'In this paper Weller demonstrates that, chiefly with "examples from the parishes in and around Bristol and Somerset, that the older church buildings we see today, whilst for the most part still possessing a Medieval structural core, have undergone varying degrees of transformation, sometimes including partial or occasionally total demolition, during the Victorian Age"'.
Tag: twentieth century
Prosecuting Bristol’s Fascists, 1934-1944
"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".
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".
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".
‘In Proud and Loving Remembrance’: The Ashley Down Boys School War Memorial
"The ubiquity of war memorials can lead to them being taken for granted as part of our everyday landscape. Ashley Down Boys School was one of many Bristol schools that memorialised men after the war. The school’s records and the histories of the men who died can be used to examine the motivations behind remembrance, particularly in the decade after the war. By considering the original story of the placing of such a memorial we are able to reconnect to the initial impetus behind such commemorations; the simple desire to remember the sons and brothers lost in the conflict and the need to effect reconciliation with grief so those left behind could carry on with their lives".
Bristol’s War at Sea
This article is about how Bristol's involvement in each of the World Wars affected the atmosphere in the city, especially as a port city it played a key role in proceedings with supply transportation. Furthermore, Byrne emphasises the effect that the German U-Boats had, providing an invisible enemy to be wary of whilst the city played its part in bolstering the war effort.
Community Capitalism and the Governance of Victorian Bristol
"The phrase ‘community capitalism’ was coined by Charles Harvey and John Press: Before 1914, there existed in Bristol a close knit business community with a commitment to the economic well-being of the city. The leaders of this community– men like Sir George White, Albert Fry, Christopher Thomas and Joseph Wethered – formed an economic elite with powerful social and political connections. They jointly promoted many companies, held many directorships,and controlled a large number of major enterprises. This was not so much family capitalism as community capitalism".
The Glenside Irish: Irish Nurses at Glenside Hospital, 1920-1957
"When discussing the Irish in twentieth century Britain, one could be forgiven for thinking first of the ‘Irish Navvy’, building workers who were as notorious for their alleged drunkenness as for their prevalence on construction sites in post-war Britain... This article will focus on the Irish nursing staff employed at Glenside Hospital, Bristol’s psychiatric hospital from the end of the First World War. This is predominantly based on staff records from the hospital, which were often very detailed and included next of kin, as well as nationality, length of employment, religious affiliation and general comments from the matron on the suitability of the individual for nursing".
Aftermaths of war: Bristol in three civil defence plans, 1939-1967
"Three civil defence exercises covering Bristol – in 1939, the 1950s and 1960s – not only have an eerie fascination for their word-pictures of a city plunged into imaginary wars; the written scenarios also throw light on what concerned the scenario writers. As the likely damage in war became more than the authorities could handle, so the planners’ responses took a sinisterly authoritarian turn"
The 1913 Suffrage Pilgrimage, Electioneering and Women’s Politics in Bristol
"The aim of this article is also to shift attention away from the suffragettes towards a consideration of the broader base of suffrage politics in Bristol in the immediate pre-war years. By examining the non- militant, or constitutional movement, we can gain a more complex picture of the nature of support for women’s suffrage and can assess its long lasting influence on the politics of the city".