Using newspapers from The Archive, in this special blog we take a look at the history of Charter Fairs, from their inception in the medieval period to their continuation in twentieth century Britain. In his June 1955 article for The Sphere, entitled A Partial Eclipse of the Fair, Brian Vesey-Fitzgerald notes how ‘Fairs are of very ancient origin,’ and have been part of British life for thousands of years. A Charter Fair was a fair endorsed by the Crown. Crown-issued …
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This week we have added 108,044 new pages to The Archive. We are delighted to welcome three brand new publications to our collection. For those with an interest in economic history we have added the Course of the Exchange, which is a record of various financial data such as stocks, shares and bonds across the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For this specialist journal we have published the years 1825 to 1908, with 8,455 issues now available to search. Also joining …
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In this special blog we use the remarkable photographs and illustrations contained in our Newspaper Archive to trace the tradition of the May Queen over one hundred and fifty years, as well as exploring the origins of this fascinating ritual. We start out at Wymering, just outside of Portsmouth, in 1867. It was here, in the ‘latter part of the month of merrie May’, that a May Queen was crowned. The Illustrated Times tell us that the event is looked …
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This week we have added 87,226 new pages to The Archive. We are delighted to welcome four new titles to our ever-growing collection, including an extensive run of Worcestershire publication the Evesham Standard & West Midland Observer, two Northern Ireland titles (the Protestant Watchman & Lurgan Gazette and the Ulster Examiner & Northern Star), as well as pages from West Sussex publication the Crawley News. This week also sees updates to nine of our existing titles covering various English counties, including five London publications. We have also updated the Crewe …
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This week we have added 112,314 new pages to The Archive. We are delighted to see updates to over seventy of our existing titles, which cover locations across the British Isles and Ireland. As well as updating regional papers, there are updates to some of our specialist titles including sporting publication The Referee, and religious publication the Catholic Standard. Updates this week variously cover the years 1872, 1912 and 1959, with more extended additions joining the Fulham Chronicle. We also have two brand new …
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This week we have added 121,734 new pages to the Archive. We have three new titles covering the west London area, the Ealing Leader, the Hayes & Harlington Gazette and the Hammersmith & Shepherds Bush Gazette. The publication of these titles is made possible thanks to our ongoing partnership with Reach plc (formerly Trinity Mirror). We also have extensive updates to the Reading Evening Post this week, with just under 40,000 pages added. We have also added the year 1986 to the Staines & Ashford News. …
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On the first day of January 1753 maidservant Elizabeth Canning disappeared. She returned to her mother’s house some twenty-eight days later, emaciated and bedraggled, claiming that she had been held in a room against her will. As the case went to court, and her captors were arrested, many came to disbelieve Elizabeth Canning’s tale, resulting in Canning herself going on trial for perjury. In 1754 the Manchester Mercury comments on the question of whether ‘Elizabeth Canning is or is not …
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This week we have added 113,786 new pages to the Archive. We have a bumper crop of new titles, which total six in all. We have added four new Irish titles, including the People’s Advocate & Monaghan, Fermanagh & Tyrone News, the North Down Herald & County Down Independent, the County Down Spectator & Ulster Standard and the Fermanagh Herald. These titles span the years 1876 to 1912. Another of our new titles this week is London publication the Acton Gazette, for which we have added just under 20,000 …
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The discovery of skeletal remains in a wych elm tree during the April of 1943 remains one of the most compelling mysteries of British crime history. Who was the woman whose remains were found in the wych elm tree? Who was responsible for the perplexing graffiti which began to appear a year after the discovery? Was espionage or witchcraft involved? Using pages from the Archive, we dive into this fascinating story, which, as the Sunday Mirror comments in 1944, is …
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This week we have added 126,386 new pages to The Archive. We have added four brand new titles this week, with the addition of Kent title the Thanet Times, London title the Harrow Leader, and Middlesex title the Staines & Ashford News. This week also sees the publication of a curious title from 1811, the Anti-Gallican Monitor, which was published during the the Napoleonic wars. We have also updated two of our existing titles: adding over 60,000 pages to the Reading Evening Post, with additions also to the Kensington Post. Updates …