The National Archives launches ‘Prize Papers’ research portal
Records of ships that were captured by the British Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars are now free to search online thanks to The National Archives at Kew (TNA).
In 2018 TNA, in partnership with the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany, launched the ‘Prize Papers’ project to catalogue and digitise the contents of 4,088 boxes, including 160,000 undelivered letters, logbooks, ships papers and bills, poems, drawings, fabrics and playing cards, confiscated from 35,000 ships during 14 wars between 1652 and 1817.
The project’s open-access portal has now launched at prizepapers.de, providing access to 55 case books relating to disputes over 1,500 ships seized between 1793 and 1815 and their cargo. Dr Amanda Bevan, head of legal records at TNA, said, “In the days when wooden ships could be taken by threat of force, without necessarily sinking, the capture of enemy or neutral ships and their cargoes as ‘prize’ was a standard part of warfare, to disrupt enemy trade; and neutral ships were captured, if they were suspected of carrying enemy goods.”
Bevan added that during the wars with France the British alone captured more than 25,000 ships around the world. Each capture’s legality was judged at the High Court of Admiralty in London, or a Vice-Admiralty court in the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean or the Mediterranean.
“The case books uploaded today serve as an excellent point of entry into the historical period,” she said.
The portal allows researchers to find out about ships, court processes and document types, as well as how they relate to such subjects as anthropology and history, arts and music, and finance and commerce. You can also search the documents, including by the names of the individuals involved.
The project is part of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities, working with the German Historical Institute London and the Common Library Network of German States.
All of the Prize Papers documents will be uploaded to the portal over the next 20 years.
Historic England has announced a new series of ‘Everyday Heritage Grants’ worth up to £25,000 for local-history projects that celebrate working-class heritage.
The grants are available for community or heritage organisations to fund projects focusing on the built or historic environment near them.
Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, said, “The histories of castles and great houses and their inhabitants are well documented, but we know far less about our everyday heritage. From council estates, pubs and clubs, to farms, factories and shipyards, these are the places where most people have lived, worked and played for hundreds of years. We want to explore these untold stories and celebrate the people and places at the heart of our history.”
You can find out how to apply for a grant at historicengland.org.uk/ services-skills/grants/our-grant-schemes/hpc/proposals. The deadline for applications is 23 May. For more information, email everyday heritage@historicengland.org.uk.