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This video is part of our ‘Spotlight On’ series and features Principal Specialist in Modern Domestic Records Laura Robson-Mainwaring looking at records relating to health and welfare in the 20th century. Specifically, she looks at the Beveridge Report and its impact.

This video is part of our ‘Spotlight On’ series and features Head of Military Records Will Butler looking at records from the Admiralty. This is a war diary of the events relating to a Royal Marines Unit, 40 CDO RM, during the 1982 Falklands conflict.

This video is part of our ‘Spotlight On’ series and features Sixteenth Century Records Specialist Sean Cunningham looking at records related to the trial of Anne Boleyn. This video focuses on legal records relating to the Court of King’s Bench, the most senior criminal court, and the Chancery.

This video is part of our ‘Spotlight On’ series and features Head of Early Modern Records Neil Johnston looking at the ‘Declaration of Rights’ from our Chancery records

This video is part of our ‘Spotlight On’ series and features Visual Collections Records Specialist Sarah Castagnetti looking at a document from the Central Office of Information (COI) relating to a public information film from 1971 entitled ‘Insaaf’, the Urdu word for ‘fair play’ or ‘justice’.

Victorians were worried about the rising crime rate: offences went up from about 5,000 per year in 1800 to about 20,000 per year in 1840. They were firm believers in punishment for criminals but faced a problem: what should the punishment be? There were prisons, but they were mostly small, old and badly-run. Common punishments included transportation – sending the offender to America, Australia or Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) – or execution: hundreds of offences carried the death penalty. By the 1830s people were having doubts about both these punishments. The answer was prison: lots of new prisons were built and old ones extended. The Victorians also had clear ideas about what these prisons should be like. They should be unpleasant places, to deter people from committing crimes. Once inside, prisoners had to be made to face up to their own faults, by keeping them in silence and making them do hard, boring work. Walking a treadwheel or picking oakum (separating strands of rope) were the most common forms of hard labour.

A lesson to teach about the 1833 factory out where children can investigate how the far the act had solved the problems of child labour.

This collection of photographs from The National Archives’ image library has been collated to provide a resource for English Language GCSE. The images can be used for descriptive or narrative creative writing prompts, allowing students to consider a variety of historical scenes as inspiration for their writing. Whilst the resources have been designed with the English Language GCSE in mind, they can be used for other age groups to develop imagination when considering character and description. Each image has been provided with its original document reference and description to offer some context to the image if desired, such as time period and location. However, the descriptions are deliberately brief and there are no correct answers required in creative writing. The photographs are presented as prompts only and students are not required to write creatively about actual historical places, figures or events.

This lesson features family history documents from the Victorian period. Children can learn how sources can be used to find out things about the past.

This lesson and pictures focus on what the British found when they entered Belsen concentration camp.This study of Belsen reveals how British soldiers were aghast at what they found when they liberated the camps.

Use the original documents in this lesson to find out about the Corn Laws: how the British public reacted to them, and their eventual repeal in 1846. Suitable for: Key stage 4, Key stage 5 The Corn Laws were passed by the Conservative Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, in 1815. These were measures brought in by the British government to protect landowners and farmers. They controlled the price of all grain crops, including wheat, barley and oats. After the Napoleonic Wars, food prices were predicted to fall as Britain resumed its trade with Europe, and goods could once again be imported to Britain. However, further imports of cheaper foreign grain harmed the interests of British landowners and farmers. The Corn Laws were aimed to prevent this harm. The laws placed tariffs on grain imported from other countries. The price of grain at home had to reach extremely high levels before duty-free grain from overseas was permitted. Harsh import duties made buying grain from abroad unaffordable. Therefore, the Corn Laws made it expensive to import grain, even when domestic grain was in very short supply. The laws were met by fierce opposition from the public and there were frequent riots against them. The Anti-Corn Law League, founded in 1839, campaigned to repeal the laws. The Corn Laws remained in place until 1846; despite strong opposition from his own political party, Conservative Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel repealed them in 1846. Peel gives his reasons for doing so in a document here.

