British Newspaper Archive
This is a very important collection that can be accessed in three ways.
- Limited parts are included within a subscription to FindMyPast.
- Brightsolid (the parent company of FindMYPast) offer a separate subscription site that is free to search but will display pages only on a paid account.
- Major libraries (such as NLA and SLQ) have free access to images of the papers in their eResources (called 19th Century Newspapers Database) that can be browsed but the built-in search facility is not very strong.
To use the British Newspaper Archive from home (without a subscription)
- Obtain a membership card for the National Library of Australia or the State Library of Queensland and record its number.
- Carry out a free search of the index at the Brightsolid subscription site to identify the title and date of the paper you require.
- Use your membership number to secure access to the 19th Century Newspapers Database at the NLA or the SLQ
- Conduct a Publication Search for the issue that you need and then browse to the relevant article as shown in this pdf summary.
Top tips for searching the newspapers
The blog of the British Newspaper Archive recently collected 25 top tips to improve your success in locating relevant information in historical newspaper collections.
The blog of the British Newspaper Archive recently collected 25 top tips to improve your success in locating relevant information in historical newspaper collections.
Richard Heaton's Index to Digitalised British and Irish Newspapers Online
This site shares one man's effort to identify where each digitised British paper can be located and its availability and cost. At the page, use your browser's method to Find within the page (such as Ctrl-F) to locate the name of the town that interests you.
This site shares one man's effort to identify where each digitised British paper can be located and its availability and cost. At the page, use your browser's method to Find within the page (such as Ctrl-F) to locate the name of the town that interests you.
UKpressonline: Yesterdays newspapers are history as it happened
This is a corporate archive of twentieth-century editions of the Mirror, Express and Star titles along with some limited coverage from the nineteenth century. A simple search on keywords returns a thumbnail image of papers that might be relevant. Registered users (free) can make advanced searches and see sample text of the search term in context. Subscribers can then download a pdf of pages.
Personal subscriptions are available for 24 hours, 5 days or 30 days depending on your needs.
This is a corporate archive of twentieth-century editions of the Mirror, Express and Star titles along with some limited coverage from the nineteenth century. A simple search on keywords returns a thumbnail image of papers that might be relevant. Registered users (free) can make advanced searches and see sample text of the search term in context. Subscribers can then download a pdf of pages.
Personal subscriptions are available for 24 hours, 5 days or 30 days depending on your needs.
Old British News
This is said to be a site where the operators will "conduct a newspaper search, provide any items of news, research military records and even conduct some family history research ... free from costs or fees". They do accept donations via PayPal.
This is said to be a site where the operators will "conduct a newspaper search, provide any items of news, research military records and even conduct some family history research ... free from costs or fees". They do accept donations via PayPal.