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Women and the Second World War

Continuing our commemoration of the 75 years since VE-Day, in this special blog we explore the vital role that women played throughout the course of the Second World War. In 1939, for a second time in just over twenty years, Britain found itself embroiled in an international conflict, and women stepped forward to work in civil defence, armed forces, and industry.  Unlike any other country, for the first time, British women were conscripted into service.  On 18 December 1941, the

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Women and the First World War

First Worls War women firefighters

During the First World War (1914-1918), the role of women in Britain was massively altered and the women’s sphere was enlarged in every direction. Some historians mark the First World War as a watershed moment in women’s history when women were looked at less as fragile creatures and more as robust figures.  A single blog post is not enough to explore all the contributions of women during the Great War, but we have combed through The British Newspaper Archive and

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Knitting and fashion in the Second World War

stockings

In discussing the fashions during the Second World War, we turn to the pages of Britannia and Eve.  Along with providing general news, this paper has dedicated sections on such topics as fashion, home, and knitting. Wonderful illustrations and photographs are included amongst its pages. Explore all our fashion findings here! Knitting Knitting advice and patterns are no strangers to the pages of our newspapers. It could be said that the value of such readily available information was made all the

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Economy and utility in wartime fashion

new clothes from old

War impacts every part of life, some more obvious than others. In this post, we will explore the impact of war on fashion; particularly, we will look at how the topics of economy and quality shaped war-time fashion. The article excerpts included in this post are from two recurring columns: ‘The Highway of Fashion‘, printed in The Tatler, and ‘Fashions by Jean Burnup‘, printed in Britannia and Eve. Explore knitting and fashion in the Second World War Economy With the ever-present threat

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Woman’s Sphere in War Time gallery

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Headlines from History – November military events

American troops

In honour of Remembrance Day, during the month of November, The British Newspaper Archive will be focusing our attention on military in the newspapers.  Coming up this month we will feature blogs about our special military titles, researching military history, women and war, and wartime rationing and fashion, as well as a guest blog about a remarkable Great War discovery from The Archive.  To begin our military month, we are delving into the newspaper headlines through the years for the

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Dunkirk Stories

Christopher Nolan’s film Dunkirk is a powerful portrayal of the rescue of  over 330,000 soldiers from the beach at Dunkirk in northern France.  The film pays tribute to the role of the French and British rearguard, the RAF and the little ships all of who played their part in the evacuation. Following the events of a single day the film compresses into two hours the heroism and tragedy of the events of the nine days between 27 May – 4

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September 3rd, 1939: War is Declared

Britain delcares war on Germany 1939

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

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