‘Up to about forty or fifty years ago travelling was a solemn act, not to be enterprised nor taken in hand unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly,’ so writes the Belfast News-Letter in September 1888. But all of this had changed; from the inception of the railways ‘day excursions’ had become ‘entirely modern pleasures,’ the British seaside and countryside opened up to visitors who could travel there easily by train. This was the railway revolution, which opened up the seaside to ordinary, working class people. …
Search Results for: holidays
This August at The Archive we will be taking a look at the history of the Great British seaside, from bathing machines to bathing costumes, and today in this special blog we will explore one of the seaside’s most familiar sites: the beach hut. The Sphere | 30 November 1957 Using our newspapers, we will take a look at how the beach hut became popular, and how in the 1920s and 1930s newspaper columns brimmed with advice on how to furnish …
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In the early nineteenth century, Frenchwoman Mademoiselle d’Augeville became the ‘pioneer of women climbers‘ (The Sketch, 6 September 1911) as she made her ascent of Mont Blanc at the age of 44. And by the end of the century, she had paved the way for a generation of women mountaineers, who were astonishing the world with their climbing feats. From the Andes to the Himalayas, and all along the Alps, women were truly in ascendance, overcoming prejudice as they climbed …
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The popularity of walking or ‘hiking,’ as it is termed, is amazingly on the increase. ‘Sabbath day journeys’ are undertaken by the youth of both sexes, armed with knapsacks. Starting from Waterloo to the Surrey hills and commons, where they walk, either in clubs or in private companies, or alone, all day, to return by train at night. So relates The Sphere in the September of 1930 in an article entitled ‘Knapsackery on the Surrey Hills.’ Regarded as the ‘Phenomenon of the …
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This week at The Archive has been another busy one, as we have added a grand total of 140,146 brand new pages to our collection. Furthermore, we are delighted to welcome five brand new titles to The Archive this week – all with a Scottish flavour! So read on to discover more about the new titles we have added this week, from Glasgow, Inverness and Kirriemuir respectively, and to find out which of our ten titles we have added new pages to. Meanwhile, we remember …
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What began as rumours from Spain was soon to become a nightmarish reality, as the Spanish flu pandemic began to take hold in the United Kingdom, where it would go on to kill approximately 250,000 people, and 50,000,000 globally. Staff from the Michie Hospital | Graphic | 26 July 1919 In this special blog, as part of medicine month on The Archive, we will take a look at how newspapers from the time reported on the deadly disease, from those first rumours, …
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It may be Christmas week but our presses have not stopped, bringing you a special Christmas cornucopia of new and updated titles, the perfect festive present from the Archive. With 126,524 brand new pages added, including four brand new titles and updates to twenty five of our existing titles, get ready to discover this week’s fare on the Archive, which spans three centuries’ worth of headlines. Read on to also discover more about how an Edwardian Christmas was celebrated at Sandringham and at London’s most fashionable hotels. …
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In May 1905, The Sphere reports how ‘A remarkable scene may be witnessed any Sunday on the big lake at Battersea Park where the people boat.’ And in the early twentieth century, this scene could be found at boating lakes in cities and towns across the country, providing in particular the working classes with leisure opportunities previously unknown to them. In this special blog, using articles and illustrations all to be found within the British Newspaper Archive, we are going to take …
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By 1939 there were an estimated three to four hundred holiday camps established across the United Kingdom, with the smallest housing fifty beds, and the largest with six thousand or more. What was behind the surge in popularity? We explore the holiday camp phenomenon by delving into the pages of the British Newspaper Archive, using the myriad of advertisements, photographs and articles located there to discover more about this mainstay of the British seaside resort. In 1936 William ‘Billy’ Butlin …
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Performing a search for cricket in our oldest British Newspaper Archive publications (the Archive’s earliest pages run from 1699) it is possible to discover the fascinating history of the enduringly popular sport. In this special blog we will look at cricket’s early association with royalty, its emergence as a gambling sport, and its inevitable explosion in popularity. Kentish Gazette | 23 June 1773 An early and passionate advocate for the sport was Prince Frederick of Wales, father of George III, who …