Researching British army ancestors in The British Newspaper Archive As part of our military themed month, we are delighted to bring you a guest blog post by military researcher Paul Nixon. Paul is the author of the blogs Army Ancestry Research and Army Service Numbers 1881-1918. He has also recently launched a new endeavour, British Army Ancestors, a database of over 11 million men who served their monarch and country between 1850 and 1920 and a resource which enables visitors to …
military history
History was once dominated by ‘great men’ and ‘great battles’. Today we can tell a far more nuanced story about the impact of warfare on nations and communities. Newspapers can help to tell that story. The papers in The Archive stretch back to the early 1700s and into the 2000s and can be used to research many famous, and forgotten, conflicts. Throughout November we will explore a variety of topics related to the history of conflict and the military services. The …
Tags
As we explored in our other blog post, military topics and history can be found in every newspaper in The Archive. We also hold a range of specialist military titles. These titles fall into three broad categories: newspapers aimed at the volunteer and military services, newspapers from towns which had large military or naval bases, and newspapers published during the course of a conflict. Click on each paper’s title to be brought to its Title Page in the table below. …
Tags
In this week’s episode of Who Do You Think We Are?, we found out about Cheryl’s four times great-grandfather, John Wood Laing, who was born in Newcastle towards the end of the Industrial Revolution. At the age of 19, he became a mariner’s apprentice and, ten years into his career, became a master, or captain. Since Newcastle was a shipbuilding hub at the time, it was not surprising to discover that there was a branch of mariners in Cheryl’s family …
Tags
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 …
Tags
From the 8th to the 15th February 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded Singapore, one of Britain’s largest military bases in the South East. The move, that would see 85,000 British, Australian and Indian troops taken prisoner of war, was dubbed the “worst disaster” in British military history by Winston Churchill. Search the newspapers Back in Britain, the newspapers were filled with reports of missing troops and families appealing for information. Many of these men had been taken prisoner, but …
Tags
Newspapers are valuable sources for researching historical events, most especially those of such national importance as a declaration of war. Register now and view 3 pages for FREE In August of 1939, Britain and Poland signed an agreement of mutual assistance. This mean that were any foreign power to interfere with either country militarily, the other would rush to their aid. Days later, on September 1st, Germany crossed the Polish border under a flag of nationalism, on an invented crusade …
Tags
‘Tell all France that I am innocent’ – Alfred Dreyfus In Paris on 5 January 1895, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was stripped of his army rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on ‘Devil’s Island’. Here is a newspaper story published on 7 January 1895 entitled, ‘The Degradation of Dreyfus’, that reports on the utterly humiliating ceremony at the Ecole Militaire to strip Dreyfus of his rank and dignity. The words that Dreyfus shouts immediately after the degradation ceremony are very poignant, …