Saul Nassé has been appointed by the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport as Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives and will take up the post at the end of July. He takes over from Dr Jeff James who has led The National Archives successfully since 2014.
Saul Nassé is a Fellow of Robinson College, University of Cambridge and former Group Chief Executive of Cambridge Assessment, the University’s examinations business. In his eight years with the organisation, he developed new digital propositions, grew international reach, and deepened engagement with teams around the world.
Previously, Saul held leadership roles at the BBC both in the UK and India. As Controller, BBC Learning, he led the teams that commissioned and produced educational content, such as Bitesize and Domesday Reloaded.
Andrew Wathey, Chair of The National Archives Board said:
‘I am excited to welcome Saul Nassé as the next Chief Executive and Keeper at The National Archives. He brings a wealth of leadership experience in a variety of high-profile roles, and a deep commitment to The National Archives and to the enormous potential presented by archives in a digital age. He will be an excellent ambassador for The National Archives, building on the organisation’s successes as we take forward our vision Archives for Everyone. I very much look forward to working with him.’
About his appointment, Saul said:
‘The National Archives is an extraordinary institution, preserving the records of the nation and enriching the lives of individual citizens. It’s a privilege to be asked to be the next Chief Executive and Keeper, and I look forward to working with the team, the board and colleagues across the worlds of archives and culture. I believe that together we can truly create archives for everyone, enhancing the impact of the collections in the future.’
Further information on The National Archives here.
The Northern Ireland Office, has today launched the second phase of a package of educational materials to mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement which have been developed here at The National Archives alongside academics, educational and historical experts .
The initiative first launched in 2023, as part of a wider UK Government programme to mark this important milestone.
The materials include Key Stage 3, 4, and 5 lesson plans for delivery in school classrooms. The materials are designed to support detailed discussion and comprehension of the journey to the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and align with the national curriculum in England and relevant CCEA GCSE and AQA A-level history syllabus.. Students will engage with materials, including digital copies of primary sources, about the Downing Street Declaration, the road to the Agreement, the negotiations that took place and immediate impact of the Agreement.
The free resources are available to teachers, parents and children across Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK on an optional basis.
Teachers, and those who wish to use the free educational resources developed by The National Archives, can download the materials here.
Education has a key role in supporting and maintaining peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland, and it’s right that children should learn about the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement’s significance in an age appropriate, factual manner at school.
The first phase of the resources were launched in March 2023 and consisted of an assembly pack containing an animated video and accompanying resources to support discussions in school assemblies for all ages.
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris said:
“Thanks to the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, Northern Ireland’s young people have grown up in peace and safety, looking forward to a future of hope and opportunity.
“The first part of this package was incredibly successful and I hope this next part will give young people in Northern Ireland and across the UK the chance to deepen their appreciation and understanding of the Agreement now and for generations to come.”
Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives said:
‘This resource builds on the assembly pack and allows teachers and students to explore the history of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement using material from the original documents. It brings alive the issues, the people involved, and the decisions made.’
An extraordinary claim that Allied prisoners of war involved in the Great Escape were betrayed by two of their own side has come to light in files at The National Archives.
Seventy-six prisoners escaped from Stalag Luft III camp 80 years ago this week on the night of 24-25 March, 1944 after spending almost a year tunnelling. All but three were recaptured and within a week 50 were shot on the direct orders of Hitler.
“The Mapmaker” Flt Lt Desmond Plunkett was the 13th man out – he volunteered because no one else wanted that number. He was recaptured near the Austrian border and interrogated by the Gestapo who held him for eight months before moving him to POW camp Stalag Luft I.
As recorded in a record held by The National Archives, he told British authorities when he was released from the camp in May 1945: “There are two individuals… whose activities have a direct bearing on the fate of the 50 executed prisoners of war.
“These two persons must be traced, as both are undoubtedly indigenous Englishmen, and must be tried for their collaborating activities with the enemy.”
His claim appears in a questionnaire which all POWs were asked to complete when they were freed. The “collaborators” are not identified.
