Thousands of old newspapers have been put online in a national archive dating between 1800 and 1900. You can search by headline for free but downloads of the articles themselves are on a pay as you go basis.

The archive includes 49 national and local titles and features all manner of weird and wonderful stories from the 1800s including the Whitechapel murders, the abolition of slavery, the Crimean War and all the births, deaths and marriages of the time.

You can download 100 pieces over a 24-hour period for £6.99 or 200 over a week for £9.99 but all articles from the The Graphic and The Penny Illustrated Paper are absolutely free.

The more keen eyed of you will have noticed that the image I’ve used is completely inaccurate given that the Titanic did not set sail between 1800 and 1900 and the Times Dispatch would not be included in the archive because it’s an American paper. Still, there are few covers that say “old” like a massive picture of a legendary ship.

British Newspapers