On Giants’ Shoulders – Clifton Suspension Bridge & Museum, 26 September 2024. A personal view
My sister-in-law has just acquired a black Alsatian puppy in place of my brother’s old dog which died recently. I asked the pup’s name. She said: “Brunel! You know he was Colin’s hero?” Yes,...
CONNECTIONS! Two Chalk Horses & a Canal – Cherhill, Westbury & Caen Hill Locks.
Like to the lark at break of day arising, (from sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate Sonnet 29, Shakespeare It is not strictly true to say I had never seen the Chalk Horses...
The Willoughby family of Brislington – revisited
The Willoughby family, Roman Catholic gentry, at “Wick”, Brislington, 1787 – 1824. When my friend sent me a cutting of an oldish article from a family tree magazine she did so because it covered...
“Come Out with Me”, Then and Now.
A glorious late spring day in 2024, one to anticipate sumer is acumin in, luhde sing cuc-cu, wrong on both counts (at least so far – I’m writing in mid-July – not much summer...
The Life & Sea-faring Times of Richard Hendy, Mariner
Richard Hendy is a Bristol man who spent much of his life at sea, starting as a galley boy (aged 14) in Atlantic Convoys (oil tankers) with the Norwegian Merchant Fleet. After the war...
“Free Coloured Persons”: the ancestral story of Charles Walter Cumberbatch
“Going to Barbados” (a euphemism for being “under the influence”.) Benjamin Franklin, 1737. (attrib.) [1] “Barbados is the other place where I like to be.” Cliff Richard. Introduction This is the sequel to “Pamela...
My Pillinger Women: No. 4 – Martha Britton Pillinger and her daughter, Pamela Pillinger Cumberbatch
On 12th May 1850 when a baby girl was baptised at a small village in Somerset called Queen Charlton, her first name may have caused a slight flutter of interest, as it did to...
Charmouth Tales: “All he did was sell Monmouth some fish……”
Only a few days back from Charmouth in Dorset, so I’m still demob-happy, not yet ready to contemplate the list of historical ideas I’ve got for future blogs in the dark days and long...
Finding Pollie Wells
In 1874 a young woman called Pollie Wells wrote to her brother Charlie at Southampton. Exactly a hundred years later I saved the letter from the flames – her niece, an old lady called...
‘No Place like Home’ – Clements & Hodgetts: a Family Story
Chapter 11 of my book, ‘Killed in a Coalpit’, about the lives of the Kingswood district colliers is entitled ‘A Young Hero – Edward Albert Powell’, who was known as Ted. At the age...
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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