Dr William Butler, The National Archives’ military expert and Head of Modern Collections, said: “When Plunkett was returned to a POW camp he was hospitalised because of the mental toll his experience in Gestapo prisons took on him – there’s a suggestion that he blamed himself for the executions of the 50 by accidentally saying something in interrogation.”
Other prisoners reassured him that this was impossible, because the shootings happened before Plunkett was questioned by the Gestapo.
Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence’s character Flt Lt Colin Blythe in the 1963 film The Great Escape was partly based on Plunkett, who was in charge of producing 2500 maps for escapers.
Pleasence drew on lived experience to create the character having been a wireless operator in RAF bombers before being shot down over France in August 1944. He was also imprisoned in Stalag Luft I. He had started the war as a conscientious objector but enlisted in 166 Squadron in 1941 after the London Blitz.
Pleasence’s questionnaire is also among the records The National Archives holds. The collection includes German POW cards for everyone involved in the Great Escape with debriefing notes and letters from their families to the Air Ministry. The files are available to the public in our reading rooms and online.
The National Archives and Arts Council England have signed a new collaboration agreement for 2024 to 2027. This agreement outlines how we will build on our previous work together to ensure a comprehensive cultural offer for the public, which includes the rich variety of arts, museums, libraries and archives.
Arts Council England is the national development agency for museums, libraries and the arts. They invest money from the Government and The National Lottery and provide a range of development programmes to support the arts and cultural sector.
The National Archives holds similar leadership responsibilities for archives in England. We also provide advice, support and grants to help archives across the country to develop and enhance their services, facilities and collections.
The new agreement recognises that our two strategic visions – Let’s Create and Archives Unlocked – reflect many areas of shared interest. Archives, libraries and museums often share audiences, workforces, stakeholders and collections, and frequently operate interdependently.
As partners, we will act strategically and practically to help communities across England engage with culture and ensure that our sectors’ collections and activities are accessible to everyone. We will develop programmes to make our workforces and collections more inclusive and reflective of the UK’s diversity.
We will also explore ways to increase our sectors’ sustainability and digital capacity. We will work together to open up data and use this evidence to demonstrate the impact of cultural organisations, including on health and wellbeing.
The agreement was signed by Jeff James from The National Archives and Darren Henley from Arts Council England during a visit to The National Archives.
Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper at The National Archives, said:
“We’re delighted to sign this new agreement, which reaffirms our two organisations’ commitment to working together successfully as partners. Through this agreement, we will be able to tackle shared challenges across our sectors and make the most of opportunities to advocate, share knowledge and secure funding for arts and culture.”
Darren Henley, Chief Executive at Arts Council England, said:
“The Arts Council has many values in common with The National Archives and we have shared sector audiences particularly in museums and libraries which are fully embedded in our Let’s Create strategy. We have already produced joint initiatives such as the Standard Charge and will continue to explore how we can support the sector strategically and practically through the challenges it faces. I’m very pleased to sign a collaboration agreement for another three years and look forward to continuing to work towards our shared goals.”
The Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities (DCDC) conference offers a unique collaboration opportunity for colleagues from across the Gallery, Library, Archive, Museum and Academic (GLAMA) sector. In 2023, this popular conference returned from entirely online to in person.
The conference partners – The National Archives, The British Library and Jisc – have taken time to review and consider delegate feedback and so, going forward DCDC will be a fully hybrid, international, biennial event.
This will ensure that DCDC audiences can continue to engage with peers, share and hear more about the incredible work that is being undertaken across the GLAMA sector, and take part in opportunities to network and develop professional skills, regardless of where they are in the world or their career stage.
Foundational to DCDC is the belief that our sectors thrive on innovation and creativity achieved through collaborating with each other. As such, the DCDC partners are committed to programming a conference that seeks to meet the diverse needs and priorities that are emerging across the GLAMA sector.
The partners are also committed to ensuring that the conference provides an accessible, inclusive, engaging, and productive experience for all its delegates – a conference that fosters connection and community, supporting development for both the sector and delegates alike.
