Researching your ancestors from Great Britain and Ireland

A guide to researching your ancestors in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, using resources at State Library Victoria.

Newspapers

Newspapers can provide a wealth of information about your ancestors, including:

Family notices - details of births, engagements, marriages and deaths and possibly the names of relatives you might not know about.
Legal information - bankruptcies, court notices, crimes, arrests, inquests and probate notices.
Land and property - land sales, auctions, information on houses and previous residents.
Feature articles - military news, biographical sketches, business announcements, neighbourhood and local news.
Advertisements - businesses, entertainment, events etc.

A number of UK and Irish newspapers are available in the Library. They are available in print, microfilm and online through one of our online newspaper archives.
For further information on the State Library's newspaper collection please consult one of the following research guides:

`The mail steam-ship for Australia'. The Times (London, England), Saturday, May 20, 1854; pg. 1; Issue 21746 in The Times Digital Archive [online database], accessed 12 January 2015.

Online historical British newspapers

The following UK and Irish newspaper archives are available through the State Library of Victoria. You can access many of these resources from home if you are a Victorian resident and a registered State Library user.

British Library Newspapers (1732–1950)
Search British metropolitan and regional newspapers from the British Library's newspaper collection, predominantly from the 19th century. Includes some titles into the 20th century.
British Newspaper Archive
Search this free index to hundreds of British newspapers dating from 1800 to the present day. One million pages are free to view and download with a free user account. You will need to purchase access to other full text. The British Newspaper Archive is a partnership between the British Library and Findmypast.
Please note: the Library does not have a paid subscription to this resource and free access to articles is limited.
Some of the titles included in the British Newspaper Archive may also be available as full text in the British Library Newspapers (1780–1950) database, which you can access under the Newspapers - historic category of the A-Z Databases menu.
Gale NewsVault
Cross-search several British newspaper archives, including 19th Century British Newspapers, The Times Digital Archive, The Sunday Times, The Times Literary Supplement and The Illustrated London News.
Gale Primary Sources
Access a single, integrated search across all primary source collections included in the Gale Primary Sources platform. The platform includes 17th, 18th and 19th century British newspapers and select periodicals as well as material related to 19th century British politics, theatre and music, children's literature, and maps and travel literature.
The Guardian and The Observer‎ (1791-2003)
Discover an archive of The Guardian (1821-2003) and its sister paper, The Observer (1791-2003), the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper. Articles are full-text, fully searchable and viewable as images.
Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003
Read the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper, with reports of British and world events including news of war, disasters, royalty, social affairs, the arts and science.
Irish Newspaper Archive (1738— )
Read full-text Irish newspapers, including The Irish Independent (1905— ) and Freeman's Journal (1763–1924).
The Irish Times and The Weekly Irish Times‎ (1859-2021)
Discover an archive of over 150 years of two major Irish newspapers. Articles are full-text, fully searchable and viewable as images.
Punch Historical Archive, 1841-1992
Browse the iconic British magazine of humour and satire, including its celebrated cartoons and humorous Almanacks.
The Scotsman (1817-1950)
Discover an archive of over 130 years of the popular Scottish newspaper. Articles are full-text, fully searchable and viewable as images.
Service Newspapers of World War Two
Discover digitised, full text newspapers covering the period of World War Two. Featuring over 200 titles from England, US, New Zealand and Australia which were produced for military and civilian units serving at home and abroad.
Note that the Library's subscription now includes content from both Modules I and II.
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Nichols Newspapers Collection
Discover London newspapers and pamphlets gathered by antiquarian and printer John Nichols. This collection from the Bodleian Library, coves the years 1672 to 1737 and complements the titles and issues found in 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers.
Sunday Times Historical Archive, 1822-2016
Access the complete content of this British weekly newspaper, editorially independent from The Times, which provides thoughtful analysis and commentary on the week’s news and society at large.
The Times Digital Archive, 1785-2019
Access the complete content of the London Times, fully searchable and viewable as images.

Isle of Man Newspapers (1792-1960) and Island Publications
Provides full text access to many titles including - the Isle of Man Daily Times (1958-1960)
Isle of Man Examiner (1880-1960) and Isle of Man Times (1847-1960)
Welsh Newspapers Online
Welsh Newspapers Online is a free online resource from the National Library of Wales. Over 120 newspapers have been digitised - most from the mid 19th century to the 1910s.
Wikipedia - list of online newspaper archives
Wikipedia provides a comprehensive list of free and fee based historical newspaper archives that are available online.