Bristol Radical History Group presents an innovative exhibition of resistance to fascism in the city in the 1970s, through a collection of rare contemporary posters, badges, pamphlets, photographs and film. This visually powerful exhibition considers the role that Bristolians played in standing up to and confronting the rise of the far-right and racist National Front during the 1970s. The first warning came fifty years ago – the National Front decided to put up candidates in Bristol. The […]
An urban walk that explores the political reverberations of the first cholera outbreak in Bristol in 1832. The 1830s was a time of radical political and social division in Britain. At this moment a terrible disease arrived in the country – the Cholera Morbus. It seemed to afflict old and young alike, doctors were baffled by its cause, and for some of its victims it led to a terrible end. The walk examines the social, economic, cultural and political impacts of the epidemic in the South West. The […]
100 Years of Struggle is an unusual documentary made to mark the centenary of the Bristol Trades Union Council (BTUC) in 1973. Although it was transmitted by BBC Bristol, it was produced by the BTUC at a time when some organisations outside the Corporation were allowed to use BBC resources to have their own say. It was written, researched and presented by members of the BTUC and will be introduced by its director Colin Thomas.
Sheila Caffrey will talk about some of the picket lines and broader campaigns seen in Bristol in the last couple of years, and some of the bigger protests and how these have also affected the mood e.g. Black Lives Matter and COP-26, and the role Trades Unions have (or could have!) played in these. Sheila Caffrey is an active trade unionist in Bristol. She first got involved with Bristol Trades Council 15 years ago, after becoming a teacher and a campaigner in the National Union of Teachers […]
Catch Bristol’s wonderful Red Notes Choir, who will support the Bristol Radical History Festival by performing at 11:30am. They’ll be singing in the Ground Floor Foyer by the M Shed main entrance. The Red Notes Choir is a Bristol-based socialist choir. They have a repertoire of songs from around the world on historical, union, peace, green and human rights themes. “We use the streets of Bristol and further afield to spread our message of fighting for the rights of working people, those who are […]
The ‘Labour Revolt’ that swept Britain between 1910-14 was one of the most sustained, dramatic and violent explosions of industrial militancy and social conflict the country has ever experienced. It involved large-scale strikes by miners, seamen, dockers, railway workers and many others, and was dominated by unskilled and semi-skilled workers, many acting independently of trade-union officials. Amidst this powerful grassroots energy, the country saw widespread solidarity action, […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
The Bristol Tramways Lock-Out, 1901 - Rob Whitfield In the summer of 1901 the Bristol Tramways Company sacked 90 employees who had recently joined the Gasworkers’ and General Labourers’ Union. Another 300 tramways employees went on strike in support of their dismissed fellow workers. This action by the Tramways Company was a direct challenge to the trade union movement in Bristol and beyond, and the wider labour movement rallied in support of the tramwaymen. The company threw all the resources […]
