Today we are excited to announce the launch of our new homepage! What is on the new homepage? All the features you are used to on The British Newspaper Archive homepage are still available to you. However, their look and placement may have changed with the launching of the new homepage. Let’s take a closer look at the new layout. At the top, you’ll notice that the menu is laid out in the same manner: home, saved links, blog, help, about, and …
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Thousands arrived at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham for Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2017 between Thursday 6 April and Saturday 8 April. Today, we are reviewing a few of the family history stories revealed during the show and we will share 5 of the top search tips discussed during the event. The event welcomed family historians and genealogists from across the country to come together to discuss their research and to find out more about the …
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This week thousands have assembled at Who Do You Think You Are? Live in Birmingham to demolish those brick walls, learn new tricks of genealogy, and hear about the latest news of family history. Most of us have searched the newspapers for obituaries, but much more can be revealed about our ancestor’s lives than the memorials at their death. Today, we will take a look at the divorce courts, bankruptcy notices, illegitimacy cases, and committee minutes. The mid- to late …
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Whilst Mothering Sunday is now commonly combined and celebrated with the secular holiday of Mother’s Day in the United Kingdom and Ireland, its origin is religious in nature and separate from that of the American Mother’s Day. Starting in the 1700s, individuals would attend a special service on Laetare Sunday (the fourth Sunday of Lent) at their mother church (usually the church where an individual was baptised or their local parish church/closest cathedral). This activity was soon coined as going …
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This month we are introducing a new blog theme: Cookery Corner. Whether you want sweet or savoury; an easy 30-minute meal or an extravagant four-course dinner, the British Newspaper Archive holds all your culinary desires. Each month we will dip into through the thousands of recipes found in the British and Irish newspapers while focusing on a specific topic. Sweet Cakes We thought the best way to start, of course, is with cakes! This month, we discovered numerous recipes for …
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We have reached a major new milestone in our project to digitise up to 40 million newspaper pages from the British Library’s vast collection of historic British & Irish newspapers. Following the addition of a newspaper from the country’s smallest county, Rutland, the Archive now covers every corner of England as, for the first time, at least one title from each of the country’s 48 counties is now available to search and explore. We have added 3,968 pages from the Rutland …
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In honour of St Patrick’s Day, we’ve dug into The British Newspaper Archive to find out how the day has been celebrated in different parts of the world over the last century. Interested in finding more examples of St Patrick’s Day celebrations? Register today and explore all of The British Newspaper Archive! Register for free today!
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On 15 March 1917, amid the chaos and fury of the Russian Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II, Emperor of all Russia, abdicated from the throne and ended 300 years of Romanov rule. Russians of all classes were on the streets of Petrograd (formerly known as St Petersburg), and Nicholas’ own military had joined the ranks of protestors. How did this monarch fall and a dynasty end? On the anniversary of Tsar Nicholas’ abdication, we will take a look through …
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Last night, the final episode aired of this series of Who Do You Think You Are? It explored the ancestry of BBC anchor Sophie Raworth, and provided an opportunity to reflect on the discoveries of this series, particularly the passions and professions that have been shared throughout the generations of a family — oftentimes unknowingly! Sophie’s family was no exception to this pattern. Musical Motts An early discovery in last night’s episode was that Sophie has several ancestors who were involved in …
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At the dawn of a new month, let’s take a look through the newspapers at events that have occurred in the month of March throughout history. Events and stories that once shocked the world have, today, been relegated to distant, vague recollections. Boston Massacre It would be an oversight indeed to speak of shocking and significant March events without first mentioning the Boston Massacre, which took place on 5 March 1770. This event is not without controversy depending on one’s …