The aristocratic Mitford sisters – Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah – hit the headlines throughout their lifetimes, with tales of scandal and intrigue filling the pages of the press from the 1920s and beyond. Born to David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, and his wife Sydney, alongside brother Thomas, the Mitford sisters often shocked society, whether it be through their political views, or their private lives. In this special blog, we shall unravel the remarkable stories of the six …
Women’s History
This week at The Archive we have added 5 brand new Irish titles to our collection, including the Constabulary Gazette, which was the ‘accredited organ of the Royal Irish Constabulary.’ Meanwhile, our other Irish titles cover the counties of Kerry and Wexford, whilst we have added 52,710 brand new pages in all to The Archive over the past seven days. So read on to discover more about our new Irish titles of the week, and also to learn about the …
Tags
Mercedes Gleitze (1900-1981) was the first British woman to swim the English Channel, and the first person to swim the Straits of Gibraltar. In an amazing career that spanned the 1920s and 1930s, Mercedes captured the imagination of the British public and became a household name. Born to German parents in Brighton, Mercedes was one of three sisters. Skilled in languages, she moved to London where she worked as a secretary and stenographer. Whilst living in London she began swimming …
Tags
This week marks 130 years since the first British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship was held at the Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club, whilst also marking The Archive’s incredible achievement of reaching over 68 million pages now available to search, as we have added 164,005 brand new pages. Meanwhile, over the last seven days, we have added 9 brand new titles to our collection, with the addition of new pages to our existing titles from across the United Kingdom …
Tags
Born in Nashik, in what was the Bombay Presidency in British India, in 1866, pioneering lawyer Cornelia Sorabji would go on to be the first woman graduate of Bombay (Mumbai) University, and the first woman to study law at the University of Oxford. A pioneering figure, Cornelia Sorabji worked on the behalf of purdahnashins, women who could not communicate with the outside male world. Indeed, she entered upon a legal career to help these women. Cornelia Sorabji’s life, however, was …
Tags
This March at The Archive we are celebrating inspiring women from history, who broke boundaries across different fields, whether they be medical, sporting, political and much more besides. We will be highlighting those inspiring women who broke the mould, and we will be showcasing the achievements of some lesser known women along the way, who deserve recognition for their trailblazing lives and careers. And in this special blog, we will be looking at ten inspiring women from history who you …
Tags
As a result of the Second World War, over 60,000 British women married American soldiers (colloquially known as GIs), many of them returning with their new husbands to live in the United States once the war ended. In this special blog, we are going to take a look at how the so-called GI brides were reported on by the press of the United Kingdom. We will examine how they faced warnings over their choice of husbands, and how they were …
Tags
When war broke out in August 1914, and again in September 1939, women across the United Kingdom played a pivotal role in the war effort, taking on jobs that we previously seen as the preserve of men. By July 1916 it was estimated that 750,000 women across Britain had taken up ‘war work,’ working in heavy industries and in munitions factories, working as drivers, as well as nurses and as doctors. This represented a seismic shift in the way that women …
Tags
This week has been a bumper week at The Archive as we have added 422,110 brand new pages, covering everything from spiritualism to yachting, from education to farming, spanning the world from Antigua to Australia, and back to Britain. We’re delighted to have added 10 exciting brand new titles, which cover an eclectic array of subjects, whilst we’ve also updated 54 of our existing titles from across Canada, the Caribbean, England, Wales and Scotland. So read on to discover more about each one of …
Tags
This July at The Archive we are exploring all things space and the stars, and what better way to begin this exploration than with a look at six trailblazing women astronomers from history. From the first woman to discover a comet (Caroline Herschel), to the first woman to be appointed Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory (Margaret Burbidge), we will explore the stories of six women astronomers from history, from the 1700s through to the 2000s, using newspapers taken from our Archive. …