To celebrate Mayday and three new Bristol Radical History Group publications focusing on the vibrant labour history of Bristol we are bringing the authors together at Tony Benn House for an early evening event. Deference and Dissent: Labour relations in a family firm by Mike Richardson is a study of the printing and publishing company J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd from 1855 to 1927, providing a window into the working lives of compositors, letterpress machinists, and bookbinders and their relationships […]
The Spanish Civil War was an important pre-cursor to the Second World War, pitting republicans and revolutionaries against an emerging military dictatorship in Spain and their fascist allies in Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany. After a fascist inspired military coup, led by General Franco in July 1936, was halted in its tracks by the armed action of the Spanish working class, the battlelines were drawn for three years of bloody conflict. Volunteers from all over the world went to Spain to […]
Isabella Lorusso author of Fighting Women: Interviews with veterans of the Spanish Civil War will be speaking about her collection of interviews from the 1990s with women veterans of the fight against fascism in Spain in the 1930s. Fighting women is a choral book, a set of interviews conducted with Spanish women who took part in the civil war. Some took up arms and fought on the front, others joined the POUM, Free Women or different anarchist groups. They all fought against Francoism and for the […]
We are thrilled to be collaborating with the Bristol Reference Library for an opening the archives event on Saturday 13th April. There will be a choice selection of books and documents on display to view and peruse, complementing the themes of the forthcoming Bristol Radical History Festival. As the public library service built up its international affairs collection during the mid-1930s, interest in the Spanish Civil War was foremost. Historic items reflecting perspectives from both […]
Not A BRHG Event
BRHG are very pleased to announce that as part of LGBTQ+ History Month 2024 Mike Richardson will be speaking about the 'people's lawyer' Hugh Holmes Gore, the subject of his excellent book. 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 […]
Not A BRHG Event
Engine Shed, Station Approach, Temple Meads, Bristol, BS1 6QH Marking the 150th Anniversary of the Bristol Trades Union Council, Bristol Radical History Group will be launching 150 Years of Struggle, the history of the Council at the Engine Shed, Temple Meads. In 1973, Bristol Trades Union Council marked its centenary year. David Large and Bob Whitfield wrote its history for the Bristol Historical Association (BHA) and BBC Bristol screened 100 Years of Struggle, a film produced by the […]
Meet: 2.00pm Ropewalk pub - 5 Nelson Parade, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 4JA Come with us on a journey through time and space in Bedminster, Victoria Park and Windmill Hill... This two hour history walk uncovers the radical political groups and individuals active in Bedminster in the pre-WWI and post-war periods, the strikes and trade union actions of the growing labour movement and how these networks of activists combined to resist the war. We also look at the changing nature of the area and the […]
Art and Labour William Morris (1834-1896) was, and is, one of England’s most famous nineteenth-century socialists. On the 3rd March 1885, the famous Victorian designer came to Bristol to deliver a talk on “Art and Labour,” at the Museum and Art Gallery. Addressed particularly to the workers of the city, the event was sponsored by the Bristol Branch of the Socialist League. His words as an artist and thinker could not have been more relevant at a time when the British Empire was on the ascendent, […]
Twentieth century artist Doris Hatt (1890-1969) was a woman ahead of her time. She was a feminist and socialist, and a pioneer of modernism in Britain, but her life and work have been under-appreciated until the last few years. Doris Hatt was born in Bath, but after World War I she moved to Clevedon with her mother, where they established their home, Littlemead. When her mother died in 1929 Doris’s partner Margery Mack Smith, a school teacher and weaver, came to live with Doris, beginning a 40 […]
Not A BRHG Event
The Nissen Hut, Eastville Park, Bristol, BS5 6QL Author and historian Mike Richardson on his recently published book, “Tremors of Discontent: My Life in Print 1970-1988". Mike worked for DRG Flexible Packaging In Filwood Road between 1970-1986, and his talk covers his experiences as a shop steward at a time of much industrial unrest at the company. This talk organised by the The People's University of Fishponds. Booking details here.
