The Hampshire Family Historian | Vol.49 No.1 | June 2022

Local Group Programmes

Gosport Meetings are normally held on the second Wednesday of each month in the Scout Hut, Clayhall Road, Alverstoke, Gosport, Hants, PO12 2BY from 7.30-9.30.

Contact: Janet Heath Tel: 02392 522 827 Email: gosport@hgs-online.org.uk

Reports by Elayne Kenway (February) Getting the best from Newspaper websites – John Hanson - via Zoom How many have actually taken the time to look at newspapers as a source of information for their ancestors? Many an interesting story can be found, whether it be a suicide in the family, an accident that befell someone or even the report of a robbery. The Victorians papers were as interested in sex, sin and violence as the papers of today Add to these births, marriages and deaths, often reported on and you have the start of some interesting research. You may also find details of their war service, including promotions and injuries, bankruptcies and even adverts for the family business. However, I believe that, the major reason that they are underused is the lack of indexes to many of them. Don’t be drawn either into the thought that the answer to a question will appear in a paper at the time. For example, Capt. Halsted was involved, as a second, in a duel in Exeter in 1833 – his full name wasn’t revealed until I found an article in a paper some 45 years later!! Then there was Miss Halstead who took someone to court for breach of promise but why did it appear in 33 different newspapers – wasn’t her story but the other in the court that day and do one they had to syndicate the lot. Many of them will be packed with biographical details, mind you will often have to unravel the truth from some. In many cases it will be the local newspapers that will be the better source. In addition, they are a fabulous source for adding the details of what was happening locally, nationally and internationally, adding meat to the bones of your ancestors, and placing your ancestors in the period in history. You can add to this the growing number of journals and periodicals, as we will see later. So this all leads us to some interesting questions The first newspapers The first real daily newspaper was The Daily Courant published in 1702 with The Times starting life in 1785 and by this time there were eight morning newspapers being published in London. It is the late 18th century that we see the increase in information that is of interest to family historians today, particularly those who committed crime. Local newspapers The first provincial newspaper published is believed to be the Norwich Post in 1701 and by 1801 there were still only about 100 provisional newspapers. In the early days, these concentrated more on national and international rather than local news. A typical provincial paper of the middle of the 19th century may consist of eight pages – the first usually full of

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