London | The British Newspaper Archive Blog - Part 3

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‘The Girls Behind the Counter’ – The Daily Life of a Victorian Shop Girl

In November 1846, the ‘Friends of a respectable young Woman’ placed this advertisement in the ‘Wants‘ column of Saunders’s News-Letter: The Friends of a respectable young Woman wish to procure for her a Situation either as Attendant on a Lady or in a Nursery, or as a Shop Girl; she is adequate to any of the above capacities, and is willing to make herself generally useful, being of an humble, quiet and obliging disposition; she is a good needleworker, and can teach

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The Top Ten Christmas Presents to Give in the 1920s

Imagine yourself back in December 1925, with Christmas fast approaching, in London where: All the pavements are alive this week with purchasers moving in ceaseless procession from window to window as they search for the particular Christmas gift for the particular person who is to receive it. They wander down street after street, for London nowadays is the finest city in which to purchase a gift – humble, rich, or rare – that the world knows. It’s time for Christmas

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Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

This week at The Archive is a very special one, as today on the 29 November 2021 we celebrate our tenth birthday! It is ten years since we launched the British Newspaper Archive, and to celebrate this decade of digitising newspapers, we have added ten brand new titles to our collection, as well as updating ten of our existing titles, numbering 114,064 brand new pages in all. So read on to find out more about all of our new ten titles, which hail from across England’s north

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How To Discover the History of Your Street Using The Archive

The British Newspaper Archive is a fantastic resource for local history, and in particular, it can be very useful in researching the history of your street. In this special blog, we will give you all the hints and tips you will need to start your own research into your road, whilst also examining the story of one of London’s lesser known historic streets, which was once a pathway of pilgrims before becoming one of the city’s most notorious slums. So

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Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

This week at The Archive we are celebrating reaching another incredible milestone – we now have over 45 million pages available to search, with 134,854 new pages being added in the last week alone. If this wasn’t enough, we have also added eight brand new titles this week, spanning London, Liverpool, Nottinghamshire, Kent and Cornwall, whilst we have also updated 15 of our existing titles. So read on to discover more about our new and updated titles of the week, as well as to discover more about a

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‘Vive La Miniskirt!’ – Celebrating One of Fashions Greatest Revolutions

When the miniskirt first burst onto the fashion scene in the early 1960s, its presence was divisive. Immediately, many women took to it, but others were not so sure, wondering whether it was just a passing fad. But the miniskirt was to become a symbol of the 1960s, from embodying ‘Swinging London’ to representing the greater emancipation it afforded to women – sexual, social and moral. And so, in this special blog, using newspapers taken from The Archive, we will

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‘A Pageant of Peace’ – Overcoming Adversity and Austerity at the 1948 London Olympic Games

With the scars of the Second World War still visible across Great Britain, in 1948 the eyes of the world turned to the country who were set to host the fourteenth Olympiad. Would Britain be able to manage, just three years after the end of the crippling conflict that still saw rationing in place, and bomb sites across its towns and cities? The 14th Olympiad opens at London | Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News | 11 August 1948 In this special blog,

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Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

This week at The Archive we have cooked up a baker’s dozen of brand new titles, with thirteen new titles joining us in all, and 51,462 new pages added across the collection, spanning over a century’s worth of headlines. So read on to discover more about our new titles, which hail from Wales and Lancashire, as well as London, with a very special religious title joining us too. Also, read on to find out more about London’s first ever railway, which ran between London Bridge and

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Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

This week we have added 75,078 brand new pages to our collection, with a trio of very special brand new titles joining us over the past seven days from across England, Ireland and Northern Ireland. So read on to discover more about the new titles of the week, as well as to discover which of our existing titles we have added new pages to. Also, this week we will take a moment to remember the Matchgirls’ Strike of 1888, an early industrial action undertaken by

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Horror and Hysteria – The 1811 Ratcliff Highway Murders

In December, 1811, all London was convulsed with terror at the tidings of the horrible slaughter wreaked at 29 Ratcliff Highway and 81 New Gravel Lane, and soon, from the Prince Regent’s table at Carlton House to the tap-room of the lowest dram-shop in Wapping, the hideous subject engrossed all. Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, 27 August 1887 These murders, now generally referred to as the Ratcliff Highway Murders, represent one of the bloodiest chapters in British crime history, and might have

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