This week we have added 97,670 new pages to The Archive. We have added five new titles, which cover Ireland, Shropshire, Lancashire and Dorset, and span the 140 years between 1853 and 1993. New titles include the Wexford People and the Heywood Advertiser.

This week sees updates to nine of our existing titles, including one of our sports titles, the Sports Argus, as well as updates to three of our Irish titles. Other updated titles include the Birmingham Weekly Post, the Tavistock Gazette and the Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser.

One of our new titles this week is the Poole & Dorset Herald, which covers parts of the second half of the nineteenth century. Through these titles it is possible to trace the fascinating history of lifeboats in the Poole area.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) was formed in 1824, and according to the Poole & Dorset Herald, it was responsible for saving 14,266 lives by 1864. In 1864, 426 lives were rescued, and 37 vessels were saved. However, on the south coast of England, there was no lifeboat station between Lyme Regis and the Isle of Wight, a distance of approximately 100 miles.

Poole & Dorset Herald | 19 January 1865

Consequently, a ‘very commodious and substantial life-boat station’ was built in Poole, complete with a ‘a fine new 32-feet 10-oared life-boat.’ One benevolent lady donated £500 (equivalent to £60,500 in today’s currency), and stipulated that the boat be named the Manley Wood.

Poole & Dorset Herald | 26 January 1865

However, the location of the new lifeboat station was not ideal, as the crew required ferrying from the Antelope Hotel on Poole High Street by horse drawn carriage. A new lifeboat station was built in Poole Quay at the Fisherman’s Dock in 1882. This time, the boat was a gift of the readers of the Boy’s Own paper.

In 1924 the RNLI celebrated its centenary, an occasion marked in the Illustrated London News (see below). As of 2018, the charity is responsible for saving over 142,200 lives.

Illustrated London News | 8 March 1924

New Titles

Updated Titles

This week we have updated one of our recently added titles.

You can learn more about each of the titles we add to every week by clicking on their names. On each paper’s title page, you can read a FREE sample issue, learn more about our current holdings, and our plans for digitisation.

Register now and explore the Archive

You can keep up to date with all the latest additions by visiting the recently added page.  You can even look ahead to see what we’re going to add tomorrow.