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This week at The Archive, we have added another 190,692 new pages to our total count. We welcome three new titles that take us both underground into the mining industry, and across the water to 19th century Antigua. Additionally, we have updated nineteen of our pre-existing titles, including one final year to complete the 1956-1985 run of our 100 millionth title, Dundee Courier, as well as more to special interest title, Bicycling News.So continue reading to find out more about our fascinating…

This week at The Archive we are delighted to welcome one splendid brand new title to our collection – Toby – the ‘East London Watch-Dog‘ – which provides us with a fascinating insight into attitudes to the police in Whitechapel at the time of Jack the Ripper. That’s not all, over the last seven days we’ve added 89,020 brand new newspaper pages, whilst we’ve made important updates to our newspaper titles from across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.So read on to discover more…

This week at The Archive we have reached yet a another milestone, as we now have a total of over 58 million pages all now available to search, just four weeks after we brought up our last million. Meanwhile, we have added 206,866 brand new pages over the past seven days, with one brand new title, the Eastern Argus and Borough of Hackney Times, joining us, with updates to 35 of our existing titles from across England, Wales and Scotland.So read on…

In this very special blog, Jessie O’Hara, from our sister site Findmypast, takes a fascinating look at astrology through the pages of our newspapers. Featuring articles all the way from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century, she traces the development of attitudes towards astrology across three centuries, from scepticism to horoscopes being a mainstay of mainstream media.Register with us today and see what stories you can discoverBeliever or non-believer, agnostic or sceptic, there is no denying that…

As we move now into February we have been extremely busy here at The Archive, adding 139,438 brand new pages to our collection, with the addition of two brand new titles over the past seven days. Meanwhile, we have made significant updates to a range of our existing titles, with 26 titles updated in all.So read on to discover more about our two new titles of the week, one of which represented the interests of the various Nonconformist Protestant groups of…

In December, 1811, all London was convulsed with terror at the tidings of the horrible slaughter wreaked at 29 Ratcliff Highway and 81 New Gravel Lane, and soon, from the Prince Regent’s table at Carlton House to the tap-room of the lowest dram-shop in Wapping, the hideous subject engrossed all.Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, 27 August 1887These murders, now generally referred to as the Ratcliff Highway Murders, represent one of the bloodiest chapters in British crime history, and might have been the crime of…

‘No more thrilling a tale of guilt and crime, and scarcely one so eloquent in its lessons and cautions to those who are in danger of entering upon a life of unbridled passion, is to be found in all the history of poor humanity than this story of William Palmer.’So reads an article in the Sheffield Independent, 17 September 1888, regarding one William Palmer, better known as the Rugeley Poisoner. William Palmer, a former doctor, was convicted in 1856 for the murder…

This week on The Archive we have added 20,428 brand new pages, encompassing seven new titles, which cover England and Wales, as well as a brand new title from Jamaica, a first for the British Newspaper Archive.Register now and explore the ArchiveWe have three new titles joining us this week from Yorkshire, strengthening our collection of newspapers from England’s largest county. We have two new titles from the West Yorkshire town of Batley, including the Batley Reporter and Guardian,…

On 27 September 1888, in the midst of a series of horrific murders in Whitechapel, the Central News Office in London received a letter, signed by ‘Jack the Ripper’.Known as the ‘Dear Boss’ letter because of the way it was addressed, the letter changed the way British newspapers reported the Ripper murders.Read newspapers from 1888Facsimiles of the ‘Dear Boss’ letter in the newspapersThe name ‘Jack the Ripper’ reached the British press and general public on 3 October 1888, when Scotland Yard…

On 10 January 1863 the Metropolitan Railway was opened in London. An unprecedented feat of engineering, the Metropolitan Railway was the first underground railway in the world, forming the basis of the London underground and other global underground systems.In this special blog, we take a look at the historic first three days of the Metropolitan Railway’s existence, from its grand opening on Friday 10 January 1863, to the teething problems it encountered when it opened to the public on the Saturday and Sunday,…