Using Newspapers for British Research

Sometimes we forget the usefulness of newspapers because physical newspapers aren’t as common anymore. Newspapers can provide information that is not available anywhere else or can produce clues to find other records.

The most common searches in newspapers are for birth, marriage, and death notices, including obituaries. However, newspapers can be full of lots of interesting information from arrests to gardening contest winners and everything in between. Smaller newspapers might even seem more like a local gossip column than a newspaper. These are great for genealogical purposes since they may, for instance, casually say someone visited their parents and then name the town where the parents were living.

What newspapers are available?

Newspapers will vary from town to town. Some towns had local newspapers that pertained to the town and maybe a few neighboring places as well. There were also city papers and county wide newspapers. Doing a quick search for the town in question will usually let you know what newspapers were published and for what time periods.

Where do you find newspapers?

The British Newspaper Archive

My go-to source is https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk. I have been using them for a long time. They are a subscription based website. I maintained an annual subscription with them for years but currently use their pay-as-you-go option. When I run out of page views I am considering doing a subscription again, which I’ll evaluate at that time. I highly recommend getting a subscription when you start so you get an idea of what you can find in the newspapers and how to narrow your search.

The British Newspaper Archive is owned and operated by Findmypast Limited, which also runs the findmypast website.1 The Findmypast website contains the newspapers in their premium subscription.

The British Newspaper Archive is constantly growing. They have focused primarily on larger newspapers, such as newspapers with large city or county-wide circulation. Their website lists all the newspapers they have scanned and for what years. Since the database is constantly growing, it is important to check back from time to time to see what is new.

Family Search has two collections from newspapers found in the British Newspaper Archive.2 One collection has obituaries and the other family notices, which are typically birth, marriage, and death notices. While the collection is free to search, they require an account with Family Search to search their records. Accounts are free.

The British Newspaper Archive uses the British Library as the source for their newspapers.

The British Library

The British Library has over 60 million newspaper issues.3 They claim to have a pretty comprehensive British collection post 1820s. According to their website, British and Irish newspapers have been required to send them one copy of each issue since 1869.

If you are lucky enough to visit the British Library, they have free access to the British Newspaper Archive (BNA) as well as other newspaper databases. While the BNA does have some recent papers, other databases will likely be more comprehensive for papers published in the last 70 years.

The British Newspaper Archive also has a reading room where you can request to view newspaper issues that have not been digitized. Many of them are on microfilm for viewing. You have to possess a reader pass and must preorder materials.

Local Libraries

Libraries in the UK will likely have access to various newspaper databases, including British Newspaper Archives and databases containing more recent newspaper subscriptions.

Some local libraries also contain original or microfilmed copies of newspapers that can be searched. Occasionally, they may even have records that the British Library does not have!

Individual Newspaper Websites

If you are looking for a particular newspaper, and that paper is still in circulation, their website may have what you are looking for, although you may need to pay for a subscription. Since newspapers hold a copyright, they have to opt in to be part of a database. Individual newspaper websites may be the only way to find some newspapers online.

Society or Guild Newsletters

While society or guild newsletters aren’t typically newspapers, I decided to include them here anyway. Many of these organizations have newsletters. Depending on the size of the group, they may publish life events of its members. Larger societies will not include personal information, with the possible exception of significant events for well known members, such as the death of a board member. Smaller societies, where members typically know each other personally, likely include personal information. If your person of interest was part of a society or organization, contact the group to see if they have old copies of newsletters or scrapbooks which might have newsletter clippings.

Family Search has some society and guild records (but not many). Most are only available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City or online at one of their many Family History Centers. When searching, use the familysearch catalog. Use a location search and then use keywords such as “society” or “guild”. Search both at the county level and the city or parish level. There will likely be options for “periodicals” or “Societies”. One I found was “The Bradford antiquary : the journal of the Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society.”4 There are various records beginning with 1888, but I can’t detail what can be found in that particular journal because it is only available at a Family History Center, and my local Center is still closed due to pandemic related shutdowns.

Personal Collection

Many families have a family member who kept newspaper clippings or who has a scrap book of some kind. I am fortunate enough to have several newspaper clippings (and some photo copies of newspaper clippings) that have been handed down to me. Unfortunately they do not identify the newspaper, but they have wonderful information.

One newspaper clipping I have is from an unnamed British newspaper reporting the death of an ancestor who had moved to Canada. It begins, “Death of a Former Resident-An American paper gives an account of the death of Mrs T. Walton…” The article goes on to say she lived in Canada and died in Illinois at her son’s home. Her living children were mentioned, although not necessarily by name. It also gave the name of her father and the town she was raised in. This has been a very valuable article when researching her line. I have searched for the newspaper article digitally, without success. I am grateful for the clipping which I have.

I recommend asking family members if they have old scrap books you can look through to see if they happen to have any newspaper clippings that may assist in genealogical research!

Wonderful finds

I have discovered many interesting things in newspapers. I have found wedding information that I couldn’t find anywhere else. Sometimes a birth or marriage notice in a newspaper lists the child number, such as “third daughter” or “youngest son” giving more familial information than otherwise known. I have found arrest information so I knew to look for court or prison records. I discovered inquisition information for someone who died in childbirth. Contest results from running races to vegetable and flower competitions gave a peek into the lives of individuals. A death notice once listed how many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren one of my ancestors had (which was more than I knew of). There was a blurb in a paper celebrating the sister of my ancestor. In it, information about her siblings' ages and residences were included, as well as the recent death of a sibling. This article helped me locate death information for someone. I found land sale advertisements and bankruptcy information which helped explain why someone with assets later did not. I have read advertisements of the local businesses of people I was researching. And of course there are many birth, marriage, and death notices.

I love newspapers and the gems that are found in them. Newspapers are often overlooked as a source of genealogical information but they are full of useful details. If you haven’t used newspapers yet, I highly recommend starting!

  1. www.findmypast.com or www.findmypast.co.uk. ↩

  2. Family Search, British Newspaper Archive, Family Notices, accessed 6 May 2021; Family Search, British Newspaper Archive, Obituaries, accessed 6 May 2021. ↩

  3. The British Library, Newspapers, accessed 6 May 2021. ↩

  4. Family Search, The Bradford antiquary : the journal of the Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society, accessed 6 May 2021. ↩

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