The Lusitania arrived in New York on 13 September 1907, after completing the crossing of the Atlantic in 5 days and just under two hours – thus just missing out on ‘the Blue Ribbon’, then held by ‘The Deutschland’. To mark the day, here is a newspaper report about this historic event. Read our blog post about the sinking of the Lusitania
We were fascinated by the stories of Sarah Millican’s ancestors in last night’s edition of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ In particular, we were interested in the amazing life of her 3xg-grandfather, James Hoult (sometimes spelt ‘Holt’), who was one of the first deep sea divers in the world. There are several stories about James Hoult included in The Archive (several of which were highlighted in last night’s programme), and here is a report about his death in October …
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We’ve said it before, but hearing your wonderful stories about what you’re finding in The Archive make us feel like we’re travelling to Canterbury with a motley crew of ancestor-finding pilgrims. The latest family history pilgrim to share her story is Emma Jolly, a genealogist from London, who has been researching her ancestors from the Birmingham area. Emma has been finding newspaper stories that offer a fascinating insight into the personalities of her forebears. In particular, we love the colourful …
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With BBC2 broadcasting a historical drama about ‘The Wipers Times’ World War One newspaper tonight, we thought we’d do a search in The Archive to see if we could find any stories about this famous newspaper of the Western Front. We found dozens of interesting stories about the paper itself and the men who wrote it, including this terrific article – from March 1916 – which tells the story of how the newspaper came to be published. You can read …
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D.H. Lawrence was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, on 11 September 1885. To mark the day, here is a fascinating newspaper story from 1919 that reports on the attempts by the UK authorities to prevent further circulation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover – we especially love the term, ‘astonishing detail’. Yet demand for the novel was great, with copies of the book changing hands at £25 – that’s about £835 in today’s terms. Nottingham Evening Post – Friday 25 January 1929 Image …
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To celebrate the coronation of King George V, the first official air mail service in the UK started operating on 9 September 1911, between Hendon and Windsor. One of the first items for posting was a copy of the suffragette publication, ‘Votes for Women’, which was sent to the PM, H.H. Asquith, by a local group of suffragettes. Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser – Saturday 09 September 1911 Image © Local World Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. …
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We do love discovering what books people were reading in the late Victorian era. As many people use the BNA website for their family history research, we thought we’d post a newspaper review of this fascinating book snappingly entitled, Great Men’s Sons: who they were, what they did and how they turned out. A glimpse at some of the world’s mightiest men from Socrates to Napoleon. Phew, long title! Hmm, think it’s time to go looking in the Archive for …
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On 7 September 1910, Madame Curie and Andre-Louis Debierne announced they had succeeded in isolating pure radium metal. Here are two newspaper items – published on the very day that the story broke – which report on this historic discovery.
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John Thomson, the Kirkcaldy-born goalkeeper for Celtic and the Scotland, died on 5 September 1931, after suffering a fractured skull in an accidental collision with Sam English of Rangers – Thomson was 22 years old. Around 30,000 people attended Thomson’s funeral in Cardenden, Fife – many of whom had walked the 55 miles from Glasgow. To mark one of the saddest days in the history of Scottish football, here are some photos of John Thomson. Quem di diligunt, adulescens moritur. …
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The Marquis de Lafayette, the leader of leader of the Garde Nationale during the French Revolution era, was born in Chavaniac on 6 September 1757. Lafayette led an utterly amazing life and, in addition to his role during the French Revolution, he was also a general in the American War of Independence. The Archive contains scores of fascinating stories about Lafayette. To give you a taste of his derring-do life and the historic events in which was a leading figure, …