Here at Gloucestershire Archives, we are lucky enough to deal with many rare and unique items. One such item that recently made its way to us from Canada is the Catherine Dickinson sketchbook which has been assigned the reference D6/F172/5.
What is the connection between Gloucestershire, India and Canada you may very well ask?
Continue readingThe subject of mental health is very much in the news these days, but the historic record shows that the topic is anything but new. In fact, Gloucestershire Archives holds the largest collection of mental health records of any repository in the country. These are on the whole related to the City’s three mental health institutions Barnwood House Private Mental Hospital and Trust, Horton Road County Lunatic Asylum and Coney Hill Hospital.
Continue readingOur tale this time takes us to Cheltenham. Or as it was known when I was a wee boy “Chelpenum”. Cheltenham is the second biggest town in Gloucestershire after Gloucester which is the county town. Cheltenham is famed as a spa town and the home of the Cheltenham races. Cheltenham stands on the small River Chelt, which rises nearby at Dowdeswell and runs through the town on its way to the Severn. It was first recorded in 803, as Celtan hom; the meaning has not been resolved with certainty, but latest scholarship concludes that the first element preserves a Celtic noun cilta, ‘steep hill’, here referring to the Cotswold scarp; the second element may mean ‘settlement’ or ‘water-meadow’.
Continue readingIt’s said that only two things are certain in life: death and taxes. As we hurtle headlong towards the end of the financial year, we thought it might be interesting to know exactly why we have this current system whereby the calendar year starts on 1 January, but the tax year starts on 6 April.
Continue readingLast year we hosted two workshops with artist Tom Marshman looking at uncovering queer stories within our collections. For LGBTQ+ history month I want to share two of these stories with you.
It can sometimes be difficult to uncover the stories of LGBTQ+ people throughout history, due to the stigma and laws prosecuting people who identified under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. We started our search by looking though Gloucestershire newspapers, and this is how we found both Chummy and Charley Wilson.
Continue readingHappy New Year from all at Gloucestershire Archives and our Heritage Hub partners.
This blog details accessions received at Gloucestershire Archives during the second half of 2022. These can be from any place, person or organisation in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire.
In that time we added 226 new accessions onto our online catalogue. This includes oral reminiscence recordings with members of different communities in Gloucester; documents concerning the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the Proclamation of King Charles III; research papers of local historians; Gloucester Rugby Football Club matchday programmes; cinema and theatre programmes; short films and other material concerning the Kindertransport hostel in Gloucester; records of the Ducarel family of Newland House; and Witts family papers, including correspondence and papers relating to the army and estate and finance, 20th century.
Continue readingI was nineteen before the internet reached me. So I have little memory of what it means to be in an adult world without the trappings of the World Wide Web. Like so many others, I run my life from my family iPad: online shopping, banking, travel plans and research, to name just a few areas. And it’s always intrigued me how people managed such areas of their life without the internet. And that’s when I discovered collection D10423.
Continue readingSoldiers of Gloucestershire Museum volunteer and military history expert Michael Orr has written this guest blog about the adoption of Ovillers-La Boisselle.
Continue readingOn Friday September 9th why not attend part or all of our History Festival/Voices Gloucester event, Innovations in Gloucester, in the Dunrossil Centre at Gloucestershire Heritage Hub?
It’s all free, although donations to Voices Gloucester are welcomed. Bring a picnic to enjoy in the Hub’s community garden. The building is fully accessible. There is some on-site parking (£3) – we’re also close to NCP car parks. For further details and to book a place see https://voicesgloucester.org.uk/events/innovations-in-gloucester/.
Continue readingSimon is the volunteer archivist for the Three Choirs Festival and has written this blog to coincide with the Hereford festival 2022.
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Gloucestershire Archives 