Waging the war against slavery

In his new book, Edmond Smith addresses a question that has occupied generations of historians: why was Britain the first country to industrialise, thus securing its global dominance in the 19th centu

The article on the battle against U-boats in the Second World War in the November issue omitted perhaps the most important episode. That was the part played by the late Joe Baker-Cresswell of Bamburgh

Q My ancestor, a pilot in Poole, had a son taken up by the press, and I’d like to know whether the son was let off, or whether he sailed away and never came back. I asked Dorset Archives some years ag

Theatres offered something for everyone in the 19th century, presenting recitals and opera, Shakespearean plays, or lively mixed programmes of comedy, song and dance that attracted enthusiastic – and

On 30 September 1888, the body of Elizabeth Stride, one of Jack the Ripper’s victims, was discovered in Dutfield’s Yard, off Commercial Road in East London. Situated just over a mile to the east was t

Celebrating 100 years of the BBC Shipping Forecast, Jane Russell takes us on a series of coastal cruises through the forecast sea areas, exploring some of the special places on offer in each of them