The British Newspaper Archive

This week I signed up to use the British Newspaper Archive, as it is available free at the local library in the city that I am visiting, and I found it to be amazingly useful.

 

The collection includes national and local newspapers from all over Britain and Ireland, over varying date ranges, and search results can be filtered by region, by date range and by newspaper, to prevent being overwhelmed by irrelevant results.

 

Even if you are using the database free at a library, you still need to set up an account, but this required minimal information (name and email address), and took only a few minutes.

 

I learned that my 3G Grandfather, Isaac Hemblin, suffered a broken leg, in an accident in November 1858, which required amputation of the leg.  This accident very likely led directly to his death, which occurred on 3 December 1858.

 

But the motherlode of information came from 5 separate articles in the Belfast newspapers, regarding an 1854 law suit launched by my 2G Grandfather, James Steele Cosgrave, against the executors of his grandfather's (James Steele) estate, and when he lost the case, his subsequent bankruptcy.  This answered many questions, but also identified a myriad of other family connections that were previously unknown.

 

I can recommend this valuable resource, based on first-hand knowledge, and I will certainly be doing additional searches, once I have finished processing all of the information obtained so far.