Today, we’re highlighting one of many events that have occurred over the years on 31 May. On 31 May 1837, the Clown Laureate of the Regency era, Joseph ‘Joey’ Grimaldi, died. Read the entire obituary Grimaldi was considered the best clown of the nineteenth century. His work was influential in the role and appearance of clowns — he expanded the clown’s role in pantomimes and the harlequinade. He worked on several famous stages, including Drury Lane, Sadler’s Wells, and Covent Garden. Over …
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We’ve recently donated 100 subscriptions to the Wikipedia community through the Wikipedia Library, a grant-funded programme which makes it easier for experienced volunteer editors to access research materials. It’s very exciting to be involved in this new partnership. It allows us to contribute to Wikipedia, one of the most frequently used reference tools in the world, and demonstrates how local British and Irish newspapers can help improve public information about historical topics from around the world. We asked Simon Tushingham, one …
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Karl Heinrich Marx, author of ‘The Communist Manifesto’ and ‘Capital’, died in London on 14 March 1883. To mark the day, we’re sharing a newspaper report of his death and a report on his funeral and burial at Highgate Cemetery. We do wonder about the story regarding Marx and Engels almost dying in the Tay Bridge Disaster in 1879. The story goes that they had planned to travel on the ill-fated train while on a lecture tour in Scotland, …
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Newspaper report from 1898 on the life and achievements of Sir Samuel Plimsoll On 10 February 1824, Sir Samuel Plimsoll, ‘the Sailors’ Friend’, was born in Bristol. The MP for Derby, philanthropist and social reformer had an amazing life, including a period of destitution in London, when he failed in business as a coal merchant. Today, he is mostly remembered for inventing ‘the Plimsoll Line’, which is a set of measurements and symbols on the side of ships indicating how …