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While researching A Visitor’s Guide to Jane Austen’s England, author Sue Wilkes discovered an amazing romance which could have appeared in an Austen novel. We love hearing about what you’re finding in the newspapers. Tell us about your own discoveries in the comments section below. ************** Heiress Augusta Nicholson, a most intrepid young lady, showed great ingenuity when she fell in love with handsome John Giles, a penniless comedian.Miss Nicholson was a ward of chancery and would inherit £14,000 when she…

The first person to be arrested and charged for driving under the influence of alcohol was George Smith, a London cabdriver.Charged with drunk driving on 10 September 1897This article from the Morning Post reported that at about 00:45 on Friday 10 September 1897, Smith’s vehicle ‘swerved from one side of the road to the other, and ran across the footway into 165 New Bond Street’.George Smith admitted that he’d had ‘two or three glasses of beer’ and apologised, stating that ‘it is the…

Mrs Caudle first appeared as a character in Punch magazine in 1845. She was portrayed as the archetypal nagging wife, always telling her husband off for something.The West Kent Guardian reveals the real Mrs CaudleThis article from the West Kent Guardian reveals that the real-life Mrs Caudle was also a woman not to be messed with. The newspaper published the following court report on Saturday 26 July 1845.West Kent Guardian – Saturday 26 July 1845Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.…

Gordon Martin recently got in touch to show us what the newspapers have helped him find out about his great-great-uncle Charles Alfred Martin.We love hearing about your finds, so please do let us know what you’ve discovered by emailing [email protected]**************Charles Alfred MartinI had long known the existence of great-great-uncle Charles, the youngest child of a seaman born in Magdeburg, Prussia who served on HMS Achille at the Battle of Trafalgar of 1805. His father had arrived in England…

The Huddersfield Chronicle reported that John Hetherington wore the first top hat on this day in 1797. The article stated that he was arrested for breach of the peace after ‘several women fainted at the unusual sight’:View the whole newspaper pageHuddersfield Chronicle – Tuesday 24 January 1899Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.…

‘Tell all France that I am innocent’ – Alfred DreyfusIn Paris on 5 January 1895, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was stripped of his army rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on ‘Devil’s Island’.Here is a newspaper story published on 7 January 1895 entitled, ‘The Degradation of Dreyfus’, that reports on the utterly humiliating ceremony at the Ecole Militaire to strip Dreyfus of his rank and dignity.The words that Dreyfus shouts immediately after the degradation ceremony are very poignant, moving and truthful.We’ve also…