On 26 January 1788, the First Fleet arrived in New South Wales, which saw the flag of Great Britain raised at Sydney Cove and the settlement of the first penal colony. The arrival also marked Britain’s proclamation of sovereignty over Australia’s eastern seaboard. This day has since become a national holiday in Australia: Australia Day. To mark this day, we’ve taken a look into its history and evolution. You can find articles on this historic landing of the First Fleet in …
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Whether your ancestors were royalty or the servants of royalty, it can be just as satisfying and surprising to learn where you come from. Last night’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? was no exception, when Ricky Tomlinson learned that he came from a hardworking line of carters in Liverpool. The New York of Europe In the 1800s, Liverpool was a major port city that depended on carters to transport goods from the docks into the city. As …
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Among the oldest continuously published periodicals in the world, Lloyd’s List dates back to 1734. Up until 2013, Lloyd’s List (also known as The List) was printed on a daily basis; since 2013, the publication has been updated hourly in its digital format only. Modern coverage in Lloyd’s List includes such details pertaining to the shipping industry as marine insurance, research and logistics, and international shipping news. Edward Lloyd, the original owner of Lloyd’s Coffee House in London, started Lloyd’s …
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Recently The British Newspaper Archive has added a group of illustrated titles to our collection. These image rich newspapers stand apart from the others in The Archive, featuring both drawn illustrations and high-quality photographs. They are also the most modern newspapers in our collection, with The Illustrated London News running all the way up to 2003. Today, these illustrated newspapers are owned by The Illustrated London News Group. The Sphere, 1900-1964 Clement Short left The Illustrated London News to …
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We followed Amanda Holden’s journey of genealogy in last night’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are?. She kick-started her research by searching for one of her ancestors on The British Newspaper Archive. Amanda’s mum, Judy, who had been working on their family tree, had been having difficulties finding out the last name of Collin’s wife, Radgoude, Amanda’s 5th great-grandmother. But, thanks to Amanda’s discovery on The British Newspaper Archive, she now had a new trail of clues to …
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In last night’s episode, we learned that Danny Dyer is a direct descendant of King Edward III, his 15 times great-grandfather. Many of us lack such famous ancestors, but that doesn’t make ours – and the times they lived in – any less interesting. Let’s take a look at Danny Dyer’s working-class ancestors – some strong male figures that Danny was hoping to find – and learn how the British Newspaper Archive can help you flesh out the lives of …
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HG Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds, the story of a Martian invasion of Earth, has had many adaptations since being published in 1898. It’s unlikely that any of these adaptations has developed such an aura of myth and infamy as the Orson Welles radio adaptation of 1938, which was alleged to have caused mass panic across the United States. Conducted as a drama broadcast via wireless, the program went out uninterrupted for more than an hour and portrayed the …
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Last month saw a fantastic 275,220 pages added to 98 different British Newspaper titles, including 16,610 pages added to the Buckingham Advertiser and North Bucks Free Press, and 25,377 pages added to the Public Ledger and Commercial and General Advertiser. Subscribe for just £12.95 –> Thousands of new pages from local titles to explore You’ll find a full list of last month’s additions below. We hope you enjoy exploring! TITLE NUM OF PAGES Aberdeen Journal, and General Advertiser for the North of …
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The Chelsea Flower Show is a beloved national institution. Every year the great and good – and green-fingered! – descend upon West London to ogle each others’ offerings and occasionally throw shade on the sub-standard spots. It’s an enduring tradition, and as our newspaper collection demonstrates, one which has fascinated observers all over the country for many decades… Chelsea Flower Shocks As is sometimes the case still today, things haven’t always run smoothly at Chelsea. In 1913 one punter’s dreams were dashed …
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It’s hard to believe, but The British Newspaper Archive has now reached the grand old age of three. We launched on 29 November 2011 with 4 million fully searchable historic newspaper pages and have come a long way since then. Please click the image to enlarge it A treasure trove of information You can now search more than 9 million pages, from over 300 British and Irish newspaper titles, spanning 1710-1954. Reading all of those pages would be …