Five Collier Boys
On pages 126 -127 of my book, ‘Killed in a Coalpit’ there is a picture of five young colliers named Stephen Hill, Daniel Poole, George Garland, Charles Lewis and Isaac Britain. They were entombed...
The Temperance Queen & the Whitsuntide Procession
In my young days one of the highlights of the year was the Whitsuntide Procession which took place in Kingswood every Whit Monday. The Procession, 10,000 strong, made up of the congregations of local...
Victoria Park: The Anatomy of a Dead-end Street
The Story of the street in Kingswood where I was brought up. For thirty years of my life, give or take the few when I went travelling, I lived at no. 33 Victoria Park,...
The Underground Men: A Personal View of the Kingswood Colliers
This article was written in Spring 1981 and published in Avon Past issue No 4 (the journal of the Avon Archaeological Council and the Avon Local History Association (ALHA). This article was very much...
Survivor of Ravensbruck: Stefania Ekner, nee Biegarczyk, 1921-2001
Family History research often leads to something entirely unexpected. In 2014, my first cousin Jack GREGORY was due to attain a milestone birthday. What to give a 90 year-old-man? The majority of us who...
Killed in a Coalpit – Lives of the Kingswood Colliers. JUST WHEN YOU THINK THERE IS NOTHING MORE TO ADD…………
At the “Book Launch” at Kingswood Heritage Museum on 29 November 2016 Mr Roger Curtis who was at the event, sent me this picture (above) believed to be at Hanham Pit, showing his grandfather,...
The Pillinger Family History in Four Volumes
How it all started for me! This is the history of the Pillinger Family that I began to unearth nearly 50 years ago when I stumbled across a gravestone in St Luke’s churchyard in...
A Victorian Girl
The Victorian Girl is the Cinderella story in reverse. Mary Britton, previously Leighton, was a dear old soul, who was “in Service’ in Downend from leaving school until her late marriage to Samuel Britton....
‘Non-affectionate’ memories of H.H. & S. Budgett
As told to me by the late Leslie Phillips, 1905-1995. Leslie said “I worked for H.H. & S. Budgett from October 1927 to May 1928. I was their first graduate entrant, having come straight...
Kingswood Index
Beware Family History! In the early stages of my research, nearly fifty years ago, long, long before computers, even before the majority of parish registers found their way into archives offices, when appointments had...
About Me
I have been researching the social history of the West Country for 45 years. During this time I have collated information on a wide range of people living and working in the West Country including miners, ethnic minorities, petty criminals, sailors, tommies, benefactors, brassmakers and many more. The thing that I find amazing is that ordinary people always lived extraordinary lives. I hope you like my blog that brings together my lifetime of research.
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