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‘A black vicious ugly customer as ever I saw, whale-like in size, and with as terrible a row of incisor teeth as ever closed on a French frigate’ – Charles DickensHMS Warrior, the Royal Navy’s first ocean-going ironclad warship, was launched in London on 29 December 1860. Included below is a report of the launch that was published in the Liverpool Daily Post of 31 December 1860 and an illustration of the vessel as she appeared just after completion.…

‘Give us also the right to our existence’At Bow Street in London on 16 November 1928, Miss Radclyffe Hall’s novel, ‘The Well of Loneliness’, found itself in the dock on a charge of obscenity.The powers-that-be had decided that they did not like the novel’s ‘unnatural offences’ – hence the decision to prosecute.The magistrate eventually decided that the book was obscene and ordered that it be destroyed.Here is a newspaper story that reports on this famous literary court case.Image ©…

On 25 October 1854, Lord Cardigan led the charge of the Light Brigade againt the Russians in the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimea.The insane order to attack the gun positions arose due to a miscommunicated message somewhere along the chain of command.156 men of the Light Brigade were killed in the charge and 122 were wounded – 335 horses were also killed during the attack.Included below is a newspaper article from November 1854 that reports on the charge.Read a BNA blog post…

‘Pardon me sir, I meant not to do it’ – the last words of Marie Antoinette (after stepping on the foot of the executioner)On 16 October 1793, Marie Antoinette, the widow of Louis XVI, was executed at the guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris – she was 37.The Hampshire Chronicle published the details of the event on 28 October 1793.Hampshire Chronicle | 28 October 1793…

On 30 September 1860, the first tram service in the UK started operating at Birkenhead on Merseyside.The tram service was the idea of the (aptly named) George Francis Train, an American entrepreneur who was a pioneer of innovative transport systems.To mark that historic day, here is a newspaper story from October 1860 that reports on the opening of the Birkenhead tram service.…

The Somme Offensive commenced on 1 July 1916, as Allied forces attacked German positions by the River Somme on the Western Front in France.On the opening day of the battle, the British suffered 60,000 casualties – making it the worst day in the history of the British army.Here is an upbeat newspaper report of the battle, which was published on the first day of the battle – also included is a map of the area where the battle took place.Image © Northcliffe Media…

On 23 March 1829, the Duke of Wellington and Earl of Winchilsea fought a duel at Battersea Fields in South London.At this time, the Duke of Wellington was Prime Minster of Great Britain and Ireland, and his Tory Government had passed the Catholic Relief Bill. This act was represented the legislative move towards Catholic emancipation, and a section of the legislation would allow Catholics to take a seat in parliament.The Duke of Wellington | Illustrated London News | 24 June 1843Wellington (who had…

On 6 March 1836, the Battle of the Alamo ended, following a 12-day battle between the Texan rebels and President General Santa Anna’s Mexican army. The battle resulted in the death of all the Texian defenders.  To mark the day, we’ve posted below two newspaper stories from May 1836 that report on the end of the famous battle.The first tells us about the battle.A second article promoted the cause of Texas.Discover more about the Battle of the Alamo…

On 30 January 1889, the bodies of Archduke Rudolf and his mistress, Baroness Mary Vetsera, were discovered in the royal hunting lodge at Mayerling.The official verdict is that the star-crossed lovers died in a suicide pact after Rudolf’s father, Franz Joseph I of Austria, demanded that he end the relationship. However, there are theories that Rudolf was murdered (Mary’s body was smuggled out of Mayerling in the middle of the night and Rudolf was described as being ‘mentally unbalanced’) because of…

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the country lawyer who became a revolutionary, died at his estate at Gorki settlement on 21 January 1924.  We trawled through The British Newspaper Archives new stories that reported on Lenin’s death, and the reports are far from complimentary – which is, of course, revealing in itself.Reflecting on Lenin’s death, Churchill wrote: ‘Their worst misfortune was his birth, their next worst – his death’.  There are hundreds of interesting stories about Lenin’s death in The Archive. We have pulled out…