An author who set about trying to write about the influence of women in the history of Bristol – and put together a book detailing the story of 250 different women who helped build the city – has found so many untold stories of unsung women that she’s about to published her third volume.
The first ‘The Women Who Built Bristol’ came out back in 2018, and sought to re-establish the role played by 250 different women in the history of Bristol, from Norman times to the present day.
Jane Duffus’ compendium of brilliant women who helped shape Bristol into the vibrant city it is today included everyone from pinmakers to police chiefs, and workhouse inmates to Lord Mayors. The book was a huge success, but within days of it being published, more untold stories of women in Bristol in the past centuries up to the present day began to be collated.
Volume Two, a second book of another 250 women followed after the pandemic, and now, Jane Duffus has found another 250 women who played important roles in Bristol’s history and story – and a third volume is now about to hit the bookshops.
“Who said there are not many women in Bristol’s history? Not me, that’s for sure!” joked Jane.
“The women profiled this time include the two girls thrown over the Clifton Suspension Bridge by their desperate father – they survived, the prominent portrait photographer with strong suffrage ideals, the women who lived in a cemetery for more than 100 years, the greengrocer who sold the very first bananas in Bristol and a woman who quite literally built Bristol by virtue of owning a building company.
In between Volume 2 and Volume 3, Jane was busy writing a biography of the 80s and 90s Bristol-based indie record label Sarah Records, which still has a cult following among music-lovers.
The Women Who Built Bristol: Volume Three is being published at the beginning of March and already available for pre-order. A launch event is being held at the Bristol Old Vic on Monday, March 3, which will start with an ‘in conversation’ event with the author talking to BBC Bristol’s Laura Rawlings, and then there will be a one-night-only return of the famous What The Frock! Comedy nights, starring stand up acts Dani Johns and Ada Campe.