Events Archive - Page 34 of 56 - Bristol Radical History Group

Deserters, Conchies and Reds

Bristolian opposition to the First World War

The Bristol Deserter – Alfred Jefferies – His War Story During World war One nearly 300 British soldiers on the Western Front were shot at dawn for deserting or for ‘cowardice’. One victim, Alfred Jefferies, a Bristolian, was executed on 1st November 1916. Based on official archives, including war diaries and court martial records, Geoff Woolfe describes Alfred’s tragic war story, whilst questioning the extent to which the full facts of some war events can be known. Freedom of Soul Two weeks […]

Opening the Archives

Resistance to World War One in Bristol

In a long tradition of Opening the Archives events the excellent Central Reference Library staff have done us proud in presenting a collection of primary sources relating to resistance and reaction during World War One. So come on down and sample the actual sources in the Bristol Room, from anti-war posters, flyers and pamphlets to jingoist vitriol. Highly recommended.

Women Resisting the Great War

The Friends of Alice Wheeldon In 1917 a Derby socialist and feminist in the anti-war movement, Alice Wheeldon was sent to prison on the evidence of an agent provocateur for plotting to kill Lloyd George. The evidence was flimsy, her accuser so dubious the prosecution kept him away from the trial. In this new, revised edition of The Friends of Alice Wheeldon Sheila Rowbotham reveals how militarism and fears about security contrived to devastate the lives of an ordinary family in Derby. The […]

Hidden Histories of World War One

Bristol Radical History Group are hosting the international History From Below network conference which brings together historian-activists from all over Europe. This is a great opportunity to hear international perspectives, as participants in the conference give short presentations on hidden histories of World War One. In addition we will be exhibiting a collection of anti-war art by one of the most influential graphic artists of the 1980s, Gee Vaucher of CRASS, who will be discussing her work […]

Echoes of the ‘Great War’

Imperialism, displacement and migration

World War One is often characterised in the popular memory through the narrative of trench warfare on the Western Front. However, it was a global war fought by imperialist powers, ranging from Africa and the Middle East to the South Pacific. These conflicts, essentially struggles to create or maintain empires, shaped the modern world, not only for the warring powers but crucially for their colonial ‘subjects’. We live with the resonances of WW1 today, from Rwanda to Kurdistan and from Palestine […]

World War One: Arming All Sides

After the First World War many believed the arms trade to be a primary cause of war. The unprecedented scale of death and destruction wrought by modern weaponry led a majority of people to support disarmament and international conciliation. The Arming All Sides project questions what role the arms trade played before, during and after the war, what opposition was mounted to the trade and how the war affected what people thought about making and selling armaments. Join us to explore how the arms […]

1914-1918: The War within the War

As we mark the centenary of the First World War, this epochal event is usually remembered as a bloody conflict between rival alliances of nations. But there was another struggle as well: between people who regarded the war as a noble and necessary crusade, and a brave minority who felt it was tragic madness and who refused to fight. Writer Adam Hochschild describes this battle in an illustrated talk, focusing on the country where that tension was sharpest, Great Britain. Adam Hochschild's […]

The Commons or the True Commons

As part of his whistlestop tour of England, we are very pleased to have Peter Linebaugh visiting Bristol. His co-authored book (with Marcus Rediker) The Many-Headed Hydra: The Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic both inspired BRHG and provided Hydra Bookshop with its name. His recently published Stop, Thief!: The Commons, Enclosures, and Resistance (PM Press, 2014) provides the basis of this talk. Setting out to George's Hill in April 1649 Winstanley and a dozen others announced in […]

Eastville Workhouse Planning Meeting

Planning meeting regarding Eastville Workhouse and remembering the paupers buried in Rosemary Green. Thursday 9th October 7.00pm-9.00pm. St Anne's Church, St Leonards Road, Greenbank, Bristol, BS5 6JN It has been over a month since we first met to discuss the 3,500 or so unmarked 'paupers' graves in Rosemary Green. Since then a number of people who were not at this original meeting have contacted Bristol Radical History Group (BRHG) to register an interest, including some who have relatives […]

Remembering Eastville Workhouse

Public meeting St Anne's Church, St Leonards Road, Greenbank, Bristol, BS5 6JN Over the last two years local historians from Bristol Radical History Group (BRHG) have been researching an old burial ground that lies on Rosemary Green (BS5 6LB) between Rosemary Lane and Greenbank View in Greenbank, East Bristol. It appears that upwards of 3,000 paupers from the Eastville Workhouse (originally 100 Fishponds Rd) were buried in unmarked graves on the site between 1855 and 1895. BRHG believe the […]