Bristol Archives | Lucienne Boyce

A Guided Tour of Bristol Old Vic (the Theatre Royal)

A few days ago I went on a Bristol Old Vic Guided Theatre Tour. As it’s an eighteenth century theatre I hoped it might be useful research for a story …

Commemorating eighteenth-century women writers and artists in Clifton, Bristol

Clifton in Bristol has many literary connections, not least of which is that it is the setting for much of Frances Burney’s first novel, Evelina (1778). Jane Austen visited in …

Lies At Her Door, A A Abbott (Perfect City Press, 2022)

Lies at Her Door is a psychological thriller set in one of the more affluent parts of affluent Clifton in Bristol. As a Bristolian, I enjoyed the setting and recognising …

Fanny Fields, the Bristol Favourite: Dutch Girls, Suffragettes and Music Hall

My postcard collection includes this picture of Fanny Fields, a music hall star whose song The Suffragette was one of many music-hall references to the militant suffrage campaign of the …

Spotlight on…Mabel Harriette Cross, Suffragist

Usually referred to as Mrs W C H Cross, she was born Mabel Harriette Duncan in Bristol in 1872. Her mother was Adelaide, and her father, Edward Duncan, was a …

Spotlight On…George Abraham Gibbs (1873–1931)

Tyntesfield, near Wraxall, North Somerset This is the view from our picnic spot when we had a day out at Tyntesfield just outside Bristol recently. Tyntesfield is now …

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 …

Silver Sound 6 January 2017: Bristol, Balloons and Shaun the Sheep!

Today’s guest was Bristol artist Jenny Urquhart. Jenny creates contemporary, vibrant paintings of her favourite places, working with acrylic, ink, collage, computer-based graphics, and photography. She is best known for …

The Bristol Boys: The Bare Knuckle Champions and The Hatchet Inn

The Hatchet Inn on Frogmore Street in Bristol is all that remains of a row of seventeenth-century timbered houses dating back to 1606 – making it one of the city’s …

Spotlight on…Dorothy Pethick (1881-1970)

When Winston Churchill came to Bristol in 1909, a number of women came to the city to help Bristol organiser Annie Kenney organise protests during his visit. Actions included window …

Spotlight On…Begbrook House, Frenchay, Bristol

On 11 November 1913, the head gardener at Begbrook House in Frenchay near Bristol discovered that the building was on fire. The house stood in its own wooded grounds, and …

‘The Suffragettes were in the organ’

I’ve been so busy preparing The Bristol Suffragettes for publication (expected in May) that I haven’t had a chance to write a blog for ages. With publication date drawing near, …