Delving into the past with historical newspapers of Edinburgh

Here at Edinburgh Libraries we have many free online resources that you can use. One of them is the British Newspaper Archive which is a fabulous archive of newspapers from around the UK and Ireland.

We’ve been having a look at the coverage for Edinburgh on the British Newspaper Archive and found that one of the earliest publications on the site is The Edinburgh Gazette from Thursday 21 September 1699!

Edinburgh Gazette, Thursday 21 September 1699

Jumping forward a few years to 1750, we have the first edition available online of the Edinburgh Courant, which mentions an act of “Theft and Pickery” by a Dutch soldier and his wife who subsequently petitioned for transportation to America, which was granted.

Edinburgh Courant Monday 1 October 1750

The Edinburgh Evening Courant of Thursday 29 January 1829 featured the execution of infamous William Burke by hanging. The article describes the numbers of people drawn to watch the event:
“Yesterday, this wretched man terminated his career on the scaffold, and we do not recollect on any former occasion of this nature to have witnessed such an intense popular excitement….
All the windows along the street were filled; and such was the general and ardent curiosity to obtain a sight of this noted criminal, that we observed several well-dressed females in different houses in the Lawnmarket. There were some spectators also on the top of the New North Church.”

Edinburgh Evening Courant Thursday 29 January 1829

On 14 July 1873, the Edinburgh Evening News reported a rather grim find, from a story originating from the Shetland Times.
A fishing boat’s crew at a fishing station in Shetland, had discovered a human hand inside a large fish!
“It was the left hand, and was perfectly entire”, and was suspected to belong to a woman who may have drowned in a wreck possibly many hundreds of miles from Shetland.
“The hand was carefully buried, and the fish destroyed.”

Edinburgh Evening News, 14 July 1873

Again in the Edinburgh Evening News, this time from 1939, among its pages were to be found useful tips for housewives…. including this one on how to measure golden syrup on kitchen scales.

Edinburgh Evening News, March 27 1939

In the 2 January 1954 edition of the Edinburgh Evening News, could be found a crossword containing clues to many Edinburgh shops.

Edinburgh Evening News, 2 January 1954

Unlike today, in 1982 our television programme choice was restricted to only 3 channels, and a typical Saturday night’s viewing consisted game shows, films and big US programmes like The Dukes of Hazard and Dallas, and not forgetting, Parky.

Edinburgh Evening News, 10 April 1982

“City of Light!” in black and white. It would be some years before the Evening News was to start being printed in colour. Here is the front page of the last issue of 1994, which much as the same as now, the city was gearing up for celebrations to bring in the New Year.

Edinburgh Evening News, 31 December 1994

The British Newspaper Archive coverage is immense, for regions across the UK and Ireland. At the time of writing, there are over 71 million digitised newspaper pages available to search with even more material being added regularly. 126,992 pages were added in the last 7 days!

Specifically for Edinburgh, the coverage currently stands at

• The Beacon (Edinburgh) – 1821
• Caledonian Mercury – 1720 to 1867
• Daily Review (Edinburgh) – 1862 to 1886
• Edinburgh Courant – 1750
• Edinburgh Evening Courant – 1750 to 1869
• Edinburgh Evening Dispatch – 1886 to 1897
• Edinburgh Evening News – 1873 to 1994
• Edinburgh Evening Post and Scottish Standard – 1846 to 1849
• Edinburgh Gazette – 1699
• Edinburgh News and Literary Chronicle – 1848 to 1863
• Leith Burghs Pilot – 1875 to 1902
• Leith Herald – 1879 to 1891
• National Observer – 1888 to 1897.

All this is available to you from within any of our libraries via a library computer or on the Wi-Fi!

Ghostly goings-on

Edinburgh is regarded as one of the world’s most haunted cities. The Old Town, especially with its narrow closes and dark wynds have set the scene for strange occurrences over the years.

We’ve opened the British Newspaper Archive to see if any mysterious tales have been reported in Edinburgh over the years.

