Hope Chapel was until recently used as the venue for Sunday night concerts and it was at several of these that I took down the following names from plaques on the walls. After the concerts and other community activities ceased the Chapel was threatened with closure and demolition. I am delighted to say it has been saved and now functions again as a place of worship – Hope Community Church.

http://www.hopechapel.co.uk/

ADAMS, Emma, 1864

“Jan 26, at Rownham Place, Hotwells, aged 20, deeply lamented, Miss Emma Adams, niece of Mr Lanham.” (BM 30.1.1864) Mr Lanham was born 1813 in Bath, a master baker and in 1861 was at Rownham Place with his wife and two daughters, and their nieces Emma and Ann Adams.

ATHERSUCH, E. 1914-18

(Sapper Edward Arthur James Athersuch, Royal Engineers, died 28.3.1918, aged 26, son of Mrs Elizabeth Priscilla Athersuch of 37 Ambra Vale East, Clifton Wood,  Pozieres Memorial - CWGC)

BAKER, Ann, 1798

BERDER, Elizabeth Lamplow, 1804

BISHOP, F.J. 1914-18

(Private, RAMC, 129th Field Ambulance, died 23.7. 1917, aged 21, son of Isaac & Alice Bishop, 4 Albemarle Row, Hotwells, Bard Cottage Cemetery, Belgium. – CWGC)

BUCHAN, Henrietta, 1823

DENFORD, Mary, 1851

“Feb 27 aged 63, Mary C. wife of Captain Denford, Albemarle Row, Clifton, universally regretted. Her loss will be felt amongst the poor to whom she was ever a kind benefactress.” (BM 8.3.1851). Mary Cure Denford died just before the census of 1851. In 1841 she was living at 12 Freeland Place, Clifton with her husband Charles (of independent means) and a young maidservant.

EDMUNDS, A.H. 1914-18

(Private, Kings Shropshire Light Infantry, 6th Bn, died 4.12.1917, Tin Court New British Cemetery, Somme – CWGC);

FOSTER, Henry, 1819

FRIEND, Sarah, 1791

GREGORY, Rev William, 1853

Rev William Gregory became Pastor in 1831 and his labours were “greatly blessed”. (see BM 14.7.1838) His death was announced in Bristol Mercury 19. 2.1853: “Feb 15 at his residence, The Polygon, Clifton, aged 47, the Rev Wm Gregory, for 21 years the faithful Pastor of Hope Chapel.”

GUY, Rev W.H., 1830

“April 1, the Rev William Henry Guy, pastor of Hope Chapel, Clifton, having during a long illness experienced the efficacy and truths of the Gospel he so faithfully preached to his now bereaved and mourning flock.” (BM 6.8.1830)

HARRIS, William, 1885

HOOD, C.E. 1914-18

(Charles Ernest Hood, son of Mr & Mrs J. Hood, 8 Freeland Place, Hotwells, aged 22, Royal Irish Regt, 6th Bn, died 7.6.1917, Ypres, Menin Gate. – CWGC)

HOPE, Charles, 1797

HOPE, Lady Henrietta, 1786

Lady Henrietta Hope gave £2,500 towards the erection of the Chapel but sadly died before it was completed, as did her two colleagues Lady Glenorchy and Lady Maxwell. Henrietta was buried at the Tabernacle in Bristol but her body was exhumed and brought to the Hope and placed in a vault beneath the chapel with a marble memorial erected on the spot. (see Bristol Mercury 14.7.1838)

HOPE, Catherine, 1802

LAWRENCE, Joseph, 1841

“June 14 at Rodney House, Weston-super-mare age 64 after a few days illness, Joseph Lawrence, Esq.” (BM 19.6.1841) 

LUKE, Samuel, 1865

“Oct 28 at Clifton, the Rev Samuel Luke aged 59.” (BM 31.10.1868)

POWELL, Alice, 1797

STEPHENS, T. 1914-18

(Thomas Stephens, A Coy, Glos. Regt, aged 27, died 27.8.1917. son of Henry & Frances Stephens, 270 Hotwells Rd and husband of Lilian Stephens, 13 Carters Buildings, Clifton. Tyne Cot. – CWGC)

WAY, T. 1914-18

(Private Thomas Way, South Staffs Regt. died 10.7.1916, Thiepval Memorial. – CWGC)

WIER, William Hope, 1811

YOUNG, A. 1914-18

(I believe he was either Albert or Arthur, but I cannot say for certain owing to the large numbers of men called “A. Young” on the CWGC lists.)

