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Happy 101st Birthday Addison’s Oak

and thank you Emily Twiggs for planting it.

Today is the 101st anniversary of the planting of Addison’s Oak in what is now Sea Mills Square. When it was planted the area would have been fields close to the road running from the city to the village of Shirehampton and then on to Avonmouth.

Christopher Addison, who was soon to become the first Minister for Health (pictured above) visited Sea Mills with local dignitaries to ceremonially “cut the first sod” before house building began.

The Lady Mayoress, Emily Twiggs then planted an oak sapling. Left is a picture of her at a relatives wedding in 1914 which we received just today from a member of her family.

In June 1919 Emily’s husband Henry Twiggs was Lord Mayor of Bristol, she attended many functions with him including the visit of Christopher Addison to view the new housing sites in Bristol. Henry and Emily were both widowed before they married in 1899, Emily was 47 and Henry 44.

Henry was born in Bristol in 1855 and founded his business H. W. Twiggs and Co Bay Prams and Invalid Carriage Manufacturers in 1877. He had a shop in Stokes Croft with workshops Philadelphia Street. He was a member of the docks committee for 35 years and chair between 1908-24. (1) He is officially listed as Lord Mayor for 1918, but in fact must have begun his appointment late that year as he was Lord Mayor until Nov 1919 (2+3)

We would love to find descendants of Emily. She was born Emily Barrell in May 1847 and married George Charles Gibson in Christchurch Weston-Super-Mare in 1867. Her and Henry had no children together but Emily and George were parents to – Herbert (b 1869), Ernest (b 1871), George (b 1871), Maud (b 1875), Amy Matilda (b 1878) and Florence (b 1883). If any of these names are in your family tree you could be related to the lady who planted Addison’s Oak.

Homes for Heroes – Read more about the beginnings of Sea Mills, Christopher Addison and his visit and why the homes were built.

Addison’s Oak today

(1) http://www.davenapier.co.uk/mayors/twiggs.htm
(2)Western Daily Press (1919) Lord Beatty in Bristol. 24th October 1919 p4 col 5
(3) Western Daily Press (1919) New Lord Mayor. 12th November 1919 p7

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We’ll meet again…

Hopefully you have noticed some changes on the Sea Mills 100 website recently. We have taken lockdown as an opportunity to spend time making some improvements and adding some Sea Mills and Coombe Dingle war stories in the run up to VE Day.

Hopefully amongst the stories we have managed to give a flavour of how people celebrated in Sea Mills and Coombe Dingle 75 years ago.

In 1945 both the Western Daily Press and Bristol Evening Post document celebrations all over the city. The “official” end of the war had come with plenty of warning and by the morning of the 8th May the streets were decorated with bunting and families had saved and pooled their food supplies to lay on street parties. A huge crowd gathered outside the Council House (then in Corn Street) to hear Churchill’s speech relayed on loud speakers, there was then a brief silence followed by singing of the national anthem.

The Lord Mayor toured the centre in a horse drawn coach, crowds cheered and church bells rang. Churches were open all day for services and quiet prayer and were all well attended. The councils electricity department staff had worked late into the previous night and that evening the street lights in the city centre were turned on for the first time in years.

Left: Bristol Evening Post VE Day edition

  • WDP 8th May 1945
  • WDP 9th May 1945
  • WDP 9th May 1945
  • Lord Mayor outside the Council House in the Proclamation Car – Western Daily Press 9th May 1945

A two day holiday had been declared to allow the nation “a brief period of rejoicing”, in Sea Mills there were street parties, we had photographs from the celebrations in Highgrove and Weston Close.
The local school closed, and on the 10th May their log book states:
School re-opened this morning with a special service of thanksgiving and praise.
The normal time table was suspended this afternoon and the whole school assembled in the hall for a celebration programme provided by children of all classes.

One has to remember of course that this was only the end of the war in Europe. VJ Day was not until 15th August that year and many units were still away fighting. It would be along time before some families would be reunited.

I want to thank everyone who has been so generous with their family stories and photographs. I know that some of you have spent considerable time gathering material together and fact checking with relatives. I hope what we have prepared together is a fitting tribute to them. It’s not too late to contribute, we will continue to add stories and photographs to the War Stories section of this website and also collect stories from other eras. We would ultimately like the site to capture the spirit of Sea Mills and Coombe Dingle over the last 100 years, so if you have memories or stories you would like to share please get in touch.

If any of you are decorating your house or doing a stay at home VE Day event do send us some photos, and we are also still documenting lockdown in the area.

What ever you are doing, please do read and enjoy the war stories of this site as part of your day. They are happy, sad, tragic, optimistic and in some cases brutally honest about the mood at the time. Everything can be accessed from the “Sea Mills Heritage” menu at the top of this page, and various other links throughout the site.

If you are having a party or want to know more about VE day here are some links to some resources:
Print at home bunting and posters
Royal British Legion VE Day – including a live stream on the day
BBC Clips and resources
Colouring sheets for children
Museum Mum

Thank you to Eugene Byrne for his help preparing this page and check Bristol Post for his VE Day article on Friday.