While DCDC will be taking a break in 2024, we are incredibly excited to share our DCDC25 vision with you soon. Watch this space!
The National Archives is delighted to announce the launch of our free family exhibition Spirit of Invention in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It opens to the public at the Discovery Museum on Saturday 16 March.
It’s the first time a National Archives exhibition has toured outside London.
The show features 21st century inventions including a necklace that shows how polluted the air is in real time and a robot inspired by the shape and underwater movements of a jellyfish, alongside quirky Victorian inventions from our records. A three-wheeled velocipede, an early telephone system and a self-ventilating top hat are among the designs included which were created by Victorians caught up in a national craze for innovation.
Emmajane Avery, The National Archives’ Director of Public Engagement and Sector Leadership said: “We’re thrilled that our first exhibition to go on tour is opening at the Discovery Museum. It’s subject matter aligns so well with the displays at the museum and the rich history of innovation in the North East. It’s been great working in partnership with our colleagues at TWAM.”
Keith Merrin, Director of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums said: “We are delighted to bring Spirit of Invention to Discovery Museum for the people of the region to enjoy. The stories of inventiveness and creativity chime with those told in the museum about the great North East inventions that have shaped the nation.
“It is the first time that The National Archives has worked with a museum in this way to create an exhibition away from its London base and is part of a longstanding relationship that we have for the benefit of the communities of our region.”
Spirit of Invention will be on display at Discovery Museum until 23 June 2024. Entrance to the exhibition is free.
A 200-year-old sweater in a traditional Faroese knit has been found in a stash of 19th-century letters at The National Archives in our Prize Papers collection. The jumper, handknitted in vibrantly coloured fine wool, was intended for a woman in Denmark, but never reached its destination because the vessel on which it was shipped was seized by the British Navy during the Second Battle of Copenhagen.
Associate Prof Erling Isholm, from the University of the Faroe Islands, and Margretha Nónklett, from the country’s National Museum, travelled to The National Archives to see the parcel opened for the first time, 217 years after it was mailed.
The same shipment contained a sample of fine women’s knee length woollen stockings and fabric samples. The export of men’s stockings was a key part of the Faroese economy at this time when ‘wool was gold’ for these island communities.
The red sweater was shipped from Tórshavn on the cargo ship Anne Marie on 20 August 1807 by a carpenter called Niels C. Winther, with a letter saying ‘my wife sends her regards, thank you for the pudding rice. She sends your fiancé this sweater and hopes that it is not displeasing to her.’ The package is addressed to a Mr P Ladsen in Copenhagen and its contents are described by the sender as a ‘sweater for sleeping’, though its style closely resembles Faroese national dress. The note is written in Danish.
Margretha Nónklett said: ‘This is a tremendously exciting find. There are very few pieces like this and we have none with this particular design. It would have been handmade at home with hand-dyed wool.’
Dr Amanda Bevan, of the National Archives, said: ’This is a rare example of a parcel surviving in the Prize Papers, which often contain letters consigned to ships for delivery by sea.’
The Anne-Marie had sailed for Denmark with its captain Jurgen S Toxsvaerd unaware that war had broken out. She was targeted by HMS Defence off the coast of Norway on 2 September 1807, the day the British began bombarding Copenhagen. The British crew boarded the ship, imprisoned Toxsvaerd and his crew and grabbed both the cargo and the ship’s mailbox.
Erling Isholm said: ’The Anne-Marie was one of two owned by the Danish king, who monopolised all trade to and from the islands. If all the contents of this mailbox are here, it represents a quarter of the communication between the Faroes and Denmark in 1807.’
Released later in Copenhagen, Toxsvaerd reported that he was transporting ‘49,000 pairs of woollen stockings, eight tons of dried fish, 100 cases of candles, 250 barrels of tallow, 19 barrels of train oil and 10 barrels of feather’. The cargo value was around 42,110 Danish rix-dollars.
Paper rix-dollars were also found among the letters, with a wad of them wrapped around 18 silver coins, which include Danish skillings dating back to the reign of Frederick III of Denmark, 1648-1670.