Compare the accounts as well as other evidence of Captain Cook’s death, to work out what happened when Cook died. Why is it important to consider a range of sources? What things influence how the historical narrative is set out? On 14 February 1779, Captain James Cook – the British navigator and explorer – was killed in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii in a confrontation with the indigenous Hawaiians (Kānaka Maoli). The story of his death, and his legacy, has been much explored and debated. Your job in this lesson is simple: use original sources to find out what really happened. Or maybe it’s not so simple? In this lesson, students will explore different accounts of Cook’s final moments. These accounts are based on the logs from different members of Cook’s crew. Students will then look at depictions of Cook’s death in art. None of these accounts come from the Hawaiian perspective – this is important to keep in mind as you go through the lesson.

The purpose of this lesson is to explore some extracts from the will of Samuel Pepys made in 1701 and later added to in 1703. You may have already ‘met’ Samuel Pepys whilst finding out about the Great Fire of London in 1666 and read his descriptions of the fire in his famous diary. Suitable for: Key stage 1, Key stage 2, Key stage 3 The National Archives has a huge collection of wills and they are important sources for finding out about people in the past. A will is a legal document in which a person records their wishes as to how their possessions and property are to be disposed of after their death. The document always names a particular person to ensure that people listed in the will receive what is due to them. Through this lesson you will discover more about Samuel Pepys and the different features that make up a will.

In this lesson you will explore some original nineteenth century criminal petitions held by The National Archives. Suitable for: Key stage 4, Key stage 5 Petitions are formal written requests made to an authority such as a monarch or government department. Petitioning was a long-established right to appeal to a higher authority to ask for a favour or correct an injustice. Petitions could be made by anyone in society, but they were usually written by people who were less powerful or wealthy than those they petitioned. Despite their humble position, by asking for help, petitioners offered their obedience in exchange for valuable assistance from the monarch or government. Those who received petitions were obliged to listen and to respond. However, the outcome of the petition was not always successful. Although criminal petitions are usually about one individual they also are useful case studies to learn about wider changes in attitudes towards crime and punishment.

Use this lesson to find out if the design of a board game can tell us anything about life in the past. Suitable for: Key stage 2, Key stage 3 Many board games, not on sale today, were devised in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and some of their designs are held at The National Archives. The board games used in this lesson are very interesting as historical sources as they can reveal something about the society that made them. How did people in the past like to have fun? Were their games very different from ours? Board games were highly valued as a form of entertainment for Victorian or Edwardian children as they were not too physical or noisy, allowing them to be ‘seen and not heard’. They could be played at home with the whole family or a group of children under the watchful eye of a parent or governess. They offered a change from the usual ‘parlour games’ that the Victorians favoured such as ‘Charades’ or ‘Pin the tail on the donkey’.

Use this lesson to explore extracts from Cook’s original journal with other documents to find out what happened. What was the impact of his voyage on Britain and on the Indigenous peoples of the places he arrived at? Suitable for: Key stage 1, Key stage 2, Key stage 3, Key stage 4, Key stage 5 In June 1769, James Cook opened an envelope containing secret instructions from King George III. Cook was in Tahiti, having led the expedition to observe the transit of Venus across the sun by astronomer Charles Green and others. These secret instructions revealed that there was a second mission: to find the mysterious alleged southern continent ‘Terra Australis’, and claim it for Britain. Cook set sail southward. From 1769 to 1770, he would reach and chart what are now New Zealand and the east coast of Australia. While he never found ‘Terra Australis’ – which was thought to cover the entire southern hemisphere – his voyage had long-lasting consequences for the places he visited and led to the formation of the modern countries Australia and New Zealand. Although they were inhabited, Cook charted and claimed the places he visited in the name of his country, which led to their occupation and colonisation by Great Britain. The first penal colony in Australia was established in 1788 in Botany Bay, a place originally named and described by Cook. Today, Australia and New Zealand are still part of the Commonwealth of Nations.

