If it happened, it was in the news.
The job of clearing Britain’s cities and towns of unexploded devices after the war has taken many years. Indeed even today we see still hear of exploded bombs more than 70 years on. There have been many, dangerous, weird and wonderful stories of the discovery of such devices –but this one from the 14th July […]
Whilst doing more family research I sadly discovered that my great, great grandmother (Emily Cave (nee Windebank)) committed suicide in 1892 after drinking the contents of a bottle of Carbolic Acid. I found out about this after conducting routine research through the London newspapers. London Evening Standard – Wednesday 14 September 1892: Dr. G. Danford […]
2nd November 1936 – regular television broadcasting commenced from make-do BBC studios at Alexander Palace in North London. The corporation had already tackled the question of whether to employ the mechanical system invented by John Logie Baird or the fast progressing EMI electronic system. By 1936 it became clear that Baird’s system was greatly inferior […]
The Exeter Bank had been established in 1769 along with England’s first hotel, The Royal Clarence, destroyed by fire in 2016. Mr. Short was in Oxford in July 1776 and placed this advertisement in the Oxford Journal on Saturday 6th July: Oxford, 5th July. 1776. LOST, last Night, – An Exeter Bank Note, signed Short, […]
Food safety, the manner it was manufactured, stored, prepared and sold was never out of the news. Despite crude guidelines and basic regulations enforced in law, purveyors of every range of food were endlessly reported with crimes and methods to turn the strongest stomachs. The law finally caught up with a person called White, potted […]
A solicitors clerk working Bethnal Green is at the Old Bailey charged with deception, forgery, theft and embezzlement, 30th April 1894. Here’s the report from the London Evening Standard – Tuesday 01 May 1894. “John Salmon, a 31, clerk, pleaded guilty to stealing three cheques, of the value of £448, and with forging the endorsements […]
The Nottingham Review and General Advertiser for the Midland Counties – Friday 04 June 1830 reports the extraordinary story of a recently deceased 100 year old man with a long and dubious past. “The veteran rogue. On Friday the 21st ult., John Shepherd was interred in Ripponden churchyard. The deceased was 100 years old; he […]
A lamplighter in Whitechapel, going about his business in the early hours of Wednesday the 14th of July 1869, was set upon and assaulted. Various excuses were made when the case went to court as was reported in the Clerkenwell News: “At Worship-street, yesterday, James Hart, 23, described as a gas fitter, residing in Goulston […]
What became the amazing Princetown Railway over Dartmoor from Yelverton to Princetown was fraught with danger during it’s creation. During it’s building phase there were news stories of danger caused by the weather or those constructing it. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette – Friday 29 December 1882 reported an event of a ‘riot’ by some navvies […]
The Times of Malta are reporting today the dreadful case of about 100 children who died during a stampede at a Valletta convent during carnival 192 years ago (here). I have found two articles from 1823 describing the scene (click the images to read the article, then click again to open the image)):
The horrors and cruelty that prisoners of war endured at the original Princetown Prison on Dartmoor are recalled in this brief item in the Western Times – Saturday 30 August 1845. “Dartmoor – It is reported that the Prince-town Prison – those fearful dungeons which proved the grave of so many of our gallant enemies […]
British Newspapers from centuries ago were full of reports, much the same today, of people disappearing or dying in suspicious in unresolved circumstances. The police on the river Thames during Victorian Times were kept particularly busy. 21 year old James Rossiter, was living with his mother in the overcrowded and squalid conditions that were in […]
One of the many thrills of living the life of a Victorian must have been the development of the ability to record sound and therefore to mechanically (later electronically) reproduce the human voice. Several ideas and inventions were put forward including this one from Charles Sumner Tainter in 1888 reported in The Daily Gazette for […]
Gang trouble, particularly in Birmingham, started to appear in the newspapers in the early 1870s with reports of “slogging gangs” causing huge disturbances with considerable violence. The media were describing them as large bodies of “roughs”. In 1872 about 400 of them made their appearance “to great consternation of the inhabitants”. The reports in the […]
The late 1800’s and Edwardian era were a time of great technological adventure and ‘world firsts’. Here The Hartlepool Mail are reporting that the forthcoming eclipse will be filmed using a process of moving pictures. Eclipse and Cinematograph For the first time in the history of eclipse observation a cinematograph will be used (for?) the […]
