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‘This child has a great future before her, and she will put many great musicians in the shade’ – PaganiniThe German pianist and composer, Clara Schumann, suffered a stroke and died in Frankfurt on 20 May 1896, aged 76.We’ve been reading stories about Madame Schumann in the Archive and we especially liked this first report, as it contains a terrific comment from Paganini about her brilliant piano playing.The second report contains a description of her funeral in Bonn, and below that…

On 19 May 1935, T.E. Lawrence (‘Lawrence of Arabia’) died at Bovington Military Camp in Dorset, five days after fracturing his skull in a motorcycle accident – he was 46 years old.The Archive contains 100s of stories about Thomas Edward Lawrence, including many reports of his amazing exploits during World War One.Here is a fascinating newspaper report about the life and death of Lawrence, published just one day after he died.Nottingham Evening Post – Monday 20 May 1935Image © Northcliffe Media Limited. Image created…

On 16–17 May 1943, an attack on the Mohne and Edersee Dams was carried out by 617 Squadron, led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson.The attack famously used the ‘bouncing bombs’ that had been invented by Barnes Wallis.Included below is a newspaper report of the attack and also some photographs, which were published just two days afer the attack on the dams.…

At the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on 15 May 1800, James Hadfield tried to shoot King George III while the national anthem was being played, and the king was standing to attention in the royal box.It’s reported that after missing his target, Hadfield then said to the king:‘God bless your royal highness; I like you very well; you are a good fellow.’Hmm, we’re thinking that his words might be a very good examples of quick thinking…Hadfield went on…

We’re always interested in new digitisation projects, so were very interested to see this news story about the start of the ‘Lives of the First World War’ website project.– http://www.1914.org/news/new-digital-centenary-project-lives-of-the-first-world-war/And here’s the URL for the ‘Lives of the First World War’ website – the archive content isn’t yet on the site, but there’s a video explaining what this fascinating website will eventually contain.– http://www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/…

On 11 May 1857, the mutiny by Indian Sepoy soldiers at Meerut started.The mutiny at Meerut was the start of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, as it acted as a catalyst for other mutinies as well as uprising by citizens to take place.Included below is a letter written by an officer stationed in Meerut, who describes the terrible events that took place at this time.And here’s another very moving letter written by an army officer – this time, based at Sebastopol…

‘That was but a prelude; where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also’ – Heinrich Heine (1797 to 1856)In most university towns of Nazi Germany on the night of 10 May 1933, Nazi-supporting students burned over 25,000 books that were deemed to be ‘un-German’.This bonfire of books followed on from the proclamation of ‘Action against the Un-German Spirit’, which had been declared on 6 April 1933.To mark this very dark day, here are two newspaper reports about this funeral pyre of ‘un-German’ books.…

John Stuart Mill, one of the giants of philosophy during the nineteenth century, died in Avignon on 8 May 1873, aged 66.Stuart Mill is probably most famous for his writings on liberty and the freedom of the individual against control by the state. He was also an advocate of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham.To commemorate the day and to remember the life of John Stuart Mill, here is a newspaper tribute to Mill, which was published four days…

Historical newspaper reports on the sinking of the LusitaniaOn 7 May 1915, the Lusitania was hit by torpedoes fired by the German U-boat U-20, and sank in 20 minutes with the loss of 1,198 lives.To mark the day, here are some newspaper reports about the tragedy.…

An obituary of Napoleon from 1821 and a also report of the autopsyNapoleon Bonaparte died at Longwood, Saint Helena, on 5 May 1821 – he was aged 51.As you can imagine, the obituaries carried in the UK newspapers in 1821 were less than complimentary to the former emperor.This first clipping shows the obituary that ‘The Cambridge Chronicle and Journal’ published on Friday 10 August 1821.Below that is a short newspaper clipping from the time when the news started to filter back to the UK,…