West Bow

For most of his life, Thomas Weir lived as an affluent and well-respected member of the community. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and would hold prayer sessions in his house in the West Bow, which often attracted large crowds.

In later life, Weir began to behave strangely, and after falling in 1670, he began to confess to a secret life, one of sin and evil.

The many horrific acts Weir confessed to were bestiality, incest and witchcraft. The authorities, including the Lord Provost, were so surprised by the claims, that they refused to believe them. His sister Jean also admitted to these crimes and claimed her brother had once travelled in a phantom coach driven by an demonic driver. Stories emerged claiming that his cane would dance in front of him as he walked down the street. His continued confessions to a life of sin proved too much to ignore and Thomas Weir was sentenced to death after a short trial.

Weir’s house lay empty for many years as nobody wanted to live in a house of such an evil individual and was regarded as the most haunted house in Edinburgh, with one couple driven out after only one night.

It was believed that Weir’s house was demolished , but evidence suggests that it was just incorporated into another building, which is now the Quaker Meeting House. Over the years staff at the meeting house have reported seeing Thomas Weir moving throughout the building walking through walls searching for his former home.

Major Weir, The Wizard, an article from The Manchester Courier, September 13th 1881 found in the British Newspaper Archive

Mary King’s Close

Mary King’s Close is a labyrinth of underground streets and dwellings beneath the Royal Mile. The city’s poorest lived and worked there until the early 1900s when it was sealed shut. The close was partially abandoned in the 1600s, as the plague swept through Edinburgh. Residents of Mary King’s Close suffering from the disease were forced to stay behind, dying a horrific death. The close was partially demolished and buried due to the building of the Royal Exchange (now the City Chambers) in the 18th century, and later closed to the public for many years. The area became shrouded in myths and urban legends with tales of hauntings and murders.

One of the closes most famous ghosts is of a little girl called Annie, who first became known in 1992 when a Japanese psychic visited the close. In one of the rooms, she apparently saw the ghost of a young girl, who seemed quite upset and had been for centuries as she had lost her doll. The psychic went up to the Royal Mile and bought a doll for Annie who appeared no longer sad. Ever since then, visitors have been leaving dolls and toys for Annie.

A report on Horrifying Experiences at Mary King’s Close from the Edinburgh Evening News, 27 August 1938 found in the British Newspaper Archive

Greyfriars Kirkyard

In 2004, two teenagers broke into a large, stone mausoleum and using a penknife, cut off the head of the corpse within.

The teenagers ran around the graveyard, using the head as a hand puppet before they were spotted by a tour guide and reported to the police. They were arrested and became the first people in over a hundred years to be charged with the ancient crime of “violation of sepulchre” – disturbing a dead person.

Brutal Ghost Attacked Us, a news article in the Daily Record from 1999 found in the British Newspaper Archive

The mausoleum was that of George “Bloody” Mackenzie, whose soul is said to wander parts of the graveyard at night.

George Mackenzie was born in Dundee in 1636, and was made Scotland’s Lord Advocate under the reign of Charles ll. He was responsible for the imprisonment and abominable treatment of Covenantors who had supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland during a period of history known as the killing time. In that time over 18,000 Covenantors lost their lives for their faith.

After the Covenanters fought and lost a battle with government troops at the Battle of Bothwell Brig in 1679, 1,200 Presbyterian prisoners of war were incarcerated in the infamous Covenanters Prison. The conditions were appalling and prisoners were treated with utter brutality and cruelty, as a consequence most of them perished due to maltreatment or were executed. The prison used to be located directly next to the graveyard, but the site is now situated within the graveyard, following a later expansion of the burial grounds. The MacKenzie Mausoleum is positioned right next to what was the boundary wall. MacKenzie requested this site for burial, his reason being that he was very proud of what he had accomplished in his persecution of the Covenanters.

The MacKenzie Poltergeist and the tormented souls of his victims are said to haunt Greyfriars. There are literally hundreds of accounts of sightings of ghostly apparitions, strange phenomena and poltergeist attacks, with many visitors to the graveyard having encountered some sort of paranormal activity, sustaining bruises, bites and scratches, having the sensation of being followed, and/or being knocked to the ground sometimes resulting in the individual being rendered unconscious.

