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On 24 August 1814, a British force led by Major General Robert Ross defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bladensburg, and then marched on Washington DC.Once Ross and his soldiers reached the capital, they set fire to many public buildings, including the White House and the US Capitol. The soldiers were under strict orders not to burn any private buildings.This episode was part of the War of 1812 between Britain and the USA, which lasted until the Treaty of Ghent…

The great Hollywood screen idol, Rudolph Valentino, died on 23 August 1926, aged only 31.Known as ‘the Great Lover’, ‘Valentino’ or ‘the Latin Lover’, he was one of the biggest stars of the silent era.He died from severe pleuritis, after developing peritonitis following an operation to remove his appendix and gastric ulcers.His death caused mass hysteria in New York, as fans rioted in order to view his body in the funeral parlour.There are 100s of stories about ‘Valentino’ in…

‘Hustled out of prison – woman who got into the prison by a fraud’Dorothy Parker, writer, poet and brilliant wit, was born in New Jersey on 22 August 1893.We found this fascinating, wee story in the Archive about her blagging her way into Charlestown Prison and then being promptly thrown out of the prison when an officer overheard her telephone conversation about the Sacco-Vanzetti trial.The Sacco-Vanzetti was a cause celebre in 1927, and many people thought that the trial was a…

In Mexico City on 20 August 1940, Leon Trotsky was attacked by the Spanish communist and Soviet agent, Ramon Mercader.To mark the day and pay our respects, we’ve posted an old newspaper story about the attack on Trotsky.It’s interesting to note that the newspaper story wrongly reports the attack was carried out by a French Jew called Franck Johnson. The report also mentions that over 20 attempts had previously been made to kill Trotsky.Trotsky died of his injuries the following…

In The British Newspaper Archive we found the first ever English match to be reported in a newspaper – the match between Sheffield FC and Hallam FC at Bramall Lane Cricket Ground on 29 December 1862.Played according to ‘Sheffield Rules’, the match sounds like it might have been a little rough in places, with ‘waistcoats’ being thrown off, as the intensity of the match heightened. It seems that the long interval at half-time also caused some raised eyebrows among some of the…

On the 16th of August 1819, 15 people were killed and 100s were wounded/injured, when the Manchester Yeomanry attacked a crowd numbering 60,000 at a political reform meeting at St Peter’s Fields, Manchester.So to commemorate the event that became known as ‘The Peterloo Massacre’, we’ve posted two letters written by the radical orator, Henry Hunt. These letters were written by Hunt while he was in prison (he was later sentenced to two years in prison for speaking at the meeting).To learn…

The first programme in the new series of Who Do You Think You Are? was shown on BBC1 last night, and it was fascinating.Samantha Womack, the former ‘Eastenders’ actress, discovered some amazing and revealing stories about several of her ancestors – including a very sad story about her g-grandfather.It was also great to see how using old newspaper for family history research can help to shed light on the lives (and characters) of her ancestors.If you missed the…

The new series of Who Do You Think You Are? starts tonight, and we’re really looking forward to it.We’ve seen the trailer for the programme and noticed that old newspapers are being used to find interesting stories about the ancestors of the celebrity guests.The actress, Samantha Womack (nee Janus), is the first person featured in the new series – you can watch a wee snippet of tonight’s programme at the ‘WDYTYA’ website.– BBC1, Wednesday 15 August, 21:00.– www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007t575…

Surname alert for family historians across the world!Two members of the Abertay Historical Society in Scotland are planning a project on the ancestry of Flemish people in Scotland, and are looking for people to share their family history stories with them.Although the project is looking at Flemish ancestry in Scotland, we suspect the project will be of interest to people all over the world.So if your surname is included in the list below, you might like to…

We love reading stories about Eric Liddell in the Archive. We think that the two newspaper reports included below offer a fascinating insight into his wonderful triumph at the 1924 Olympics and his life shortly afterwards.Liddell had been entered to run in the 100m (his best event), but the devout Christian decided not to race in the 100m as the heats took place on a Sunday. As the timetable for the Games had been published several months in advance, Liddell…