Performing a search for cricket in our oldest British Newspaper Archive publications (the Archive’s earliest pages run from 1699) it is possible to discover the fascinating history of the enduringly popular sport. In this special blog we will look at cricket’s early association with royalty, its emergence as a gambling sport, and its inevitable explosion in popularity. Kentish Gazette | 23 June 1773 An early and passionate advocate for the sport was Prince Frederick of Wales, father of George III, who …
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The first recorded mention of women’s cricket was in 1745, in Surrey. We searched our Archive for early mentions of women’s cricket, and we came across a treasure trove of articles describing the early history of the sport. Harrow versus Pinner | Graphic | 18 August 1888 One of these comes from the Sherborne Mercury, published in August 1849. It describes a match between ‘nine married ladies’ and ‘nine single ladies’ played at Picket Post, in the New Forest. The single ladies …
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This week we have added 57,277 new pages to The Archive. We are excited to welcome specialist sporting title – the Football Post (Nottingham) – to our collection, with 1069 issues added so far. We now have thirteen specialist sporting newspapers available to search – you can find a comprehensive list of sporting newspapers here, as well as hints and tips for using The Archive for sporting research here. We have also updated five of our existing titles, including three of our …
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This week we have added 127, 928 new pages to The Archive. We have four brand new titles from across the British Isles, including our second Jersey title, the French-language publication Nouvelle Chronique de Jersey. We also have a brand new title for Northern Ireland, the Strabane Chronicle, as well as two new London titles, the Pinner Observer and the Kingston Informer. We also have updated seven of our existing titles. We have updates to two of our London titles, the Harefield Gazette and the Kensington Post, as well as one of …
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We are delighted to feature a guest post this week by Peter Manning, who used The Archive to research his new book Palace at the Palace – A History of The Crystal Palace & Its Football Club 1851-1915. My project started out as research into the Crystal Palace football teams that played at the old Crystal Palace at Sydenham, but the history that was revealed by searching the BNA’s archives was so interesting and so compelling that I ended up writing …
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The British Newspaper Archive is the perfect research tool for discovering the history of your favourite sports team or delving into the origins of your local club or venue. Register today! Sport is one of the most searched topics on the site and it’s easy to see why. From historical match fixtures and results, through to news articles and photographs of history’s most iconic sporting moments, the depth and breadth of knowledge the Archive can offer is truly endless. How to search Start by going …
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Last year, we donated 100 subscriptions to Wikipedia’s volunteer editors to help expand public information about historical topics. Brian Chapman has worked with Wikipedia for over five years and made around 42,000 edits to the online encyclopedia. He got in touch to tell us about one of the pages he’s improved with the help of our newspapers. ************** When I heard about the collaboration between The British Newspaper Archive and Wikipedia, I jumped at the chance to take …
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We’ll be giving away some fantastic prizes and celebrating the different types of research our newspapers can help with next week. Simply check The British Newspaper Archive’s Facebook page at 12pm (GMT) every day from Saturday 27 December – Friday 2 January to take part. Visit The British Newspaper Archive’s Facebook page Win some great prizes with The British Newspaper Archive There are lots of exciting gifts on offer, whether you’re interested in genealogy, local history, studying World …
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A 13-year-old schoolboy has held the record for the highest cricket score for over 100 years. Arthur Edward Jeune ‘James’ Collins, also known by the initials A. E. J. Collins, scored an incredible 628 not out in June 1899. The cricket match took place over four days at Clifton College in Bristol. Blackburn Standard reports a score of ‘628 not out’ A copy of the Blackburn Standard printed on 1 July 1899 reveals that Collins achieved the majority of …
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We were fascinated by this news story about Harold Mahony, who won the men’s singles at Wimbledon in 1896. Born in Edinburgh in 1869 (we think the 1867 in the news story is a typo), Mahony was twice a semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 1891 and 1892, before finally winning the championship in 1896. As he was born to Irish parents (from Dublin), Mahony was clearly a mix of Scottishness and Irishness – so Ireland might claim him as an Irish …