British Newspaper Archive

These incredible stories have been found in the brilliant British Newspaper Archive, a database of nearly 70 million pages from newspapers across Britain and Ireland dating from the 1700s to the 2000s. You can browse British Newspaper archive for free from any of our libraries on a library computer or by logging into the library wifi.
Let us know what fascinating stories you find!

150 years of the Edinburgh Evening News

With the 150th anniversary of Edinburgh’s foremost newspaper, Edinburgh Evening News, on 27 May 2023, there is no better time to highlight that ease of accessing current and historical newspapers with your library membership. Along with Pressreader and microfilm holdings in our Edinburgh and Scottish Collection, a vast online archive of newspapers is available at the British Newspaper Archive website, including Edinburgh Evening News editions up to 1955. You can access British Newspaper Archive for free whilst using a library computer or on the library wifi.

In preparation for a display celebrating this important anniversary for the Evening News, staff within Central Library’s Edinburgh and Scottish Collection used the British Newspaper Archive to find articles on significant events within the city during the late 19th to early 20th century – from the inception of Edinburgh’s public library system to Edinburgh as a battleground for RAF fighters during World War Two.

The British Newspaper Archive is a partnership between the British Library and Findmypast to digitise the British Library’s vast collection of newspapers from 1710-1955. It’s an invaluable resource for everyone interested in history, and especially for family and local historians. Access is available at any one of our Edinburgh libraries with a library membership by clicking on the ‘Register’ link from the top of the main page and creating an account. Once signed in with your account, you’ll have access to view all pages on the entire database for free.

The Evening News articles we read up on offer a timeline of Edinburgh’s history from the late 19th century to World War Two. In a society where it is common for journalists to generalise and seek the bigger picture, the Edinburgh Evening News reports on an Edinburgh and Lothians’ local perspective on news, culture and events. The newspaper was founded by John Wilson and was first published in 1873. Its main competitor, the Edinburgh Evening Dispatch was subsequently first published in 1886, then becoming the Evening Dispatch in 1921. These two newspapers merged to form the Edinburgh Evening News & Dispatch in 1963, which became the Edinburgh Evening News in 1967.

One of the major news events the paper reported on in the 19th century were the celebrations that took place throughout Edinburgh for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. It appears as though events were similar to what we are used to today when a royal occasion comes about. Public offices and stores closed to commemorate the day, and people took advantage of the public holiday and good weather to travel into the country by train (a relatively exciting phenomena at the time!)

The newspaper also commemorated the opening of our very own Central Library in their issue published on the 9 June 1890. The first public library in the city, the newspaper reports on the significant sum of £50,000 offered by Andrew Carnegie for the building of the library after the passing of the Free Libraries Act. The article offers a wealth of information on the library’s inception, such as the appointment of George Washington Browne as architect and his choice of a French Renaissance architectural style for the building. It also sets out the departments open to the public – the lending library, the newsroom and the reference room. With the expansion since then to include departments focusing on art, music, children’s literature and Scottish history, the article demonstrates how much the library has adapted to give more representation to the arts and local studies.

Fast-forwarding twenty-four years, the Evening News was at the forefront of the reporting on Scotland’s role and experience in World War One. There is a clear patriotic tone to the article “Well done, Hearts!”, with evident pride being directed towards the sixteen players from Heart of Midlothian F.C. for enlisting for active service. The players “have done the right thing” the reporter states and it is of his opinion that other teams and fans will follow suit and also take up arms. Enlisting in the army may even make them more skilled football players according to the reporter, as “they will chase the ball with easier minds, for they have done their duty”. It is apparent that journalism had an important role to play in encouraging national unity and participation in the war effort.

