The Somme Offensive commenced on 1 July 1916, as Allied forces attacked German positions by the River Somme on the Western Front in France. On the opening day of the battle, the British suffered 60,000 casualties – making it the worst day in the history of the British army. Here is an upbeat newspaper report of the battle, which was published on the first day of the battle – also included is a map of the area where the battle took …
It seems that the crowd at Wimbledon hasn’t always been as well-behaved as they appear to be now. For in this newspaper story from July 1935, it’s reported that impatient spectators rained bottles and cushions down on to the court when the secretary of the All-England Club, a hapless Mr. D.R. Larcombe, attemped to calm down the fans who had been waiting for play to restart. That said, there was a mitigating factor: rain. Read some of the other historical …
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London had one of those ‘Earth hath not anything to show more fair…’ moments on 30 June 1894, when Tower Bridge was opened by the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII). To celebrate that historic day, we’ve created a gallery of illustrations of the famous bridge. The Graphic – Saturday 07 July 1894 Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000057/18940707/002/0003 The Graphic – Saturday 07 July 1894 Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. …
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On 29 June 1914, Khioniya Guseva attempted to assassinate Grigori Rasputin in the monk’s home village of Pokrovskoe Selo in western Siberia. You’ll find a number of newspaper reports about the attack in The British Newspaper Archive. Read reports about Rasputin Guseva’s attempt to murder Rasputin Although the facts of the attack are unclear, it’s said that Guseva stabbed Rasputin either as he left church or while he was reading a telegram outside the post office. Althought …
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In Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead by the 19-year-old student, Gavrilo Princip. It was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, that led to the outbreak of World War One. To mark this tragic day in world history, here are photos of Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, and also a newspaper report about the assassinations. Evening Telegraph – Monday 29 June 1914 Image …
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‘After all, seeing, like poetry, is the soul’s prerogative’ – Helen Keller Helen Adams Keller, the writer, political activist and lecturer, was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on 27 June 1880. We’ve been reading stories about Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan in the Archive, and almost every story moves us with the amazing manner in which Helen Keller lived her life. So to celebrate what would have been her 133rd birthday, here are two newspaper reports about this awe-inspiring woman. The …
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On 26 June 1830, King George IV (perhaps better known as the Prince Regent) passed away at Windsor Castle, aged 67. Known as ‘the first gentleman of England’, we thought we’d mark the day by posting two, contemporary newspaper stories that report on the death of George IV. Freeman’s Journal – Monday 28 June 1830 Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000056/18300628/006/0003 London Standard – Monday 28 June 1830 Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS …
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The Hull Daily Mail contains a terrific photo of a cat out on its walk while dressed up to the 9s – this is one cat had an outfit for each of its 9 lives. We’ve decided to follow up our earlier post by having a expert on historical newspapers talk about some of the quirky and amusing photos of well-dressed animals that can be found in the BNA website. So in this short video, Ed King, former Head of the Newspaper Collection …
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On 24 June 1902, and two days before his coronation, King Edward VII (aka ‘Bertie) was diagnosed with appendicitis and underwent an emergency operation. Thankfully, the operation was a complete success and the king was smoking cigars in his bed the following day – although the coronation had to be postponed and did not take place until 9 August 1902. To give you a taste of how the dramatic news of the King’s illness was received at the time, here …
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We are excited to be hurtling towards the 7 million page mark! However, you may have noticed that our page counter and ‘Recently Added Issues’ has slowed down over the past few days . . . We are currently working on upgrading our newspaper ingest system which means that there will be a slow-down in terms of the number of pages that we add to the site over the next week. We apologise for this but are looking forward to …