There are also two samples of barley being returned to sender with a note complaining about the quality of an earlier shipment: ’Out of 416 barrels of grain sent, 399 have taken some damage’. 25 barrels were so bad they couldn’t sell them, they wrote.
The Prize Papers Project is planning to digitise the letters and the contents of the packages, making them available online in open access. It is part of a wider project to catalogue and digitise the entire Prize Papers collection through a collaboration between The National Archives and the University of Oldenburg in Germany, funded by the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony. Over 20 years, the project will make an estimated 3.5 million document images available online.
Project homepage: https://www.prizepapers.de/
Materiality homepage: https://materiality.prizepapers.de/
‘Lend a hand on the land’ poster (cropped) from the Ministry of Agriculture from the Second World War. Catalogue reference: INF13-140 (11)
The National Archives is delighted to announce that we will digitise the National Farm Survey (MAF 32 and MAF 73) in full, thanks to a generous grant of £2.13 million from Lund Trust.
The 1941 National Farm Survey is one of the most comprehensive records of land that we hold in our collection and is a window in time on the UK’s agriculture and land use in the middle of the Second World War. Containing extensive data on over 300,000 English and Welsh farms, the survey is among the most-requested record series at The National Archives.
Currently, the complex filing of the paper record makes it difficult for readers to order and use, with the records only available in physical copy. This project will digitise the series in full and create a new digital cataloguing arrangement to make each farm searchable online.
It will not only make the survey permanently and freely available, but will also improve its accessibility and searchability.
Genealogists, family and local historians will be able to consult the series for their own research, and the project will lay the ground for new analyses by historical economists, geographers and ecologists.
Jeff James, CEO & Keeper of The National Archives said:
“This is a unique opportunity to realise the potential of what was seen as a ‘Second Domesday Book’, a ‘permanent and comprehensive record of the conditions on the farms of England and Wales’. Thanks to this partnership, the National Farm Survey, an enormous database of land ownership and land usage in mid-20th century Britain, will be freely available online to researchers in the UK and globally.”
Andrew Wright, Director of Lund Trust said:
“The National Farm Survey was born out of a wartime need decades ago but still has much to teach us about the land. We are pleased to support making these records accessible to help people in England and Wales to know their local areas better and aid scholars researching our rich agrarian history.”
The project began in October 2023 and will finish in March 2027, with teams from across The National Archives working on the conservation, digitisation, transcription, cataloguing, and publishing of the records. More information about the project’s progress and first image release will be published later this year.
Notes to editors
The National Archives is a non-ministerial government department and the official archive for the UK government, and for England and Wales. We look after and make available to the public our collection of historical records dating back more than 1,000 years, including records as diverse as the Domesday Book and MI5 files. We are also a cultural, heritage and academic organisation which promotes public accessibility to iconic documents while ensuring preservation for generations to come.
Lund Trust supports work that greens people’s lives in the UK and also gives to other causes its donors especially care about. Since 2002, it has given more than £107m.
For more information:
You can find out more about the National Farm Survey in Explore the Collection, or by reading our Research Guide.
Enquiries about the project can be directed to Jack Butterworth, Head of Grants and Funding, by emailing grants@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
For further media enquiries, please email press@nationalarchives.gov.uk or call 020 8392 5277.
The National Archives is delighted to announce that we will digitise the National Farm Survey (MAF 32 and MAF 73) in full, thanks to a generous grant of £2.13 million from Lund Trust.
The 1941 National Farm Survey is one of the most comprehensive records of land that we hold in our collection and is a window in time on the UK’s agriculture and land use in the middle of the Second World War. Containing extensive data on over 300,000 English and Welsh farms, the survey is among the most-requested record series at The National Archives.
Currently, the complex filing of the paper record makes it difficult for readers to order and use, with the records only available in physical copy. This project will digitise the series in full and create a new digital cataloguing arrangement to make each farm searchable online.
It will not only make the survey permanently and freely available, but will also improve its accessibility and searchability.