In a divorce report in 1905 Edwardian readers discover that Christopher Gibson was seriously let down by his trusted friend. Victorian and Edwardian Newspapers were full of contemporary scandal and stories of this nature. They are a great resource for historians looking for names of relatives mentioned in the news. Here is such a story […]
The Morning Post on Tuesday, the 7th of October 1845 was reporting a significant number of accidents involving children. It highlighted only too well the plight of youngsters during this era and how their lives were quite frequently endangered by the lack of care, attention or action from adults around them. Articles like this, apart […]
Richard Bettison was my great great grandfather. He was born and brought up just outside Liskeard in Cornwall where, apart from a brief spell in the 1870s when he was in the Durham area, he spent the best part of his long life. My great grandmother Lily was his daughter and she had two sisters […]
With only months to go before the start of hostilities, life in Britain is very much business as usual on the 8th of June 1914. There is concern about events in Albania, continuing frustration with the Suffragettes, ongoing industrial infighting but no hint to the catastrophic events in the coming weeks that would change the […]
Mrs Charlotte Winsor Charlotte Winsor’s case is one I have been researching for many years. It reveals the appalling—though sadly not uncommon—practice of 19th-century women who would ‘look after’ children for a fee. And we are certainly not talking about nannies here. Now, an archive—including contemporary newspaper reports and court transcripts—relating to the case of […]
In 1885 a man awaited execution at Exeter, Devon, for the murder of his employer, Emma Keyse. The accused was small-time thief, bragger and womaniser John Lee. The case was shocking enough and received fairly extensive news coverage. But the man at the gallows (which he attended three times and lived) may not have been […]
Reynolds’s Newspaper – Sunday 01 May 1859 – is convinced it is on to a strange occurrence that has again come to light. Victorian Newspapers thrilled audiences with tales of mystery and darkness. In this particular case the newspaper is urging the police to take seriously a confession and information from a woman who feels […]
Born in the late 1700s in Trinidad, Peregrine Clarke came to England as a servant. Described in the media as a “handsome young man of colour” he seemed to be quite a charmer. He did have quite an extraordinary life. His time in England ended suddenly when found guilty of robbery. He was sentenced to […]
The British media, particularly during the height of the Victorian and into the Edwardian eras, was very keen to publish and shed light on the state of pauperism. Looking through and comparing newspapers of the same dates, some publications released figures and data that varied considerably depending on the newspaper publishing it. Much like today […]
Retailers in Victorian Britain, much like today, faced a range of rules and regulations. Many shopkeepers were good honest people and an equal amount were to say the least somewhat dubious not only with the content of the products they would sell but also the dubious manner in which the weight of the product was […]
As I previously reported, highway robbery was very much a part of life. Today we refer to it as “street crime”. When there was no street lighting and roads, alleys and lanes around our country were very poorly lit, these were places to steer clear of after dusk particularly. The Yorkshire Gazette on Saturday, the […]
London football giants, West Ham United, faced a strong and equally well supported Plymouth Argyll in February 1923. It was a much anticipated game in which one of these teams lost by two goals. So, who were the real victors and who were crying in their beer? Here is the West Ham team line up: […]
With the First World War showing no signs of ending, life on the home front is further exasperated with shocking domestic stories that continued to fill the pages of our national press. In Aberdeen in mid 1916 a labourer called George Simpson is brought before the courts after beating his wife. Aberdeen Evening Express – […]
British Newspapers quite frequently covered stories from the former British Colonies. Much of the reports, like the domestic ones, were fairly routine yet quite revealing for today’s researchers. It wasn’t unusual to read court reports, criminal activity and other news from the former British Empire. In 1826 this story from Bermuda is headline news: Execution […]
Resolving Victorian murder cases were notorious and haphazard. Detectives and experts were left with little in comparison to available knowledge and technologies today. There was no proof by fingerprinting and it was very difficult to tell the difference between human and mammal blood. Of course there was no DNA. Looking at Victorian murder cases over […]
