British Newspapers is a joint effort between the British Library and Gale, Cengage Learning to make available digitised versions of key nineteenth-century British newspapers. The online collection presently contains several million articles from forty-nine local and national newspapers. This database offers online access to a key set of primary sources for the study of nineteenth-century history.
For the forty-nine titles selected, every front page, editorial, birth and death notice, advertisement and classified ad that appeared within their pages for the time period available is now accessible from what is a virtual chronicle of history for this period. Users of the database are able to search every word on every page.
The aim was to select a number of London and regional titles, covering as much of the UK as possible. London titles include The Morning Chronicle, The Illustrated Police News and a number of Chartism newspapers. Regional newspapers include: The Northern Echo, Western Mail, The Newcastle Courant, The Ipswich Journal, and The Bristol Mercury. In all, forty-nine titles from the nineteenth century are included. Of those titles, The Penny Illustrated Paper and The Graphic are made available as titles that can be viewed freely without any subscription.
To access the millions of articles in this database, you will need to first register as a user and then purchase either:
- A 24-hour pass for £6.99 that provides you access to 100 articles over that period.
- A 7-day pass for £9.99 that provides you access to 200 articles over that period.
You can view complete articles from the Penny Illustrated Paper and The Graphic free of charge.
Here is a complete list of all the available newspapers:
| Title | Newspaper Title/Variant Title | City | Country | Start | End | |||||
| 1 | Aberdeen Journal | Aberdeen | Scotland | 1 | Jan | 1800 | 23 | Aug | 1876 | |
| Aberdeen Weekly Journal | 30 | Aug | 1876 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | ||||
| 2 | Baner | Denbigh | Wales | 4 | Mar | 1857 | 28 | Sep | 1859 | |
| Baner ac Amserau Cymru | 5 | Oct | 1859 | 29 | Dec | 1900 | ||||
| 3 | Belfast News-Letter | Belfast | Ireland | 1 | Jan | 1828 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 4 | Birmingham Daily Post | Birmingham | England | 4 | Dec | 1857 | 29 | Sep | 1900 | |
| 5 | Brighton Patriot | Brighton | England | 24 | Feb | 1835 | 28 | Jun | 1836 | |
| Brighton Patriot and South of England Free Press | 5 | Jul | 1836 | 13 | Aug | 1839 | ||||
| 6 | Bristol Mercury | Bristol | England | 4 | Jan | 1819 | 26 | Jan | 1878 | |
| The Bristol Mercury and Daily Post | 28 | Jan | 1878 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | ||||
| 7 | Caledonian Mercury | Edinburgh | Scotland | 1 | Jan | 1800 | 27 | Aug | 1859 | |
| The Caledonian Mercury and Daily Express | 29 | Aug | 1859 | 21 | Feb | 1860 | ||||
| The Caledonian Mercury | 22 | Feb | 1860 | 20 | Apr | 1867 | ||||
| 8 | Champion | London | England | 18 | Sep | 1836 | 14 | Nov | 1836 | |
| The Champion and Weekly Herald | 20 | Nov | 1836 | 26 | Apr | 1840 | ||||
| 9 | The Charter | London | England | 27 | Jan | 1839 | 15 | Mar | 1840 | |
| 10 | Chartist | London | England | 2 | Feb | 1839 | 7 | Jul | 1839 | |
| 11 | Chartist Circular | Glasgow | Scotland | 28 | Sep | 1839 | 18 | Sep | 1841 | |
| 12 | Cobbet's Weekly Political Register | London | England | 1 | Jan | 1802 | 3 | Mar | 1804 | |
| Cobbett's Weekly Political Register | 17 | Mar | 1804 | 17 | Sep | 1836 | ||||
| 13 | Daily News | London | England | 21 | Jan | 1846 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 14 | Derby Mercury | Derby | England | 2 | Jan | 1800 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 15 | The Era | London | England | 30 | Sep | 1838 | 29 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 16 | Examiner | London | England | 3 | Jan | 1808 | 26 | Feb | 1881 | |
| 17 | Freeman's Journal | Dublin | Ireland | 1 | Jan | 1800 | 27 | Apr | 1802 | |
| Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser | 11 | Jul | 1807 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | ||||
| 18 | Genedl | Caernarvon | Wales | 8 | Feb | 1877 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 19 | Glasgow Herald | Glasgow | Scotland | 4 | Feb | 1820 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 20 | Goleuad | Caernarvon | Wales | 30 | Oct | 1869 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 21 | Graphic | London | England | 1 | Jan | 1870 | 29 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 22 | Hampshire/Portsmouth Telegraph | Portsmouth | England | 1 | Jan | 1800 | 8 | Feb | 1802 | |