Genealogists, family and local historians will be able to consult the series for their own research, and the project will lay the ground for new analyses by historical economists, geographers and ecologists.
Jeff James, CEO & Keeper of The National Archives said:
“This is a unique opportunity to realise the potential of what was seen as a ‘Second Domesday Book’, a ‘permanent and comprehensive record of the conditions on the farms of England and Wales’. Thanks to this partnership, the National Farm Survey, an enormous database of land ownership and land usage in mid-20th century Britain, will be freely available online to researchers in the UK and globally.”
Andrew Wright, Director of Lund Trust said:
“The National Farm Survey was born out of a wartime need decades ago but still has much to teach us about the land. We are pleased to support making these records accessible to help people in England and Wales to know their local areas better and aid scholars researching our rich agrarian history.”
The project began in October 2023 and will finish in March 2027, with teams from across The National Archives working on the conservation, digitisation, transcription, cataloguing, and publishing of the records. More information about the project’s progress and first image release will be published later this year.
Notes to editors
The National Archives is a non-ministerial government department and the official archive for the UK government, and for England and Wales. We look after and make available to the public our collection of historical records dating back more than 1,000 years, including records as diverse as the Domesday Book and MI5 files. We are also a cultural, heritage and academic organisation which promotes public accessibility to iconic documents while ensuring preservation for generations to come.
Lund Trust supports work that greens people’s lives in the UK and also gives to other causes its donors especially care about. Since 2002, it has given more than £107m.
For more information:
You can find out more about the National Farm Survey in Explore the Collection, or by reading our Research Guide.
Enquiries about the project can be directed to Jack Butterworth, Head of Grants and Funding, by emailing grants@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
For further media enquiries, please email press@nationalarchives.gov.uk or call 020 8392 5277.
MI9 bulletin TNA W0208/3268
We opened our new exhibition Great Escapes: Remarkable Second World War Captives with a launch event and positive coverage in the media.
At the opening, author and intelligence specialist Helen Fry spoke about researching the secret wartime intelligence organisation MI9 in our records while writing her books.
She recalled discovering that Allied servicemen were advised ‘not to walk in a British way’ if they found themselves in enemy territory – among many other tips they were given on escape and evasion.
The Daily Telegraph gave the exhibition a four-star review, Great Escapes: a revelatory examination of prisoner-of-war camps in the Second World War (telegraph.co.uk)
“I’m fascinated by the enduring passion that exists for this story, but also what you have here,“ was Samira Ahmed’s verdict on Radio 4’s Front Row Front Row – Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone, author Leo Vardiashvili and the Great Escapes exhibition at Kew – BBC Sounds
Drawing on our extraordinary range of wartime records, Great Escapes explores the experiences of Prisoner of War (POW)s and civilian internees between 1939-45.
It was inspired by a marathon cataloguing effort by volunteers who worked their way through 200,000 POW records to make them accessible to the public. Their efforts turned up records relating to Ronald Searle, who survived working on the Thai-Burma railway and sketched his fellow prisoners (bringing home around 300 drawings at the end of the war).
They also catalogued wartime records for PG Wodehouse, who managed to write at least one novel while interned in Poland, which are also on display.
But the POW who has most captured the media’s imagination is Carry On actor Peter Butterworth. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68209738 Interned in Stalag Luft III, he was one of the vaulters who helped distract attention from tunnelling under the Wooden Horse and helped organise The Great Escape the following year. A talented artist, he was involved in forging fake ID papers for escapers and sending coded messages to the authorities in Britain. His story was told in a film about the exhibition which ran on BBC Breakfast and other BBC News outlets.
Hurry down to Bessant Drive, Kew to check out the exhibition yourself. It’s open Tuesdays-Sundays until 21 July and is completely free. No tickets required.
Also available, our dedicated exhibition web pages to discover more and our programme of online events.
Image credit: Exhibition, Spatial, Graphic and AV Design Byfield and Peter L.Dixon
Great Escapes – Remarkable Second World War Captives – The National Archives
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/visit-us/whats-on/online-events/