Blog

Renaming the Colston Hall: An opportunity to rediscover the hidden history of Bristol

By Randell Brantley
A close up of Colston's face from his statue in Bristol's centre
The following statement by BRHG historians was published in the Bristol Post last week in response to Councillor Richard Eddy's article the week before entitled: Prominent Tory: Renaming Bristol's Colston Hall 'panders to tiny minority'. Almost a century ago in 1920 the Reverend H. J. Wilkins of Westbury-on Trym penned a biography of Edward Colston which began to expose the troubling history surrounding Bristol’s so-called ‘moral saint’ and ‘great philanthropist’. Wilkins was astounded at the […]
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The Slave Trader ‘Celebration Season’

By Randell Brantley
A close up of Colston's face from his statue in Bristol's centre
The onset of autumn in Bristol sees several idiosyncratic ceremonies, rituals and traditions that remember the locally born slave trader Edward Colston. Whilst public display has in recent years retreated, commemoration and maintenance of a partial historical narrative focused only on philanthropic endeavours persists ‘behind closed doors’. These closed doors are, for the rest of the year, presented to the Bristolian public as some of the most ‘open’ and ‘welcoming’, they include some of the […]
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Commemoration of the 1831 Bristol ‘Riots’ at Queen Square

By Randell Brantley
Queen Square 1831
29 October 2016 A small group of us gathered at the statue of William III in Queen Square to remember the three day ‘riot’ of October 1831 which shocked the country at the time and put the government in fear of revolution. This event eventually led to the 1832 Reform Act which lessened the rampant corruption in the form of ‘rotten boroughs’, created new seats in a number of industrial cities and increased the franchise to include some of the male middle class (but not women or the working […]
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Victims of the Somme – Event Report

By Randell Brantley
The wreath laid in memory of the Jeffries Brothers who died at The Somme in 1916
Today at noon a commemoration was held for the soldiers from The Dings who died at the Somme in World War 1. (See the event listing.) In particular we remembered the Jeffries brothers: Arthur who was killed in action at Geuedecourt on September 16th 1916 and Alfred who was shot at dawn for desertion on November 1st 1916. After a few words - from among others David Jeffries the Great Nephew of the Jeffries brothers, Geoff Woolfe (author of The Bristol Deserter) and Professor Lois Bibbings from […]
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Dare Devil Rides to Jarama

By Randell Brantley
DARE DEVIL RIDES TO JARAMA
A new play by Townsend Productions (the people who brought you United We Stand, a play about the Shrewsbury pickets) speedway, the wall of death and the Spanish Civil War - DARE DEVIL RIDES TO JARAMA. To you we speak, you numberless Englishmen, To remind you of the greatness still among you Created by these men who go from your towns To fight for peace, for liberty and for you. Clem Beckett and Christopher Caudwell were such men. Moved by most Spaniards’ determination to defend themselves […]
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National Memorial Arboretum, 29 Oct 2016

By Randell Brantley
Alfred Jefferies' stake in the Shot at Dawn Memorial within the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
Three more of the British and Commonwealth soldiers executed during the First World War were remembered on Saturday at the Shot at Dawn Memorial within the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire with a re-dedication service. The Memorial, which was unveiled in 2001, commemorates men shot for disciplinary offences in recognition that the quality of justice they received was likely to be very poor, with no legal representation and a short trial, and that many were suffering from shell-shock, […]
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90th anniversary of the 1926 General Strike

By Randell Brantley
poster
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 […]
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