RE: Transcriptions


Hi Steve and Tony,

And yet I have found old papers with birth, marriage and death announcements,
which nowadays have to be paid for whichever paper they appear in, with an
appended note like "London papers please copy", apparently in the expectation
that they would do so.


I have seen similar notices and there may have been some success the Gentleman's Magazine seems to have collected (or had collected for it) obits from local and well and London papers. But when we think newspapers up to mid 19th century were not large (four printed surfaces) the chances of a local obit appearing in London paper (unless it "unusual" / amusing / etc) would be very low indeed (not impossible - just unlikely).


I think it was probably when Edinburgh Courant Archive was sold off (some of my office copies come from this collection) it opened another unexpected door into the past. Marriage and Deaths were being paid for (I have evidence of this) - but also apparently local news may have been paid for to appear in the paper. These copies are one off's - they were scribbled all over with names, dates, and corrections by the printer or proprietor of the paper - but I may be lucky enough to encounter an original as some point.

And returning to the marriage and obit theme - sometimes other unexpected things turn up - so my copies of the Maidstone Journal (I think its the Maidstone) contain a much percentage of Non Conformist obits and marriages than you might expect - which in turn probably links back to the Politics of the Paper. The Windsor and Eton Express (probably the finest Regency and early Victorian newspapers I've ever had the joy to read) was very much pro reform (and again contains above average non conformist reports - and also had a good catchment including bits of Middlesex and Surrey).

"I would love to think that they could unlock the incredibly history currently locked in the local newspaper archives of my home town (Nottingham) ...oh well, dream on as they say Tony Proctor "

I think Nottingham Guardian and Midland County Advertiser has been digitalised for the British Library by Gale (part II) - one of the reasons I havn't bought any Nottingham newspapers - and of course counties bordering Nottinghamshire may well include Nottinghamshire in their catchment

Best Regards
Richard Heaton
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