Catalogue Search

The British Newspaper Archive contains millions of newspaper pages from the collection of the British Library. You can search for news articles, family notices, letters, obituaries, classifieds, shipping notices and more. The dates covered range from the 1700s to the present and the countries included are England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. 

Hear from a family history researcher who discovered a story about her grandfather which her family never knew about!

“I was using the British Newspaper Archive eresource in the State Library this week and I found my Grandad in the British Newspaper Archive!  

I knew that he’d lived in Portsmouth, and in the newspaper archive there is a map of British Isles which lets you search by region. In this case the SE England and you get a list of newspapers for that region as far back as the 1700s. 

I searched within the regional newspapers and was surprised to discover an article in ‘Hampshire Telegraph' and the 'Portsmouth Evening News’ about my Grandad."

~Karen, family history researcher

Child's remarkable escape, The Hampshire Telegraph, Friday 4 March 1921

'Child's remarkable escape', The Hampshire Telegraph, Friday 4 March 1921.

Portsmouth Evening News Wednesday 2 March 1921

'Child's remarkable escape', Portsmouth Evening News, Wednesday 2 March 1921

Open landau style carriage, 1882. SLSA: B 59858

An open landau style carriage manufactured by Duncan & Fraser, 1882. SLSA: B 59858

Child's remarkable escape, The Hampshire Telegraph, Friday 4 March 1921
Portsmouth Evening News Wednesday 2 March 1921
Open landau style carriage, 1882. SLSA: B 59858

"Titled ‘Child’s remarkable escape’, it reports my grandfather, who was 20 months old at the time, was sitting on the kerb in front of his house and was struck by a landau, the front wheel passed over his legs and a neighbour snatched him up before the hind wheels approached and escaped death. 

It’s a family story that no one was aware of, Grandad never mentioned the story to his children or grandchildren, he may not have been aware it happened or that it appeared in the newspaper.” 

~ Karen, family history researcher

 

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