With the end of World War One, we see the Evening News mark the end of the independent burgh of Leith on Monday 1 November 1920 when Edinburgh swallowed in the old port and four Midlothian parishes within Midlothian. The small article has a somewhat sombre tone, perhaps in a bid to show empathy to Leithers who were overwhelmingly in favour of their town staying separate from Edinburgh. The bailie of the burgh is quoted as saying that Leith had been “done to death against the express wishes of the citizens” and that “if it were put to Scotland, Leith would yet arise from the ashes and be a separate burgh”. Over 100 years on, Leith has stayed true to its distinct and independent character while also embracing modernity to become one of the most dynamic areas in the city.

The Evening News was also invaluable in its covering of the events of World War Two. This article, subtitled, “Over Dalkeith”, reports on the first German aircraft to be shot down over Britain after being attacked by RAF fighters over the River Forth in October 1939. We once again see attempts to stir national pride, with the paper including the sentiments of M.P. Mr Robert Boothby who expresses his admiration for the British fighters in displaying both speed and efficiency. The newspaper’s long-standing ability to find citizens with first-hand accounts is clear, through evidence given by two local citizens who saw the enemy planes being chased by RAF fighters over southern Edinburgh. For readers, the article will have been a frightening indication of what was to come over the subsequent war years.

In 1956 the paper bid farewell to a familiar feature in the lives of many Edinburgh citizens when Edinburgh’s electric trams stopped service after thirty years. The article recognizes the progress of cities’ public transport services over the years – from the sedan chair to the stage coach, then from the horse bus to the horse tram, from the cable-car to the electric tram, and then finally buses replacing them all. With trams being a regular sight again in our city sixty-seven years on, it clearly wasn’t a permanent goodbye after all!

These are just some of the millions of articles you can access on the British Newspaper Archive, so make the most of this brilliant resource by visiting one of our libraries. You can browse through significant moments in the history of Scotland and the world, or discover if your ancestor appears in the births, marriages and deaths notices, or even in a news story.

Pop into Central Library’s Edinburgh and Scottish Collection to find out more about the Edinburgh Evening News through their current anniversary display and also discover the various means of accessing it through your library membership.

Coronation fever

As media coverage mounts for the Coronation of King Charles III, we thought we’d delve into the pages of the British Newspaper Archive and see how the celebrations were recorded 70 years ago for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Coronation allowed businesses and manufacturers to join in both celebrating the Coronation and promoting their goods.

What better way to celebrate than by getting a new fireplace….?

Arbroath Herald, 29 May 1953

Or maybe a bicycle….?

Daily News, 3 June 1953

Now was the prime time to get a television to watch all the splendour……in black and white. This advert claims that “with a Marconiphone, you’ll see the real thing. You will take your place with the expectant and excited crowds lining the route of the Procession.. You will sit awed and enthralled in the ageless beauty of the Abbey…” With this “pedigree” television it will be as if you’re there! This could be yours with immediate delivery for only 62 guineas – something like £1500 in today’s money!

West London Observer, 15 May 1953

Or you could visit a cinema instead and see it in colour…

Fife Free Press, 6 June 1953

Take a look in the pages of British Newspaper Archive and see what treasures you can find.

Hogmanay cheer

As we come to the end of another year, we’ve been looking through the pages of the wonderful resource, the British Newspaper Archive to see how Hogmanay was celebrated in the past.

Nowadays, New Year’s Eve, or Hogmanay here in Scotland, is full of big street parties and top line entertainers, but looking back things were on a much smaller scale.

Of course, you could still celebrate in style by attending a Grand New Year’s Eve Ball at The Palais de Danse. Where for a 10/6 admission you could dance in Scotland’s largest and most beautiful ballroom and listen to “Our Two Celebrated Novelty Jazz Bands” and compete for the prize for best ladies’ or gents’ costumes.

Edinburgh Evening News, Tuesday 28 December 1920 taken from the British Newspaper Archive

Or maybe you were staying in and having your own celebrations, in which case you’d need “delightful and seasonable party records that everyone enjoys…” from Beltona Records.

Evening Telegraph, Thursday 24 December 1936 from British Newspaper Archive

No Hogmanay party would be complete without New Year Cakes… currant buns, shortbread or rich cakes.

