Search

The early history of the parish of St George, to the east of Bristol, has been characterised as one of marginality and neglect and its inhabitants as 'a set of ungovernable people'. This paper examines conflict and conciliation in the parish over the hundred years following its formal establishment in 1751, drawing on correspondence during a period of unrest in 1795 to illustrate the complex social relations within the parish, and using census, property, and vestry records to develop a more rounded view of social relations in the parish than that offered by the broad analysis of previous historians. Detailed examination of the sources gives the impression that, far from being 'ungovernable', various groups of parishioners adopted a range of strategies for conflict and conciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]