| Mottley's Telegraph and Portsmouth Gazette | 15 | Feb | 1802 | 22 | Feb | 1802 | ||||
| Hampshire Telegraph & Portsmouth Gazette | 1 | Mar | 1802 | 4 | Jul | 1803 | ||||
| Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, etc | 11 | Jul | 1803 | 7 | Oct | 1899 | ||||
| Hampshire Telegraph and Naval Chronicle | 14 | Oct | 1899 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | ||||
| 23 | Hull Packet | Hull | England | 1 | Jan | 1800 | 30 | Jun | 1807 | |
| The Hull Packet and Original Weekly Commercial, Literary and General Advertiser | 7 | Jul | 1807 | 6 | Nov | 1827 | ||||
| The Hull Packet and Humber Mercury | 13 | Nov | 1827 | 5 | Apr | 1833 | ||||
| The Hull Packet | 12 | Apr | 1833 | 18 | Nov | 1842 | ||||
| The Hull Packet and East Riding Times | 25 | Nov | 1842 | 26 | Feb | 1886 | ||||
| 24 | Illustrated Police News | London | England | 5 | Jan | 1867 | 29 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 25 | Ipswich Journal | Ipswich | England | 1 | Jan | 1800 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 26 | Jackson's Oxford Journal | Oxford | England | 1 | Jan | 1800 | 28 | May | 1898 | |
| Oxford Journal and County News | 4 | Jun | 1898 | 3 | Sep | 1898 | ||||
| Jackson's Oxford Journal | 10 | Sep | 1898 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | ||||
| 27 | Leeds Mercury | Leeds | England | 3 | Jan | 1807 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 28 | Liverpool Mercury | Liverpool | England | 5 | Jul | 1811 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 29 | Lloyd's Illustrated Newspaper | London | England | 27 | Nov | 1842 | 8 | Jan | 1843 | |
| Lloyd's Weekly London Newspaper | 15 | Jan | 1843 | 27 | Aug | 1848 | ||||
| Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper | 14 | Jan | 1849 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | ||||
| 30 | London Dispatch | London | England | 17 | Sep | 1836 | 3 | Oct | 1839 | |
| 31 | Manchester Examiner | Manchester | England | 10 | Jan | 1846 | 28 | Oct | 1848 | |
| 32 | Manchester Examiner and Times | Manchester | England | 4 | Nov | 1848 | 16 | Jun | 1855 | |
| Manchester Weekly Examiner & Times | 23 | Jun | 1855 | 5 | Dec | 1857 | ||||
| Manchester Weekly Times and Examiner | 12 | Dec | 1857 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | ||||
| 33 | Manchester Times | Manchester | England | 17 | Oct | 1828 | 23 | May | 1829 | |
| The Manchester Times and Gazette | 30 | May | 1829 | 26 | Aug | 1848 | ||||
| The Manchester Times and Manchester and Salford Advertiser and Chronicle | 2 | Sep | 1848 | 28 | Oct | 1848 | ||||
| 34 | Morning Chronicle | London | England | 1 | Jan | 1801 | 2 | Mar | 1865 | |
| 35 | Newcastle Courant | Newcastle upon Tyne | England | 1 | Jan | 1803 | 27 | Jun | 1884 | |
| The Newcastle Weekly Courant | 4 | Jul | 1884 | 29 | Dec | 1900 | ||||
| 36 | North Wales Chronicle | Bangor | Wales | 4 | Oct | 1827 | 29 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 37 | Northern Echo | Darlington | England | 1 | Jan | 1870 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 38 | Northern Liberator | Newcastle upon Tyne | England | 21 | Oct | 1837 | 23 | May | 1840 | |
| The Northern Liberator and Champion | 30 | May | 1840 | 19 | Dec | 1840 | ||||
| 39 | Northern Star | Leeds | England | 6 | Jan | 1838 | 23 | Nov | 1844 | |
| The Northern Star and National Trades' Journal | 30 | Nov | 1844 | 13 | Mar | 1852 | ||||
| The Star and National Trades' Journal | 20 | Mar | 1852 | 1 | May | 1852 | ||||
| The Star of Freedom | 8 | May | 1852 | 27 | Nov | 1852 | ||||
| 40 | Odd Fellow | London | England | 5 | Jan | 1839 | 10 | Dec | 1842 | |
| 41 | Operative | London | England | 4 | Nov | 1838 | 30 | Jun | 1839 | |
| 42 | Pall Mall Gazette | London | England | 7 | Feb | 1865 | 31 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 43 | The Penny Illustrated Paper | London | England | 12 | Oct | 1861 | 24 | May | 1913 | |
| 44 | Poor Man's Guardian | London | England | 9 | Jul | 1831 | 26 | Dec | 1835 | |
| 45 | Preston Chronicle | Preston | England | 10 | Feb | 1844 | 30 | Dec | 1893 | |
| 46 | Reynold's Newspaper | London | England | 5 | May | 1850 | 2 | Feb | 1851 | |
| Reynolds's Newspaper | 9 | Feb | 1851 | 30 | Dec | 1900 | ||||
| 47 | Southern Star | London | England | 19 | Jan | 1840 | 12 | Jul | 1840 | |
| 48 | Trewman's Exeter Flying Post | Exeter | England | 1 | Jan | 1807 | 29 | Dec | 1900 | |
| 49 | Western Mail | Cardiff | Wales |
You can find British Newspapers Online at: http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs.
My thanks to Richard Heaton for telling me about this online resource.
