“With military honours, a Zulu Chief who served with the South African Labour Battalion was buried at Arno’s Vale on Saturday. His name was Private Mrogoy Modlala (sic) who died at Southmead War Hospital...
Did I dream it? Did it really happen? And did Mum really say “Well, I’ve never seen anything like that…..the poor chap,” as the North Korean player in one of the qualifying rounds came...
Isaac Pillinger was born in 1806 and christened on Christmas Eve 1809 at St John’s church in Bedminster, the son of William Pillinger and his wife Jemima. (These parents are a mystery couple: though...
I first heard the story of the Harvey Jar from Becky Bull. The Jar is a treasured possession of the Harvey family of New Zealand. Becky saw it when she visited relatives in Wellington...
From the Middle Ages the penalty for the murder of a wife by a husband was to be hanged by the neck until dead, but the murder of a husband by a wife was...
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...
On Sunday 26 March 1882, smoke was seen billowing from the top of the New Pit, in Golden Valley, Bitton. Abraham Cook, 55, the bailiff, insisted on going down the pit, against the better...
On Thursday 27 September 1764, a spinster in late middle-age, Miss Jefferies, went to her sister Frances’s house on College Green where she had been invited to dine at 12 noon. It appears the...
With the Euros on our collective minds I am honouring our Brislington family team, the Miller family. By 1901 the Millers arrived at 9 Grove Road with a large family and were soon blessed...
The Bristol Mercury of 13 June 1846 tells of a recent event in Gloucester when on Tuesday night at nearly midnight, a girl of abandoned character nicknamed ‘Welsh Nan’ with her hair dishevelled, her...
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.
Richard Hendy, mariner, 1926-2024
12 December 2024
The dashing, young Charles Rose Perrett!
20 October 2024
Gleson/Glisson Family of Brislington
06 October 2024