The two original sources in this lesson can used to find out more about the life of Walter Tull. Suitable for: Key stage 1, Key stage 2 Walter Tull was born on 28 April 1888 in Folkstone, Kent. His father was from Barbados and his mother from Kent. His parents died when he was aged 9 years old. Walter and his brother were brought up in an orphanage in Bethnal Green, East London. From 1908 he started to play football and was signed by Clapton FC, then the following year by Tottenham Hotspur F.C. He was the second person of African-Caribbean mixed heritage to play in the top division of the Football League. He later moved to Northampton Town F.C. in 1911 where he played half-back. At the start of the First World War Tull joined the 17th (1st Football) Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment as a Lance-Corporal. In 1915 he served in France and was later placed in hospital for shell shock. In 1916, he returned to action in September and fought in the Battle of the Somme, afterwards attending officer training in Britain then going back to serve in the 23rd Battalion of the Middlesex regiment as a second lieutenant. Despite army rules which forbade a ‘person of colour’ being commissioned as an officer (a leader of men), Walter was promoted to lieutenant after officer training school at Gailes, Scotland. In 1917. Tull is widely considered the first African-Caribbean mixed heritage man to be commissioned as an infantry officer in the British Army. Walter Tull died aged 29 in 1918 while leading an attack on the Western front during the Second Battle of the Somme in March. The Commanding Officer of the 23rd Battalion recommended him for a Military Cross for bravery.

Use this lesson to explore sources relating to criminal activity based around railways. Suitable for: Key stage 2, Key stage 4 In Victorian times, Britain’s railway network grew rapidly. In the 1840s ‘Railway Mania’ saw a frenzy of investment and speculation. £3 billion was spent on building the railways from 1845 to 1900. In 1870, 423 million passengers travelled on 16,000 miles of track, and by the end of Queen Victoria’s reign over 1100 million passengers were using trains. The railway system offered new chances for travel, holidays, transporting goods, developing businesses and the growth of towns and cities. The distance between town and countryside was erased. Dairy produce and fish could be delivered easily to different parts of the country within hours. Increased communication allowed for the spread of ideas and national newspapers. A standardized time was introduced across Britain as trains were timetabled. The mobility of labour and maintenance of law and order were made easier. Of course, the railway network also stimulated the coal and iron industries but led to the decline of the canal system. However, with more people and goods on the move, trains and railway stations arguably, offered new opportunities for crime. The first carriages were unlit and unconnected by corridors, so there were cases of lone travellers being robbed or attacked. Railway stations were often packed and busy which made theft easier. The first railway murder took place in 1864 on train travelling from Fenchurch Street towards Hackney on the North London Railway and caused a great deal of public concern about travel safety.

Use this lesson to find out how the British civil and military authorities carried out the South African war in 1899-1902 and how the public responded to the conflict. Suitable for: Key stage 3, Key stage 4, Key stage 5 For more than a century, some form of conflict had existed between Britain and the Boers in southern Africa, mainly over the amount of influence and expansionist ideas the former had in the area. In 1877, Britain had moved to annex the Transvaal Republic, bringing it under its control, and this eventually led to what is known as the First Boer War in 1880-1. After a number of defeats handed to the British, independence was restored but relations never recovered. Tensions remained for a number of reasons. The immigration of large numbers of uitlanders (foreigners), largely because of a diamond rush, meant that these, mainly English-speaking, individuals soon came close to outnumbering the Boer population. Britain supported the rights of these uilanders and confrontations were common. Britain also continued to be expansionist in its outlook as it looked to control gold mining in the region and continued to attempt to bring the Transvaal and the Orange Free State under British control. This eventually culminated in the failed Jameson Raid in 1895. Eventually, in 1899, Joseph Chamberlain, the British Colonial Secretary, demanded full voting rights for uilanders living in the Transvaal, and mobilised its military forces near the borders of the Transvaal and Orange Free State. The President of the South African Republic, Paul Kruger, issued an ultimatum which was rejected by the British government, leading to the declaration of war from Kruger and the Orange Free State.

There are certain things you need to watch out for when using cartoons as sources. Just like written documents, treat them with caution. Use the resources here to help develop your skills when using cartoons as sources. This resource is suitable for students in Key Stages 3-5.