Sir Benjamin Baker
Frome’s illustrious engineer
The Frome engineer
Benjamin Baker, who was born in Keyford in 1840, became one of the most respected and prolific civil engineers of the Victorian era. He was an expert on long-span bridges, and is best known for his work with Sir John Fowler on Scotland’s Forth Bridge.
The Exhibition runs from 25 August to 10 October at Frome Museum.
Family History Resources
Frome Museum holds an astonishingly wide collection of historical information and items relating to Frome and the surrounding villages. Many items and records include information on individuals as well as the places they lived and worked – much of which is like gold dust to the family historian! Items that you won’t find on subscription sites are readily available to search on our collection catalogue.
For a detailed list of our holdings check our Family History Resources page.
Using the collections
Have a go at using the online Collections Catalogue – you never know what you might find. Try using different keywords if you don’t immediately find what you are looking for.
If you need advice or would like to make an appointment to call in and look at our records in person, please contact us either by email at info@frome-museum.org or by telephone on 01373 454611.
An appointment is essential, as we are normally unable to help you access specific records without advance notice. With enough notice, we are more than happy to pull out relevant items and have them waiting for you when you arrive.
New local history book
Churchill’s maverick mp
The Tragic & Triumphant Life of Mavis Tate – By Mick Davis and David Lassman | 2026
The extraordinary story of Mavis Tate is today largely forgotten. This new 200-page biography by local authors Mick Davis and David Lassman brings her remarkable life into the spotlight.
Mavis Tate was MP for Frome from 1935 to 1945, during one of the most turbulent periods in British history. A fiercely independent politician with a formidable intellect and a sharp wit, she became involved in some of the most dramatic episodes of the Second World War — including playing a major role in Winston Churchill’s only wartime only political defeat. She was not afraid to get her hands dirty, either. Determined to see for herself how workers were being employed, she disguised herself as a factory worker and went undercover — something she could never have done openly as an MP.
Her political journey had begun years earlier in 1931, when she first entered the House of Commons. From there, an extraordinary career unfolded. She learnt to fly her own aeroplane and became an authority on the rapidly developing aviation industry. She campaigned relentlessly for sex equality, demanding equal pay for women playing their part in the wartime economy. She chaired numerous committees and became a familiar national figure through appearances on the BBC’s hugely popular Brains Trust, as well as nationwide Daily Express tours.
In 1934, she travelled to Germany and met senior Nazis, single-handedly securing the release of a mother and daughter from a pre-war Nazi prison camp.
After the war, Tate was the only woman MP in a parliamentary delegation that visited Buchenwald concentration camp. She witnessed first-hand the appalling conditions and atrocities uncovered there and subsequently fronted a Pathé News report bringing the horrors of the camp to British audiences. The experience appears to have had a devastating effect on her physical and mental health, and Tate took her own life in 1947, aged just 54.
Churchill’s Maverick MP is the result of many years of research and shines a new light on one of the most remarkable — and unjustly forgotten — women ever to sit in the House of Commons.
The complete 200-page book is available to download free of charge from the Frome Museum catalogue.
Interested in volunteering?
Are you interested in giving back to your community?
Contact us at info@frome-museum or org or give us a call on 01373 454611 to have a chat about how you can get involved.
Search our collections
Following several years of development by a team of expert volunteers, the museum’s online collections catalogue, with tens of thosands of records covering the history of Frome, is available to all public researchers. To search the catalogue, click the button below.
Please support your museum
Frome Museum is entirely run by a team of enthusiastic and committed volunteers.
We receive no regular funding and are dependent on the funds we raise ourselves and on donations from our visitors and supporters.
Thank you for keeping the museum at the heart of the community in Frome.
