A Present from Queen Victoria
Some years ago my distant cousin, the artist and author Ian Pillinger bought a bag of items in a junk shop which “looked interesting”. Being a man of many talents, he started to put...
Bristol is a village……or…….Who will I find next?
It has been said often enough that “Bristol is a village”; you will generally meet someone you know, or if you were my Dad, you would “get talking, and know their Auntie Fanny” or...
I love synchronicity – how I ended up owning a Lysaght’s plaque
I love synchronicity. The story of how I was given my treasured drawing of the Five Collier Boys was at that very moment in preparation and not quite ready to go up on the...
Ram Hill Colliery – Heritage Open Day Sunday 19th Sept, 10.30-4pm
Visit this 19th century mine site, with the remains of the mine shaft, horse-gin, bunkers and Dramway. Take a walk through the woodland area and enjoy this fine example of local history. Find us...
My Memories of 9/11
“Why didn’t they use their cell phones?” an American child is reported to have said recently at the 9/11 Memorial Exhibition in New York. A British boy or girl may have been equally baffled....
Joachim Ganz or Why I love research………you never know what you’ll find next!
A few years ago, an emailer to my website asked me to help find her Jewish ancestor who lived in Bristol. Alas I found nothing on the lady’s particular family, but after a few...
Five Collier Boys
On pages 126 -127 of my book, ‘Killed in a Coalpit’ there is a picture of five young colliers named Stephen Hill, Daniel Poole, George Garland, Charles Lewis and Isaac Britain. They were entombed...
Crowd funding 19th Century Style…….Jeremiah Pillinger and a tale of two (?) horses…..
Looking for a simple paragraph or two before my executive technical adviser goes on holiday, I dug this up. It proved more than I anticipated. Sorry Kevin: From Bristol Gazette, 5 March 1807: “To...
Hard Times: Another Victorian Girl – Harriet Bumford Darke, c1831-1895
Harriet’s Story Thomas Bumford and Amelia Evans were married on 3rd August 1828 at Abergavenny, a small Welsh market town on the river Usk about six miles from the border with England. This is...
A mural of Bristol civil rights hero Roy Hackett taken down by emergency services
Avon and Somerset Police were called to St Paul’s when rendering on the side of a building came loose. They then called on firefighters from Temple to join them in Byron Street after part...
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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Richard Hendy, mariner, 1926-2024
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