10 Essential Websites
These online resources will help you locate newspaper coverage about the lives of your British ancestors
BRITISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE
w britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
BNA has 31 million searchable pages of newspapers for Britain and Ireland dating back to the 1700s. The same collection can also be accessed via findmypast.co.uk.
THE GAZETTE
w thegazette.co.uk
Formerly the London Gazette, this free resource covering public events goes back 350 years. Search wills, announcements, military awards and statutory notices.
THE ILLUSTRATED FIRST WORLD WAR
w illustratedfirstworldwar.com
This free website allows you to search issues of eight illustrated newspapers published between 1914 and 1919.
iMUSEUM NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLICATIONS
w imuseum.im/newspapers iMuseum provides access (for a fee) to the Isle of Man’s newspaper collection (1792–1960). Prices start at £7 for a day’s use.
IRISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES
w irishnewsarchive.com
Covering Northern Ireland and south of the border, this is the oldest and largest Irish archive, with content from as far back as 1738. An annual subscription costs €149.
ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY PRESS ARCHIVE
w archive.iwcp.co.uk
Search over 6,500 issues of the island’s
County Press in this collection dating from 1884, for free (there’s a fee to view pages).
NEWSPAPERS.COM
w newspapers.com
This site has over 11,700 newspapers from the 1700s upwards – most are American, but it does have five million pages from British newspapers. You can add access to your Ancestry subscription for a fee.
SCOTSMAN DIGITAL ARCHIVE
w archive.scotsman.com
The Scotsman was launched as a weekly newspaper in 1817, and its free digital archive features over a century of online content with impressive search features.
THE TIMES DIGITAL ARCHIVE
w thetimes.co.uk/archive
Although the archive is only available to current newspaper subscribers or via institutions, it ranges from 1785 to 1985.
WELSH NEWSPAPERS ONLINE
w newspapers.library.wales
This free resource contains over 15 million articles covering the period 1804–1919, and both Welsh-language and English publications can be searched.