. In Standfast and Solid, Trevor Turpin vividly tells the story of that tumultuous period when mining families were brought to near starvation and when trade unionists and many of […]

A Tale of Two Towns

Nine days in Gloucester and Stroud, May 1926

By Tony Conder, Stuart Butler

Solidarity in an urban industrial and rural agricultural landscape. In this short pamphlet, Stuart Butler and Tony Conder bring to life a turbulent nine days in Stroud, with its cloth mills and industry, and Gloucester, an important transport hub with major docks at its centre. As the Stroud Journal reported the General Strike, "At midnight on Monday the wheels of industry ... began to slow down. Trains disappeared from our local railway lines The big daily newspapers failed to appear on our […]

Ashes of Defiance

The 1926 lock-out of miners in the Forest of Dean

By Ian Wright

The Forest of Dean was one of the most fiercely contested battlegrounds during the dramatic events surrounding the two-week 1926 General Strike and the following nine-month miners' lock-out. In Ashes of Defiance, Ian Wright tells the story of the Forest of Dean miners during that remarkable period. Why did some miners eventually feel compelled to return to work? What drove others to remain defiant and refuse to return until the bitter end? What were the consequences that followed? And what were […]

Conflicts of Interest

Co-operators, trade unionists and the events of May 1926 in Bristol

By Chris Bowkett

Creating a new society within the confines of the old. From Robert Owen onwards, groups of radicals have attempted to build progressive alternatives to capitalism from within its heart. One of the biggest most successful of these has been the co-operative movement. However, it has encountered contradictions in its attempt to square its principles with those of the dominant culture and economy. A stark instance of this was during the General Strike when co-op workers—members of a union closed […]

Class or Company Loyalty?

The printing industry and the events of May 1926 in Bristol

By Mike Richardson

“Our courage was percolating through our fingertips”. Class or Company Loyalty? explores the experiences of unionised workers employed in two companies, one large, one small, operating in Bristol’s printing industry before, during and immediately after the General Strike. Mike Richardson traces the history of the changing power dynamics between capital and labour at the two workplaces and considers what impact the strike had on industrial relations at these companies. The common theme running […]