Linlithgowshire Gazette, Friday 29 December 1937 from British Newspaper Archive

And unlike today, trains ran over New Year. You could take advantage of “Cheap Day Excursions” to many different destinations!

Scottish Border Newspaper, Thursday 24 December 1925 from British Newspaper Archive

Take a look at all the millions of historical newspaper pages available from the British Newspaper Archive, accessible for free in all our libraries.

Did Scotland invent Halloween?

Did you know Scotland celebrated Halloween thousands of years ago? Of course, it wasn’t called that back then. Samhain (pronounced ‘sow-in’) was a Gaelic or Pagan festival marking the end of the harvest season which, of course, fell at the end of October. The name roughly translates as ‘summer’s end’ and the festival was celebrated and mentioned in Celtic literature over two thousand years ago.

Halloween colours – i.e. orange – stem from the fact that the event was originally held to mark the shift in seasons and the arrival of Autumnal colours in the foliage.

Until relatively recently, ‘trick or treat’ was unknown in Scotland. Instead, children dressed up and pretended to be evil spirits and went ‘guising’ (or ‘galoshin’). Children arriving at a house so ‘disguised’ would receive an offering to ward off evil. As well as dressing up, they would also perform a party trick – a song or a dance, or recite a poem, before they were offered a treat which could be fruit, nuts or more commonly nowadays, sweets.

Looking through the pages of the British Newspaper Archive which is available to use for free from all our libraries, we have found some articles that show how Halloween was celebrated across Scotland through the years.

In this article, from the Edinburgh Evening News on 5 November 1874 we know that even Queen Victoria joined in celebrations at Balmoral.
“Celebration of Halloween at Balmoral Castle
Hallowe’en, the observance of which has for some years past fallen into neglect in Scotland, especially in the Lowlands, was celebrated on an extensive scale at Balmoral Castle on Monday night. Preparations had been made for days beforehand and tenants and others assembled on the night named from miles around…
Her Majesty and the Princess Beatrice, each bearing a large torch, drove out in an open phaeton, and a procession, consisting of the servants and tenants on the Royal estates, all carrying lighted torches, was formed. They marched through the grounds and round the Castle – the sight as they moved onwards being very weird and striking.”

Edinburgh Evening News, 5 November 1874

Looking for something to wear? Look no further! Here the Courier and Advertiser advertises children’s party frocks and cloaks for sale at Henderson MacKay’s of Dundee.

The Courier and Advertiser, 25 October 1938

No Halloween party would be complete without ‘dooking’ for apples. There’s not a pumpkin in sight in this photo from the Aberdeen Press and Journal in 1929.

Aberdeen Press and Journal, 1 November 1929

Why don’t you delve into the pages of the British Newspaper Archive and see what you can find. We’ve used articles from Scottish newspapers, but there are millions of pages to explore covering all of Britain and Ireland.

Extra, extra! Read all about it!

Everyone likes a good story, right? Well, how would you like to have access to over 50 million, yes million, pages of newspaper stories?

One of our online resources, the British Newspaper Archive celebrated publishing it’s 50 millionth page a couple of months ago, so already that figure has been surpassed.

We’ve been delving in and finding some articles that are close to home. The Royal Highland Show celebrates its 200th year later this week and we’ve managed to find an article of the very first show which was held in 1822 in the grounds of Queensberry House in the Canongate. It describes the “Fat Stock Show” where between sixty and seventy fine cattle were exhibited on a day when the weather was “most favourable”.

The Scotsman 28th December 1822

In a couple of months, the Edinburgh Festival will be with us again, and when searching for the very first Festival in 1947, we came across a picture of the city in preparation for the event showing city gardeners putting finishing touches to the clock at the West End of Princes Street.

So why not have a look and see what you can find? After all, there’s over 50 million pages of historic newspapers from all over Britain and Ireland to explore!

British Newspaper Archive is available to search for free from within any of our libraries.

Have you had a look yet?

