Battle of poltava cossack hetmanate (modern-day ukraine), 27 june 1709

I once met a man who claimed he saw a huge black panther (circa 1990) near his farmhouse in Scotland. It had a pheasant in its mouth. He ran to get his shotgun but the creature had vanished. I knew th

Alfred and Bede. These are the two figures who tower over the first half-millennium of the history of Anglo-Saxon England. There’s a reason for that, of course: they wrote this history. The Venerable

In 1798, Britain’s most celebrated admiral pursued the French across the Mediterranean, attempting to thwart General Bonaparte’s mission to Egypt. The pursuit culminated in what was arguably the most strategically important naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars

I use a lot of images in my blogs, published articles and presentations. Some are photos of people. Many are diagrams, graphs or copies of documents from parish registers, books and articles or websit

One day late in 1939, a small article appeared in our daily newspaper. It was submitted by the government and was an appeal for British women to knit socks for men in the army, which was unable to obt

KATHERINE COBB is a member of AGRA based in Somerset JAYNE SHRIMPTON is a professional dress historian and portrait specialist ROGER KERSHAW is migration records specialist at The National Archives ST