'Bravo, Bristol!'

Clive Burlton
05 Jun 2014

In the middle of September 1914, the Bristol Citizens Recruiting Committee received from Fred Weatherly, a local barrister and song writer, a patriotic recruiting song that he wrote especially for the new Bristol Battalion, entitled ‘Bravo, Bristol!’

The song was set to music by composer Ivor Novello. Writing to the Committee, Weatherly described the music as 'tuneful and easy, and yet not commonplace.' Following negotiations with the Committee, Weatherly and Novello, along with the music publisher, Boosey and Co, agreed that the entire proceeds from the sale of the song’s sheet music would be given to the Regimental Fund of the Bristol Battalion.

The Committee authorised the £12 cost for engraving and supplying 1,000 copies of the sheet music which was sold around Bristol and the song was performed at various recruitment rallies around the City. It was also sung at the Colston Hall on 25th May 1915 at a special ‘Farewell Concert’, a month before the Battalion - ‘Bristol’s Own’ - left the city for good.

'Bravo, Bristol!' (Weatherly, September 1914)

When the stalwart merchant venturers
Set out in days of old
They sailed with a Bristol blessing
To find a land of gold
And now there’s a grimmer journey
There’s a sterner call today
But the men of Bristol answer
In the good old Bristol way

It’s a rough long road we’re going
It’s a tough long job to do
But as sure as the wind is blowing
We mean to see it through
Who cares how the guns may thunder
Who recks of the sword and flame
We fight for the sake of England
And the honour of Bristol’s name

O men and boys of Bristol
You swarm from far and wide
The rich man and the poor man
Thank God, are side by side
March on, our hearts are with you
We know what you will do
The spirit of your fathers
Is alive today in you

It’s a rough long road you’re going
It’s a tough long job to do
But as sure as the wind is blowing
We know you’ll see it through
Who cares how the guns may thunder
Who recks of the sword and flame
You fight for the sake of England
And the honour of Bristol’s name

And when the seas are free again
And the bloody fields are won
We’ll tell our Bristol children
What Bristol men have done
Their deeds shall ring forever
From Avon to the sea
And the sound of the march of the Bristol men
The song of their sons shall be:-

It’s a tough long way we’re going
It’s a tough long job to do
But, as sure as the tide is flowing
We mean to see it through
Who cares what the victory cost us
We must win it just the same
We fight for the sake of England
And the honour of Bristol’s name

Later in September 1914, Bristol publisher J W Arrowsmith also printed Weatherly’s 'Bravo, Bristol!' in a booklet that included many other of his verses. Costing one shilling, the proceeds from the sale of the booklet were devoted by Weatherly to the funds of the Bristol branch of the British Red Cross Society. Weatherly went on to write the iconic ballad ‘Roses of Picardy’ in 1916 – one of the most famous songs from the First World War. Picardy, a historical province of Northern France, contained the whole of the Somme Department – the location of the notorious Battles of the Somme where so many Bristol men lost their lives.

At the end of the war, Weatherly re-wrote the third verse and the final chorus of ‘Bravo, Bristol!' for a special reception held at the Colston Hall on 15 February 1919. The event, organised at the request of Lord Mayor Twiggs on behalf of the Citizens of Bristol, honoured Bristol Officers, NCOs and all other men who had received military decorations during the war.

The new words were sung with great gusto by Miss Gertrude Winchester and summed up the feelings at the time….

And now the seas are free again
And the bloody fields are won
We tell our children’s children
What Bristol men have done
And their deeds shall ring forever
Down Avon to the sea
And the sound of the march of the Bristol men
The song of their sons shall be:-

T’was a rough long road to travel
T’was a tough long job to do
But, please God, they meant to do it
And by God they’ve done it too
The cost? – Who stopped to count it?
They knew and played the game
They fought for the Empire’s Honour
And the glory of Bristol’s name!

Notes

Watch the BBC film showing Paul Potts performing 'Bravo, Bristol!' with the St George Singers at the Holy Trinity Church in Kingswood in 2011 HERE.

Author Biography

Clive Burlton, a born-and-bred Bristolian, is an author, publisher and social historian. Following a corporate and consultancy career, in 2011 he wrote Trenches to Trams - The Life of a Bristol Tommy (Tangent Books). The story, about his wife’s grandfather, led him to discover that three of his own grandparents did their bit during the Great War. Stanley Barnes volunteered with ‘Bristol’s Own’, his wife Daisy was in the Land Army and Hermon Burlton served in the Royal Field Artillery. A volunteer at Bristol Record Office since 2008, Clive is a regular speaker at history and community groups across the city. He co-founded Bristol Books CIC in 2012 and he’s a non-executive director of Empica PR Ltd. He co-authored with Eugene Byrne the book Bravo, Bristol! (2014).