‘Freedom of Soul’: Bristol and Opposition to the First World War

"In the first decade of the 20th century, the Bristol Socialist Rambling Club had better things to think about than the possibility of world war. On their expeditions, they recorded, tea was ‘partaken of at a pre-arranged beauty spot’, ‘games were participated in’ and a choir‘delighted all by rendering of part songs and glees". Colin Thomas looks at the actions taken by the Left in Bristol in the run-up to World War One, and what paths were taken as the conflict loomed over Bristol.

“The poor do not need long epitaphs”: the provenance of some West Country memorials

An epitaph may be defined as something written about the dead. Often epitaphs found on gravestones and memorials are wholly or in part some fitting quotation or poem which, from the perspective of the bereaved, seems to befit the departed. In this article, Michael Weller explores the provenance of those epitaphs found on gravestones of south west England, and the very different form of writing found on memorial plaques and the like