Murder, strikes, scandal give Durham a unique place in history

Murder, intrigue, scandals and strikes have helped to give Durham an intriguing UK record.

It has more mentions per person than any other city in history, according to the family history website Findmypast. Durham features in historic newspaper archives more than 6.7million times which is 313 articles per head.

Our scandalous past

Studies show that people love looking up articles on strikes and war heroes while celebrities, murder and ghosts have remained key drivers of news reports.

The survey results were released following new analysis of more than 67 million historic newspaper pages published between 1710 and 2021. 

Experts have revealed that a combination of topics, including strike, ghost, famous, murder, war hero and pickpocket are key drivers of news articles over the past 300 years. 

'Moral sewage' attacked by Bishop of Durham in 1920s

Industrial strikes in the 19th and 20th centuries contributed significantly to Durham placing top of the list. 

In 1893, Durham was at the heart of industrial action across the country, while from 1871 onwards, it played host to the annual Miners Gala, dubbed 'The Big Meeting'. 

It attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors from the Durham coalfield of which Sunderland was a part.

Events in the past 12 months show that industrial action still generates clicks and searches due to a spate of rail and health worker strikes. 

Scandal was another driver of searches.

The news is the same but the people have changed

In 1925, the Bishop of Durham was so concerned by the “moral sewage” reported in divorce cases in the papers that he publicly called for the broadcasting of them to stop.  

Jen Baldwin, Research Specialist at Findmypast, said: “What’s fascinating is that the themes that drive our news haven't changed that much over the past few hundred years, it's the people and their experiences that have. 

"The UK’s cities are rich in history, but what grabs our attention is the unique human stories – from finding fame to standing trial in court or sacrifice during the War. 

“It's now easier than ever to discover whether your ancestors made the news thanks to the 70 million historical pages available online to search on Findmypast.”

Visit findmypast.co.uk/search-newspapers to find out more about the stories available in the British Newspaper Archive, or start your tree today for free with Findmypast.