Transported Convicts – Discovering the Lives Behind the Sentences
Explore real British history through original newspapers.
Old British News is an independent historical newspaper archive and research service specialising in genuine British newspaper material from 1750–1950.
There are no subscriptions and no advertising.
Research requests are personally investigated, and the research, archive searching, identification work and first identified article are provided free of charge.
If more than one relevant article is identified, you may choose to receive all remaining identified articles for a single flat-rate payment of £6. This is one charge for the complete set of additional articles identified from that enquiry — not £6 per article.
I supply high-quality scans of historical newspaper articles to researchers anywhere in the world. Tell me what you are looking for and I will search the archive for you.
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Include anything you know — a name, date, place, topic, event or newspaper if known. I will search the archive and reply personally.
Why These Records Matter
Historical newspapers are living records of how people lived, worked, loved and lost. They reveal public mood and private consequence — the voices of victims, witnesses and families otherwise lost to time. For family historians, they offer far more than a date or a name: they bring back tone, setting, and human emotion.
What You Can Discover
- Criminal and trial reports: verbatim accounts, court remarks and witness statements.
- Transportation notices: ship names, ports of departure and lists of convicts.
- Family and local responses: how communities reacted to convictions or departures.
- Contextual history: social conditions, political debate, and reform movements shaping the justice system.
By piecing together these stories, we reconnect names on a family tree to real lives once lived. Old British News exists to make those stories visible again — freely, for everyone.