Irish Newspapers 1708-1921 from the British Newspaper Archive

About this collection

These newspapers reflect the transformation of literacy in Ireland, with the early development of national education in the 1820s and 1830s. This collection spans the entirety of the island, from rich farmland and maritime villages to growing industrial communities and the capital of Dublin, for many years the 'second city' of the British Empire. A third of the collection comes from what is now Northern Ireland, thereby ensuring a vivid range of perspectives.

These newspapers chart extraordinary changes through tumultuous years, from rigorous penal laws and Protestant ascendency through to partition and the foundation of the Irish Free State and the Province of Northern Ireland. These sources convey growing politicisation across the spectrum: irredentist Catholic nationalism, radical republicanism, loyalism and the Orange Order, socialism and the labour movement. Transformative events are reported on as they happened, offering valuable detail on the 1798 Rebellion, the industrialisation of Belfast, the struggles for and against independence, involvement and interaction with the British Empire, the tragedy of many famines and more. Interrogate these sources and achieve powerful analytical conclusions with the Social History Archive's unparalleled search tool.

The British Library

The British Library stores the world's largest collection of British and Irish newspapers. DC Thomson - the owners of the Social History Archive - are the British Library's digital publishing partners and have been creating the world-famous British Newspaper Archive for over a decade. The Social History Archive is delighted to make these newspapers available to the higher education community.