Blog | Lucienne Boyce

It’s not just the Suffragettes! A Blue Plaque for Bristol’s non-militant suffrage campaigners

A Blue Plaque to the Bristol and West of England Women’s Suffrage Society will be unveiled on 15 December 2018. Although I’ve written about the militant suffragettes, why was it …

Captain James Cook at the British Library – Exhibition

In August 2018 I saw the British Library exhibition “Captain Cook: The Voyages”. I was particularly interested in it because Cook’s voyages were one of the inspirations behind my first …

Anne and Mary: Pirates! A Guest Blog by Helen Hollick

Theirs was a harsh life, overshadowed each day by the presence of death, but the lure of gold, the excitement of the Chase – and the freedom that life aboard …

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 …