"During the Second World War a handful of local fascists or former fascists were detained in the Bristol area as potential security threats. Others were prosecuted for apparently expressing pro-German sympathies and even trying to sabotage the war effort. Eugene Byrne looks at some of these cases".
Year: 2016
A Mystery at the Eleventh Hour
"Of the carefree outings that were possible in 1914, that balmy final Saturday in June witnessed some of the last of a passing age. The following day, Sunday 28 June, is remembered for the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie Chotek von Chotkova, the killings in Sarajevo widely regarded as starting the countdown to the Great War. Having stepped out that Saturday wearing white shoes, just over a thousand miles away from the expectant scene of those globally momentous events, Flora Roscoe’s 49 year old husband had uncharacteristically gone missing.In this article, Brian Edwards reopens the book on an unexplained disappearance".
Grounds for grave concern: cemeteries and their management in Bristol, past and present
"Not only does death connect human beings across place and time; few other areas of human experience than disposal of the dead are so replete with existential meaning,yet simultaneously quite so prosaic". Helen Frisby and Stuart Prior look at the management of cemeteries in Bristol, as well as reflecting on the Graves Commission, which they were both a part of.
Industrial Landscapes of Victorian Bristol
"Two common observations about the development of Bristol in the 19th Century are that its economy was notably diverse but that it grew rather more slowly than some of the more vibrant northern industrial towns. In this article, Peter Malpass considers the ways in which these traits were reflected in the development of the city’s built environment".
The Surgeon and the Lunatics
"Nineteenth century commentators on mental illness were often fascinated by the outward signs of difference between sane and insane behaviour, and the relative changes brought about in each patient’s demeanour and expression by treatment in the asylum. As Michael Whitfield finds here, these interests could be as common in the newspaper press as they were amongst surgeons".
Charles Houlden Walker, 1776-1844, Attorney and Publicist
"John Lyes considers the career of an overlooked Bristol lawyer and finds him to have been a feisty and prolific criminal justice campaigner... Walker was also a regular writer of letters to the local press". Walker protested injustices wherever he could, whether they happened to him or others he saw it as his duty to try and make changes to the system.
The Shirehampton Powder House: exploding some myths
"The Powder House, sometimes referred to as The (Gun-)Powder Magazine, is a well-known landmark on the bank of the Avon in Shirehampton. A number of misunderstandings about its nature and history are in common circulation. In this article, using evidence which is in the public domain but not widely known,Richard Coates attempts to set the record straight".