Types of Information

What information can be found in newspapers?

Although newspapers were including more local information by the end of the nineteenth century they still carried mainly foreign and London-based news and were laid out very differently from a modern newspaper. Headlines were much less prominent, illustrations were rare and type was far smaller and more densely printed.

Searching through them can be time consuming but the information you find can illuminate the lives of your ancestors in a much more colourful manner than official sources generally do. It is advisable, however, to bear in mind that old newspapers were just as likely to embellish stories or include inaccuracies as modern ones.

Whereas national newspapers may have a detailed index it is very rare for local newspapers to have been indexed except in a very limited way. This means that you may have a long search to find a mention of your ancestor. You will find it easier if you can narrow down the search by getting dates as accurate as possible before you start.

Births, Engagements, Marriages and Deaths

Births, marriages and deaths column from the
Wolverhampton Chronicle September 1893.

Announcements of these events are likely to be the most useful source for family historians and can provide information about parents, godparents and other relatives as well as details of those directly involved. They can also give you dates that can be followed up in church registers.

You will probably find that these announcements will occupy a regular place in the paper, this means you do not have to search the whole of each edition. In the earlier papers you are likely to find that only relatively well off families made announcements but as time went on more people used these columns. Early birth announcements may be brief and fail to include even basic details but the amount of information given increases over time, although some details such as ages may not always be accurate. They may include notice of the Christening, which will help you locate the baptism.

Notices of engagements and marriages appeared at an earlier date than birth announcements. They were originally restricted to wealthy families but as time went on became more widely used. After the Second World War some local newspapers such as the Wolverhampton Chronicle were devoting a large amount of space to wedding photographs with accompanying text.

Wedding photograph from the Wolverhampton Chronicle June 1947.

If the person you are seeking was well known locally or died in a dramatic way you may find a more detailed account of the death, an obituary, or an account of the funeral. These items will give far more detail, often extending to a biography or complete list of people attending a funeral, but may appear some time after the person died.

If an inquest had to be held that might also have been reported. The story may include colourful details omitted from the official account in the Coroner's records. Inquests are often held some time after a death.

Click on the image to enlarge

Court reports

Once local news was included in a newspaper, a regular column was generally given to accounts of cases brought before the local magistrates at the Petty Sessions or Quarter Sessions.
If your ancestor was involved in a very dramatic or gruesome case, or one including a prominent person, it might well have been reported in some detail. Even more innocent breaches of the law such as failure to register a birth or send a child to school may get a mention. In addition, witnesses to crimes were often listed.

The Police Courts, reported in the Express and Star, April1902.

Local organisations

People who were involved in local politics or served on an official body were frequently mentioned in the newspapers. Accounts of meetings of the Borough Council, School Board , or Board of Guardians will sound far more dramatic in the local newspaper than they do in the official minute book and are far more likely to include personal details. If your ancestor had to appear before an official body such as the Board of Guardians (after 1834) they may be mentioned by name in a newspaper report. Elections were generally reported in detail with speeches by candidates often printed out in full and activities of groups such as Suffragettes would have been well reported. Meetings of charitable organisations, friendly societies, clubs and church groups were often described with lists of names included.

Report of a meeting of the Wednesfield School Board from the Wolverhampton Chronicle September 1893.

Armed services

Wars were always well reported and ancestors who were involved may be mentioned by name if they were officers or performed outstanding acts of bravery. Accounts may not have included exact details in order to prevent information reaching the enemy. During the First World War portraits and brief biographies of local soldiers killed appeared in several local newspapers including the Midland Counties Express, which can be found at the British Library Newspaper Library at Colindale and the Staffordshire Advertiser, kept at the
William Salt library in Stafford. In the archive collection we have a few books of cuttings taken from original papers including one for 1914-15 that relates to the First World War and has information on servicemen.

A cutting from local newspaper published during the First World War.

Local regiments, both regular and volunteer held camps and social events that were also reported although, again, officers are more likely to be mentioned than other ranks.

Local events

Dramatic events such as floods, mining accidents or explosions would have been described with eyewitness accounts included.

Grand openings of new buildings or parks were often reported in great detail, sometimes including a list of all the people present and even smaller events such as a fete may include a list of prizewinners.

You may have a story in your family folklore featuring such a local event that you could try to follow up.

Even if you can find no mention of your family, reading the local newspaper will give you an insight into the society they lived in and events that would have affected their lives.