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It’s 1841 and Josiah Mister is on trial in Shrewsbury for attempted murder – committed at the Angel Inn in Ludlow.The victim was William Mackreth, a trader from Bristol who was in the town for the summer fair. In the early hours of the morning, he was brutally attacked by someone who’d been hiding under his bed. He managed to fight him off and his assailant escaped; a trail of blood led to Josiah’s room and he was arrested.But did…

We have come to the end of the year and for the month of December we are looking across the month at historic events that occurred during the month including the death of a famous musician, an explorer’s achievement, the first woman in Parliament, and the coronation of Napoleon. We do not claim that these are all the noteworthy historical events in December.  If you know of any significant ‘December’ events that you have found in The Archive share them…

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…

The British Newspaper Archive is proud to feature a guest blog by author Naomi Clifford.  In 2016, Naomi Clifford wrote The Disappearance of Maria Glenn, a story of crime and coercion about the abduction of a sugar plantation heiress.  This year, Clifford is back with a new book, Women and the Gallows 1797-1837: Unfortunate Wretches. Her research into the 131 women hanged in England and Wales involved extensive research in the British Newspaper Archive.  Eliza Ross is just one name featured in the…

The British Newspaper Archive is excited to present a guest blog by David Cornforth.  David is the author if Exeter Pubs, which offers a captivating glimpse into the history of some of Exeter’s most famous pubs.  He also created the local history website Exeter Memories.When I became interested in local history a dozen years ago, I read many books, and spent much time in local archives trawling bound copies of newspapers and other documents. My interest expanded into a…

Emma Willis explored the back streets of Birmingham, uncovered a violent ancestor, and revealed magnificent Irish craftsmanship in her family tree.  In this week’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, we followed the lives of three of Willis’ ancestors: James Gretton, Richard Fowler, and Michael Kirwan.  We will take a closer look at the newspapers and explore what more we can discover about the stories and lives revealed.James GrettonEmma Willis found out that her three-time great…

On 31 July 1910, Hawley Harvey Crippen, better known as Dr Crippen, and Ethel Le Neve, his typist-turned-lover, were arrested on board the Montrose while trying to flee west to Canada. On top of being a sensational case and arrest, it was the first example of an arrest aided by wireless telegraphy.A cross-Atlantic chase of a fleeing couple is an apt ending to our July theme of travel and migration. When you ask yourself why your ancestor or the subject of…

Illustrated London NewsOn 14 May 1842, 175 years ago today, the Illustrated London News, the world’s first illustrated newspaper, debuted.  Founded by Herbert Ingram of Lincolnshire, the paper was a pioneer in pictorial journalism.  The British Newspaper Archive is proud to hold more than 7,000 issues of the Illustrated London News across its 161-year run for you to explore.Register today and explore the Illustrated London News.From its inaugural edition, the editors were confident in their endeavour.‘We take the world…

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…

Just a month after hitting the 9.5 million page milestone, we’re very pleased to announce that there are now 10 million historic newspaper pages available at The British Newspaper Archive.The website launched with 4 million pages in November 2011, which means there’s now 150% more to explore. If you’ve not searched the collection for a while, it’s definitely time to try again.Search the newspapers –>More to search and a great-value subscriptionIt’s not just our coverage that has improved over the last few…