Blog | Lucienne Boyce

Spotlight on…Adela Pankhurst (1885-1961)

…governess, she was shipped off to Australia in 1914. Here her career traced a trajectory from socialist to conservative, with several imprisonments along the way. Initially she worked for feminist,…

A Continent of Great Extent: Writing To The Fair Land

Some of you may remember Pythagoras and his theorem from maths lessons at school – and if like me you weren’t keen on maths, then I’m sure he didn’t endear …

No Votes for Women 100 – Mrs Mary Humphry Ward

In all the commemorations around the one hundredth anniversary of votes for (some) women, it’s easy to forget that there were many women who didn’t want the vote. In 1908 …

Spotlight On: Mabel Tothill 1869-1964

Mabel Tothill was a Quaker, a tireless worker for social reform , and a non-militant suffragist. She was born in Liverpool and her family moved to Bristol when her father …

Very Poor, Very Rich, or Very Bad: A Tour Around Bristol Archives

I had a fantastic afternoon at the West of England and South Wales Women’s History Network behind-the-scenes tour of Bristol Archives on 17 October 2017. Archivist Allie Dillon explained that …

Silver Sound 28 April 2017: Books, Books and More Books

“I do believe that something very magical can happen when you read a good book.” J K Rowling Today’s show was inspired by World Book Night which was on 23 …

Offside at the Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol

Last evening I went to see Offside at the Wardrobe Theatre in Old Market, Bristol. The play, by Sabrina Mahfouz and Hollie McNish, was performed by Daphne Kouma, Tanya-Loretta Dee …

Silver Sound 31 March 2017: World Music, Theatre and Dance

Today’s guest was Stephen Pritchard, a Bristol-based drama consultant and practitioner, lecturer, workshop leader and music enthusiast. Stephen is also a co-founder, with Peter Gabriel, of WOMAD, the world music …

Suffragettes in Trousers

I love Murdoch Mysteries, a television detective series set in early 1900s Toronto. Recently I enjoyed an episode (Victor, Victorian) which featured a group of women who regularly dressed up …

Silver Sound 24 February 2017: Dyslexia-Friendly Books

Today’s guests were Bristol crime thriller writer Helen Abbott (who writes as A A Abbott) and Alistair Sims, owner of the independent book shop, Books on the Hill in Clevedon, …

Silver Sound 27 January 2017: Where’s My Money?

Today’s guest was Bristol writer Mike Manson. Mike has written a number of non-fiction books about Bristol, including Riot! The Bristol Bridge Massacre of 1793; Bristol Beyond the Bridge: The …

Rebellion Against Tyrants: Suffragette Graffiti in Holloway Prison

The closure of Holloway Prison in July 2016 prompted many people to remember some of the women imprisoned there since it opened in 1852, amongst them militant suffragettes. Some of …