In the early 1800s ten female convicts in Bristol Newgate Gaol (now the site of The Galleries shopping centre) were sentenced to ‘transportation beyond the seas’ – Australia. While much is known about these women after they were transported, almost nothing is known of their lives, and crimes, here. We’re exploring their Bristol stories through a series of workshops with women who have experienced the criminal justice system today. Two of the ten women transported lived in Bedminster and […]
Not A BRHG Event
Rosemary Caldicott and Mark Steeds will be speaking at the Colonialism and Memory in Bristol. Join us for a public workshop on colonialism and memory in Bristol. Moving between the museum, the city, and space for discussion and reflection, we’ll be asking what decolonisation means, what it might look like in practice, as well as the challenges facing these efforts. Join us at the M Shed in Bristol on 1st July, The workshop is free and refreshments and lunch will be provided, but space is limited […]
Not A BRHG Event
Stephen Hunt of Bristol Radical History Group will be speaking at the Clevedon Literary Festival. From the website: Stephen Hunt, author of Angela Carter’s Provincial Bohemia, will explore how Carter’s experiences during the 1960s strongly influenced her development as a writer and will discuss how in recent years we have begun to memorialise her residence in the area. Steve is a member of Bristol Radical History Group and has written several highly acclaimed pamphlets on Bristol artistic […]
From local councillor to welfare benefits adviser, radio presenter and campaigner for the rights of older people, Judith is a dynamo who doesn’t stop, despite being in her eighties. Judith was interviewed by Trish Mensah for the Activist Memories series, supported by Bristol Older People’s Forum. The Activist Memories series captures, through oral history interviews, the life experience of those who have fought for a better world.
What is the connection between the Bristol Sharples family of artists, the American Revolution of the 1780s and the Royal West of England Academy of Art? Join Lee Cox in exploring the places where Ellen and Rolinda Sharples lived and worked at the beginning of the 19th century. Rolinda became the only female member of the Bristol School of Narrative Artists, whilst the Sharples family little known legacy led to the establishment of equal art training opportunities for women alongside men […]
‘Women’s Threads of Bristol’ aims to create a comprehensive visual illustration of places in Bristol that are named after women – roads, buildings, parks, blue plaques, murals – all are relevant. It encourages exploration of who these women were and what they did to earn recognition. But, just as importantly, it asks people to suggest who they think should be on the map. Who were our female community champions? Which women dedicated their lives towards science, health, teaching, equalities, the […]
The unveiling of a blue plaque to Hilda Cashmore, the first warden of Bristol's Barton Hill Settlement, took place at noon on 8 March, 2023 (International Women's Day). A Quaker, feminist, social reformer and educator, whose work led to her election as the first woman president of the British Association of Residential Settlements, Cashmore was one of a number of influential women social reformers in early twentieth-century Bristol. After the unveiling, Helen Meller, author of the BRHG book […]
Mother and daughter artists Ellen and Rolinda Sharples lived through turbulent times on both sides of the Atlantic during the Georgian era. For a woman to become a professional artist was a radical act, for a blacksmith’s daughter like Ellen it is unique in the history of art. They sailed from Bristol to America, part of a wave of emigrants seeking opportunity in the Land of the Free. Ellen survived capture at sea and painted some of the most significant people of the time including the first […]
Angela Carter is one of the most important writers of the twentieth century, renowned for her dazzling imagination and radical creativity. Whilst living in Bristol for most of the 1960s, she took a degree in English Literature, started writing novels, played folk music and took art classes. To commemorate 25 years since her death in 1992, Marie Mulvey-Roberts and Fiona Robinson curated a major art exhibition at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol, Strange Worlds: The Vision of Angela […]