Today is Heritage Awareness Day, and whether you love history, are researching your own family history or a sports fan, there are resources to cover all interests in the British Newspaper Archive! The British Newspaper Archive is available to use free in all our libraries. Just click on the ‘Register’ link on the main page and create an account. Once signed in, you will have unlimited access to millions of scanned pages of newspapers.

The opening of our own Central Library’s Lending Department featured in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph of 3 July 1890, stating that crowds gathered outside and “when admission was got nine-tenths of the people rushed to the counters and demanded Stanley’s (explorer Henry Stanley) new book”.

Sheffield Daily Telegraph 3rd July 1890

A recent feature of the British Newspaper Archive is a collection of illustrated magazines. Here you can flick through the pages of the likes of The Tatler, The Illustrated War News and The Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News, where in 1908 there was an article on racing in Scotland, featuring Musselburgh Racecourse. How many more people could you fit in the stands?

The Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News 1908.

For those of you researching your family history the British Newspaper Archive is a great resource to use and goes hand in hand with Find my past, which is also available to use free in all our libraries. Just type in the name of a relative, and see what comes up!

The British Newspaper Archive now provides a title from all 32 counties across Ireland, so if any of your forefathers originated there, this is the place to look for local newspapers.

Derry Evening Post

There is so much more to the British Newspaper Archive, so why not have a look the next time you are in the library. Take it from us you’re sure to find something interesting.

Find my past and British Newspaper Archive

Two fantastic family and local history resources are now available for free from all Edinburgh Libraries!

Find my past is a superb resource for all family history researchers. You can search across millions of genealogy records including UK parish records, census records, Irish records and British military records. Find my past also gives unique access to the 1939 register, which recorded 41 million citizens throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the outbreak of World War Two.

The British Newspaper Archive is now available from within all libraries too! The British Newspaper Archive is a fantastic resource giving access to local newspapers from across the UK and Ireland going back as far as the 1700s.

Roses are red, violets are blue, we’ve delved into the British Newspaper Archive…. just for you!

Today is Valentine’s Day and with that in mind we’ve been having a look at some historical newspapers to see what we could find.

If you think that the heavy burden on the postie was a relatively new thing, think again. Back in 1876, the Edinburgh Evening News reported that the pillar box at the GPO had to be emptied 5 or 6 times to cope with the demand.

Edinburgh Evening News 14th Feb 1876

In the Dundee Evening Telegraph, you could win £2 2s for pouring your heart out….

Dundee Evening Telegraph 10th Feb 1931

And a few years later this little drawing appeared, can you work out the message?

Dundee Evening Telegraph 14th Feb 1936

And if you forgot to send off that card, there was even a belated Valentine’s message.

There are over 14 million digitised pages from more than 700 UK and Irish newspapers available on the British Newspaper Archive. You can browse for FREE in Central Library’s Edinburgh & Scottish Collection and Reference Library.

So do come and have a look yourself and use the Libraries’ computers or wifi to explore thousands of newspapers from 1710-1954 for FREE.

The news of Christmas past

We’re still in the Christmas mood and have been flicking through the pages of the British Newspaper Archive, delving into Christmases past.

1918’s panto at the King’s Theatre was Jack and The Beanstalk… Oh yes it was!

5th January 1918

In 1900 there was a “Great Christmas and New Year Carnival” in the Waverley Market, which had been turned into “a veritable Fairyland” and not a big wheel or German Market in sight!

25th December 1924

In 1920 the coolest Christmas gift was a gramophone…..fast forward 96 years, and once again it’s appearing on Santa’s list.

24th December 1920

With Christmas Day only becoming a public holiday in Scotland in 1958, most workers were lucky to get a half days holiday to celebrate….

22nd December 1924

All these ads were taken from the Edinburgh Evening News, but there are over 14 million digitised pages from more than 700 UK and Irish newspapers available on the British Newspaper Archive. You can browse for FREE in Central Library’s Edinburgh & Scottish Collection and Reference Library.

So do come and have a look yourself and use the Libraries computers to explore thousands of newspapers from 1710-1954 for FREE.