A Sea-Faring Family – the PINES of Bristol, Liverpool and Australia
A large part of the fun of family history is making contact with distant relatives that you never knew you had. This is especially so nowadays with the joys of the internet and this...
Sarah Matthews: A Poke from the Psychic Facebook
“Overture and Beginners Please” Miss Sarah Matthews was a surprise package. I had never heard of her before. She had a life of two halves: an actress from our Theatre Royal, Bristol who was...
A Bristol Man aboard the Titanic
On 14 April 1912, the White Star liner ss Titanic struck an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic. Within hours she sank to the bottom of the ocean. Of 2,200 passengers, only about...
“ZULU CHIEF DIES A SOLDIER’S DEATH” – Buried at Arno’s Vale
“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...
My World Cup, 1966
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...
A Bristol Policeman – 1836-1857 – Revisited
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...
George HARVEY, Bailiff at Easton Colliery, Bristol, and the ‘Harvey Jar’
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...
Burnt at the Stake: Jane Lumock and Mary Norwood
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...
The Temperance Queen & the Whitsuntide Procession
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...
Killed in a Coal Pit – Tragedy at Golden Valley, Bitton 1882
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...
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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