Boo! Boo, again! To celebrate “All Hallows’ Eve”, we’ve posted two, fascinating newspaper articles – from 1847 and 1892 – which report on the Halloween superstitions and traditions prevalent in the UK and Ireland during the mind and late 19th Century. In particular, we love the ‘nutty’ tradition of how a maiden can magically discover which of her suitors is ‘the one’ who can provide her with a happy life and marriage. Both of the articles also explain the origins and …

As we approach the end of the 2012 U.S Presidential Election,   predictions say there will be a close contest between Obama and Romney. There have been other narrow victories in the past. There are thousands of newspaper articles for each of the 19th century U.S. Presidential elections. There was a close race in the presidential election of 1884, between Cleveland (Democrat) and Blaine (Republican). Reuter’s Telegrams were often quoted, as in Sheffield Daily Telegraph – Saturday 04 October 1884 (p.5 …

The ‘Evening Standard’ published a news story from the British Newspaper Archive this week about a tragedy that took place in London in October 1814, when 8 people were drowned by a wave of beer in the Tottenham Court Road. We thought that people might like to read this story, so we’ve posted it below. ************************** A huge wave of beer swept through London’s streets almost 200 years ago, killing 8 people including a 3 year old child, records at …

As the Battle of Balaclava took place in October 1854, we’ve been reading some newspaper stories about this famous episode in the Crimean War. We were especially struck by some of the eye-witness accounts of the battle. In particular, we were fascinated by this account of the Light Brigade’s charge, as described by an officer. The Archive contains 1000s of stories about the Light Brigade and the Battle of Balaclava – with some amazing reports by people who witnessed the …

We are delighted to introduce Edmund King to The BNA blog. Ed was Head of the British Library Newspaper Library and Newspaper Librarian from 1999 until retirement from his role earlier this year. Ed will be writing several guest posts here on The British Newspaper Archive blog in the coming months. We’re really looking forward to reading more. Let’s begin with Ed’s first BNA blog post, recalling the life and work of Robert Stevenson, entitled, ‘Saving seamen’s lives’ . . .  …

William Gilbert Grace, better known as W.G. Grace, died on 23 October 1915. An expert with both bat and ball, Dr Grace was probably the most influential players in the development of cricket, and is generally regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. The Archive contains 1000s of stories about his career as a first class cricketer – he played at the top level for 44 years. Indeed, a quick search for ‘W.G. Grace’ currently returns 3,650 …

Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen (known simply as Dr Crippen) was found guilty of murder at the Central Criminal Court in the Old Bailey on 22 October 1910. He was later sentenced to death and hanged at Pentonville Prison in London. Famously, Dr Crippen was the first criminal to be arrested thanks to the new invention of wireless telegraphy. As the Crippen case represents a famous episode in criminal history, we’ve posted below two stories that report on the court case and its …

Born To Be Wilde! To celebrate the birthday of Oscar Wilde, we’ve posted two stories from 1894 that provide a glimpse of his wit, character and taste in literature. The Archive contains 1000s of interesting stories about Oscar Wilde. In particular, there are 100s of stories about the trial of Oscar Wilde. Indeed, if you do a search on his name, you’ll notice that, in 1895, you’ll notice a massive increase in the number of newspaper reports about Oscar Wilde. …