Notices from Bristol Mercury:

Obituaries

Rev. Joseph H. Browning, died in his 81st year at Wrington, Sept. 30th. One of the earliest students at the Countess of Huntingdon's College at Trevocca. Some time Pastor at Hope Chapel. (8.10.1836)

Marriages at Hope Chapel, 1843-52:

June 6, at Hope Chapel by Rev Wm Gregory, Samuel Backhouse, Esq., of Wells to Margaret dau of E. Fennell, Esq.. (10.6.1843)

June 28, at H.C. by Rev Thomas Winter, Mr W. Liddiatt to Miss M. Price, both of this City. (29.6.1844)

Oct 30, at H.C. Mr Isaac Hemmons of Bristol to Miss Mary Polglase of Bedminster. (16.11.1844)

Dec 27, at H.C. by Rev W. Gregory, Mr John Thorn, mason to Mary Amelia. d.o. Mr David Williams, builder, both of this City (4.1.1845)

Jan 23, by Rev H.I. Roper, Mr Wm Tilley of Bath to Anna Maria, only d.o. Mr S. Bowsey, Rosedale Cottage, Montpelier. (25.1.1845)

Mar 11, by Rev David Thomas, to Rev John Titley of Bath to Elizabeth Mary, widow of the late Henry Samuel Beer of Clifton. (13.3.1847)

Sep 18, Mr J.D. Rock of Islington to Emma, youngest d.o. late Rev John Guard. (2.10.1847)

Mar 9, by Rev Wm Gregory, Mr David Williams senior of Brunswick Place, Hotwells to Mrs Mary Powell of Montague Hill. (17.3.1849)

Feb 25, by Rev Wm Gregory. David Morris, lithographer, Commercial Street, Newport s.o. late Rev T. Morris, Baptist Minister, to Jane, youngest d.o. late Mr Thomas Morgan of Nelson Place, Clifton, (9.3.1850)

Feb 12, by Rev J.T. Beighton, Mr Matthew Dunlop of Wellington Place to Jane, only d.o. Mr Samuel Frost of Cumberland Terrace. (14.2.1852)

Misc:

Declaration by Ann Wall, wife of Thomas Wall, draper, 11 Wellington St., Clifton relating to death of William Hayman, 1815, and his burial at the Hope Chapel. Clifton. (81/PWT/120/1 1837 Plymouth & West Devon Record Office)

My mother shows me an advertisement in the Evening Post [around 1954] which reads: “Recruits Wanted for the Girls’ Nautical Training Corps. Apply Thursday evenings, 7 pm, TS “Lotus”, at the Charles Hill Dockyard.” I tingle with anticipation. This is for me; I can already feel the salt spray in my face, and the wind in my hair.

 

Alas for my romantic notions. TS “Lotus” was “a stone ship” firmly aground and there was no boat in which to put to sea, but the cadets seemed friendly, as were the officers, Mrs. Champion who was tall, dark and elegant, and pretty blonde Mrs. Kingsley.

We lined up in two watches, port and starboard, “tallest on the flanks, shortest amidships”, with the officers in front of the big ship’s brass bell and a flag pole, where the flag, a red ensign, would be “bent on” for colours and taken down at sunset. I was placed in the starboard watch.

I learned a few knots, and was kitted out in a smart uniform: navy blue skirt and jacket, white shirt, black tie, black stockings, a white lanyard and a round sailor hat, with the letters G.N.T.C. picked out on the black band. The officers had to be saluted “shortest up, shortest down” and never without your cap on. It was thrilling to be sometimes mistaken for a Wren, but needless to say silly boys called us “The Girls Naughty Training Corps.” I was so keen to receive my Ordinary Cadet armband that I tramped to the Dock Yard on a dark January evening - through the snow.

