This week we return from a publishing hiatus having added a mammoth 1,610,356 brand new pages to our Archive, and it’s an especially great week for Grimsby too, as we’ve added one brand new title for the Lincolnshire town, and also extensively updated the Grimsby Daily Telegraph. All of these additions mean we have now surpassed a landmark 65 million pages on The Archive.
This week also sees the addition of a further three new titles to our collection, from Camberley, Luton and Wrexham respectively, whilst we have updated 54 of our existing titles from across Britain, from Birkenhead to Bridgend, from Caernarvon to Chatham, from Derby to Dumfries, from Staines to Strathearn, from Widnes to Wishaw.
Meanwhile, we’d like to thank all of our subscribers for their patience during our publishing break away, and we hope that you are able to enjoy the over one million pages that we have added over the recent days.
So read on to discover more about all of our new and updated titles of the week, as well as to find out how the breaking news story of the discovery of the murders at 10 Rillington Place was reported on 70 years ago this week by the Grimsby Daily Telegraph.
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And it’s in the Lincolnshire town of Grimsby that we begin our exploration of this week’s new titles, as we introduce the Grimsby Target to our collection of newspapers. Founded in 1982, the Grimsby Target was the freesheet sister paper of the Grimsby Daily Telegraph. Appearing every Thursday, it was delivered to over 60,000 homes in the Grimsby area every week, incorporating the town of Immingham as well as the villages in the western part of north east Lincolnshire.
In 2008 the title changed its name to Grimsby Life, ceasing publication in August 2012. The Grimsby Target was revived, due to popular demand, in 2015.
We travel south for our next new title of the week, which is the Camberley News. Founded in 1905 as a politically independent title, this newspaper went through several title changes, being known as the Camberley News and Yorktown Observer and the Camberley News and Bagshot Observer.
Serving the Surrey town of Camberley, which grew up around the famed Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, the Camberley News appeared every Friday at the cost of just one penny. By the 1980s, the Camberley News continued to appear every Friday, at the increased price of 20p.
Now published in tabloid form, in 2012 the newspaper changed its name to the Camberley & Sandhurst News & Mail. It is published to this day as the Camberley News & Mail.
Our penultimate new title of the week is weekend newspaper Luton on Sunday. A rare thing indeed, alongside its sister paper Dunstable on Sunday, Luton on Sunday was a Sunday freesheet tabloid newspaper. Luton on Sunday was launched in the 1990s, and served the Bedfordshire town of Luton. In August 2008 the title merged with its sister newspaper Dunstable on Sunday to become Luton & Dunstable on Sunday.
A few years later, the title became known as the Luton & Dunstable Express, before jettisoning its weekend ties, and switching to a Wednesday publication schedule.
Last up is our final new title of the week, and it hails from Wales, specifically, from the north of the country. This title is the Wrexham Mail, and it was founded in 1988 as a weekly freesheet. Appearing every Friday, it was delivered to nearly 40,000 homes in the city of Wrexham, which was historically part of the county of Denbighshire. This newspaper ceased publication in 2008, when it was replaced by the short-lived Wrexham Chronicle.
That’s it from our quartet of new newspapers this week, but we have extensive updates elsewhere on The Archive for you to enjoy. Highlights include the nearly 100,000 brand new pages that we have added to the Grimsby Daily Telegraph, whilst over 50,000 brand new pages join seminal regional title the Manchester Evening News.
Meanwhile, we’ve updated eight of our Scottish titles, with new pages joining the likes of the Dumfries and Galloway Standard, the Rutherglen Reformer and the Airdrie & Coatbridge World. New pages also join eleven of our Welsh titles, with the South Wales Echo, the Rhondda Leader and the Cardiff Post, as well as more titles besides, seeing updates this week.
Discoveries at the ‘House of Death’ – 10 Rillington Place
70 years ago this week, the diabolical crimes of serial killer John Reginald Christie were discovered at his former home 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill, London. New pages added to the Grimsby Daily Telegraph this week reveal how the shocking story broke, after a new tenant at the home discovered the bodies of three women in the walls on 24 March 1953.
On 26 March 1953 the discoveries at the so-called ‘house of death’ made the front page of the Grimsby Daily Telegraph, in which it was posited that four women victims had been ‘murdered for the small amounts of money they may have had in their handbags.’ It was thought that three of the victims were Hectorina MacLennan (25), Kathleen Maloney (19) and Ethel Christie, ‘who, with her husband, for many years occupied the ground floor flat at the house at Rillington Place, Notting Hill, where the bodies were found.’
The newspaper announced that Scotland Yard were ‘anxious to trace Mrs. Christie’s husband, Mr. John Reginald Christie, a road haulage clerk.’ It was believed that he would ‘be able to assist them in the inquiries.’ The police issued the following description of John Reginald Christie:
He is described as aged 55, 5ft. 9in. tall, dark hair thin on top, clean-shaven sallow complexion, long nose, horn-rimmed spectacles, dentures top and bottom, walking with a military bearing. When last seen he was wearing a dark blue herring-bone suit, brown leather shoes, fawn belted raincoat and brown trilby hat.
The next day, the Grimsby Daily Telegraph led with the front-page headline of ‘Multi-Killer May Be Moon Mad,’ with the warning that ‘even now a woman’s life may be in danger.’ The article, published on 27 March 1953, described how:
…one theory being examined is that the mind of the sadistic killer of four women may be affected by the moon. Detectives also fear that he may, even now, have got to know a woman, who, not realising the danger she may be in, has allowed him to stay in her home.
The newspaper also announced how a fourth victim had been identified, 24-year-old Rita Nelson, who ‘described herself as an art student and sometimes helped out as a waitress at a cafe used by drivers from the British Road Services depot where Mr. Christie was employed.’
On 28 March 1953, the ‘House of Death’ occupied the central space on the front page of the Grimsby Daily Telegraph, where it was announced that ‘human bones in bin may be those of fifth murder victim.’ Detectives had ‘unearthed’ the remains ‘in a dustbin buried a few inches under the soil.’
The newspaper also pictured victims Katheen Maloney and Hectorina MacLennan, as well as John Reginald Halliday Christie, a ‘former tenant in the Notting Hill ‘House of Death,’ whom the police are anxious to interview.’ Meanwhile, the Grimsby Daily Telegraph reported how Christie’s bed had not been ‘slept in since Monday morning,’ as well as how a suitcase owned by him had been found in a left luggage room.
By 30 March 1953 the Grimsby Daily Telegraph was asking ‘Did 8 Died in House of Horror?’ as scientists began work ‘on jig-saw of bones.’ Indeed, it was revealed that a sixth body had been found, with the victims all succumbing to strangulation. Efforts continued in the tracing of tenant John Christie, but he was still yet to be located.
On 31 March 1953 John Reginald Christie was finally arrested in Putney. He was tried only for the murder of his wife Ethel, giving a defence of insanity. He was found guilty, however, and was sentenced to death. One of Britain’s most infamous serial killers, who even let another man die for his crimes, he was executed on 15 July 1953 at HMP Pentonville.
Find out more about John Reginald Christie, his crimes and other infamous cases in the pages of our Archive today.
New Titles
| Title | Years Added |
| Camberley News | 1987-1988 |
| Grimsby Target | 1986-1992 |
| Luton on Sunday | 1997 |
| Wrexham Mail | 1993 |
Updated Titles
This week we have updated 54 of our existing 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.
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.
