British Newspapers 1800-1900 Online

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.

Comments

[Don Jaggi]

I have been viewing this set of records at the Library in Salt Lake City for some time. It is available at certain institutions free of charge. I have found many of my ancestors in the Ipswich Journal. I found some in the quarter sessions reports; when land is sold it mentions tenants names sometimes; Births, Deaths, Marriages of prominent residence; Local and National news. The every word index makes it very useful. I am searching the surname Scoggins so it is very manageable; however, with a more common surname it would be necessary to have a date in mind to search.
What is the link to the paid service?

[Richard Heaton]

Hi,
Just to add incase readers outside the UK don't know. The 1800-1900 Online is one of three projects major projects to digitalise British & Irish newspapers (the second is the Burney and the third are a selection of regional newspapers 18th and 19th Century)

The titles chosen for 1800-1900 are a mix of specialist, regional, and London newspapers. And there are some gems. Of particular interest for anyone with theatre ancestors is the Era. For those you might have Chartist ancestors you might find details (only a fraction of chartists are probably named) in titles 10, 11, or 39 (my ancestor James Cuttriss is mentioned - his Chartist membership card can be found on my website).

While you may be hunting for your ancestors you may also want to try to look for views of the places they lived and a possibility above is the Graphic.

Its worth adding, just because "your" regional paper isn't included doesn't mean your ancestors or cousins don't appear. Bad news sells and travels well, and certainly from the 18th Century regional newspapers can be expected to print details of serious crimes and accidents countrywide - if they thought it would be of interest to their readership.

Having transcribed on my site only a fraction of my own collection, close over 860 British and Irish regional Georgian and Victorian newspapers - its been clear for some time that digitalisation is the best way forward and I'm very much looking forward to the next release of material.

Finally, while I've been fortunate that my local library obtained a subscription to this resource, so I've enjoyed free access in the UK for some time, it was thanks to Polly Rubery that the pay for view option was highlighted.

Very Best Regards and best of luck finding your ancestors
Richard Heaton
(currently tackling a South of England regional paper for 1783)

[Pam]

Does anyone know -- if you have worked these records - if it might be likely that the Leeds Mercury would carry death notices from the 1860's?

[Charani]

Pam wrote:
Does anyone know -- if you have worked these records - if it might be likely that the Leeds Mercury would carry death notices from the 1860's?

A: Generally only if the family paid for a death notice to be included. These weren't automatic and many would not have been able to afford to do so. If the deceased was a local worthy, then it's possible the paper would run a piece.

[Lorraine Satchell]

Hello - I am quite sure this will not be posted but there are most
likely others thinking like myself. These fees are much too high
and the time far too short for the amount you are asking. Most people do not have a full 24 hours in which to take advantage to get the value for their money. I have searched the Gale site when it was free and have found it takes many hours to read over and locate any
worthwhile information for family history. I will hold off on buying
any time right now and have to see how things go. I am just not impressed with your rates.