On Empire Youth Sunday in May 1955 we marched through Bristol with our sister unit from Avonmouth, behind the band of TS “Adventure”, the Sea Cadets’ unit. Unlike nowadays, the twain never trained together. Off duty, it was OK to fraternise, and Brian, the “Adventure” band’s Drum Major went out with Margaret Crew, one of our girls, which seemed impossibly glamourous.

It was our dream to get a boat. Eventually, Mrs. Champion found a small rowing boat, which we called “Lotus Bud”. She was tiny, taking three people at most, and badly needed repair. We held jumble sales and begged donations to raise funds and by the summer she was seaworthy. Before we could take her out we had to undergo a wet bob test to show we could swim. My swimming was never very good but I managed to pass. We had large “Mae West” type water wings, but I don’t recall any talk of insurance. Can you imagine nowadays a crowd of teenage girls with no previous experience rowing up and down the Dock, all the way to where the “Flying Fox” was once moored? Nowadays “Elf and Safety” would have a seizure. Nobody drowned or even fell in, but once we had a race with some Teddy Boys in another boat, and on another occasion we almost rammed a new vessel of Charles Hill’s. It was called “The Queen Mother” but no harm was done.

 

 

This the launch of “Lotus Bud” - I don’t remember who the man is, but I am next to him in the foreground with my head down. Mrs. Champion is standing on the left behind the two Petty Officers. I think the one nearest her is Margaret Crew. Is the officer in the “Bud” Miss Price?

Do you recognise anybody?

Later that summer, with another officer, Miss Price, we joined the Avonmouth girls for a “Crossing the Line” ceremony at Shirehampton fete. As Amphitrite, goddess of the sea, in a green shroud and seaweed in my hair, I instructed my “Doctors” to give a dose of jalap to three cowering Sea Cadets in girls’ clothes. When they were pronounced free of tropical diseases, they were ducked in a canvas tank filled with water. For obvious reasons, the boys gave false names: ‘Arry Ticker, Lofty, Jack Tar. Everybody concerned got very wet.

The next year I went to London to work and joined the Kilburn unit and made more good friends with whom I spent a never to be forgotten week aboard TS “Foudroyant” in Portsmouth Harbour (For more information see  http://www.hms-trincomalee.co.uk/) where we wore bell-bottomed trousers, and slept in hammocks, having to “lash up and stow” in the morning. After a cold water wash in “the heads”, we had seamanship classes or took up oars in the harbour in the whaler. Everyone who wished was allowed to climb so far up the mast into the rigging.

Aboard “Foudroyant” - I am in the middle – The others are Helen Rusk, left and Audrey Felton. The cap ribbon.

 

We even went dancing on the Royal Navy boys’ training ship.  One day, in Portsmouth town, on “shore leave” I absent mindedly put my cap on back to front. A passing sailor, a real one, yelled out, “You’re going astern!” I was mortified.

 

“Foudroyant” in Portsmouth Harbour with a passing Royal Navy MTB.

 

Signals were my thing. In London for an “Anchors Aweigh” display, a bossy officer spotted the crossed flags on my arm, and thanked me for “volunteering” to raise the colours. I had done it loads of times before, but there was a large crowd and Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten was the guest of honour. I was all fingers and thumbs. I had begun to raise the flag, when to my horror, I saw I had attached it upside down. Trying not to panic, I pulled it down, detached it, and started again. In his speech, Lord Mountbatten, looking straight at me, with the hint of a chuckle, congratulated the ship’s company on their excellent signalling. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was a sad day when he was murdered by the IRA.

For a short time I became an officer, but wanderlust got me and I went travelling. I returned my uniform and in a thoughtless moment even gave away my silver bosun’s call, with which I would pipe dignitaries “over the side”. Looking back, for sheer fun, my time with the G.N.T.C. was one of the best times of my life. Some names I remember were Foale, Miller, Shappland, Sheppard: we seldom used first names, but there were also Elaine Evans and two girls called Harris, Margaret and Lyn, who had a brother Dick, a sea cadet; Phyllis Gibson, Petty Officer Anne Edwards of Avonmouth. Where are they now? My name was Doreen Pillinger then.