Our new book, The Women of Bridgwater: Stories from the Wembdon Road Cemetery, is now available.
The book tells the broad story of the women of Bridgwater, from the 1760s through to 1945, through 65 biographies of girls and women buried in the cemetery. It was written by Clare Spicer and Jillian Trethewey, with an introduction by Michelle Craig and edited by her and Miles Kerr-Peterson.
Themes of the Women of Bridgwater:
- Childhood experiences, from grinding poverty to middle-class affluence.
- Adolescence, from grinding labour to education.
- Success Stories, breaking out of poverty.
- Women crushed by the system, poverty or just unable to conform to Victorian society
- The dangers and expectations of motherhood.
- Occupations including servants, brickyard workers (including children), garment makers, shopkeepers, pub keepers, nurses, midwives, teachers, farmers, cooks, librarians, hawkers, and more.
- Cultural Figures including an international celebrity, celebrated singers, and carnival costume makers.
- Social Reformers including philanthropists of education and music, social campaigners (both liberal and tory), and, of course, suffragettes.
- Women’s Roles and Experiences through a series of historic events, from famine in the 1810s, Cholera in the 1840s, brickyard strikes in the 1880s and 1890s, and on the home front in the First and Second World War.
- With comment throughout on the life experiences of women – rich and poor – from childhood through to old age.
Some examples include:
- The Spiller Sisters – notable local education campaigners, who fought the brickyard owners to ensure the poor could have education. They founded Somerset Bridge School.
- The Crocker Sister – this story explores the horrific exploitation of workhouse orphans.
- Nellie King – a wonderful prosperous and well respected businesswoman who ran the Royal Clarence Hotel.
- Mary Ann Pole and Emma Pitman – Midwives from the 1860s to 1920s.
- Josaphine Clofullia – a charismatic Entertainer, and P.T. Barnham’s Bearded Lady.
- Elizabeth Humphries – a notable maker of carnival costumes.
- Elizabeth Thompson – an agitator for votes for women.
You can purchase your copy directly here. All proceeds support the restoration of the cemetery.
