Introduction
This resource contains a hyperlinked list of National Archives current resources for Women’s histories on The National Archives website. It includes education resources, online exhibitions, research guides, blog posts and podcasts by staff and external writers and links to external websites.
The intention for this resource is to make it easier for teachers to find resources for teaching a diverse curriculum. We are committed to further improving our resources and continuing to increase the women’s histories told through our education resources and collections.
This document will be updated periodically to add new resources that have been made available through our website. It was last updated in March 2024.
At The National Archives the voices of men, in the most part, frame our collections, reflecting the historic interests of government/past societies. Archives tend to reflect the values and biases of their makers; these values have changed a lot over the 1,000 years of our collections. The further back we go into our records, the less present women’s voices are, as in the Medieval and Early Modern periods.
Traditionally, history has focused on more male dominated fields of research, such as political history and military history, rather than the social and cultural spheres where historically women are often more likely to be found. Yet the threads of women’s
experiences weave throughout our records; from monarchs to paupers; suffrage campaigners to black power campaigners. Women in positions of power tend to be the most visible in the records, the voice of the ‘everywoman’ proves much harder to find.
The experiences of women are framed by the state, so may not be speaking freely or using their own words, and yet the collections are rich. The disruptive protests of the Suffragettes, militant campaigners for votes for women, are framed by the interests of government. Records relating to Suffragettes can be found in the Home Office, concerned about keeping public order, or in the Treasury, recording the costs of damage and policing, and yet, despite the context of the records, we have one of the strongest collections on the history of the British suffrage movement. When women were disruptive, they have tended to leave footprints in the archive, and therefore women in protests can often be found, in peace campaigns or in struggles for equal pay.
As women gained the right to vote and stand as Members of Parliament, the concerns of women are increasingly represented in our collections, up to and beyond the era of Margaret Thatcher, divorce by mutual consent and the Gender Recognition Act. It must be recognised however that while women’s voices are marginalised in our records, this is often compounded when people faced other factors of marginalisation and oppression; such as the experiences of women of colour, bisexual and lesbian women, working-class women and disabled women.
Themed Collections
Small curated collections of digitised documents introduced by a specialist on the topic.
Lessons
Fully resourced lesson packs designed for use in a classroom either as a whole or to be adapted by teachers into their own lesson plans and teaching styles.
Videos
Our educational video series: ‘Spotlight On’, ‘Unboxing the Archive’, ‘History Hook’, and ‘Time Travel TV’.
Topic Websites
Websites and digital exhibitions dedicated to a topic or theme. Most of these are now archived; however, their content is still useful for study.
Online & Onsite Education Sessions
Free workshops run by the Education service for school aged students.
Go to Online & Onsite Education Sessions
Young People’s Projects
Resources created by young people during projects at The National Archives.
Outreach Resources
Resources from the Outreach team for underrepresented community groups.
Research Guides
Informative guides written by our collections experts offering advice on document series.
Talks, Podcasts and Webinars
Records of events run at The National Archives by staff and guest speakers.
Go to Talks, Podcasts and Webinars
Blog Posts
Blogs written by staff members and researchers working with The National Archives.
External Websites
Useful websites from other organisations and institutions.
Themed Collections
Cats and mice
Collection of documents covering tactics used by police, suffragette and government tactics with audio files.
Cold war on File
Documents relating to the Cold War, from the war time alliances, Berlin Airlift, conflict in Korea, events in Hungary, the Cuban missile crisis and Britain in the nuclear age including aspects of civil defence.
Commonwealth migration since 1945
This collection is about postwar migration from Commonwealth countries to Britain. They cover a wide range of topics including women workers and nursing schemes and women migrating to Britain.
Early modern witch trials
These documents explore questions such as how the persecution of witches was instigated, encouraged or enabled by the authorities or communities. How was the church involved? What type of people experienced persecution?
Includes documents on the Lancaster Witches: examinations of Margaret Johnson, Mary Spencer, and Frances Dickenson, Also the cases of Joan Guppie Agnes Samson, Elizabeth Tibbots, and group Scottish women accused of witchcraft and others.
Elizabeth I’s monarchy
This collection of documents introduces students and teachers to the reign of Elizabeth I through the original State Papers selected and introduced by historian of the period, Dr.Tracy Borman.
Includes different aspects of Elizabeth’s reign including the marriage question and succession, her style of monarchy, religious and foreign policy, or her relationship with Mary Queen of Scots.
English Reformation c1527-1590
This collection introduces students and teachers to the English Reformation and includes documents covering Elizabeth I and Mary I.
Georgian Britain
Documents on the Georgian period covering themes of: road transport; Industrial Revolution; philanthropy; design and taste; crime.
Documents include: Caroline of Brunswick, as Boadicea by satirical cartoonist George Cruikshank; Items belonging to Mary Smith, who lived at Christ’s Hospital in London.
Home Front 1939-1945 (part one)
This collection looks at the political and social aspects of the Home Front, 1939-1945. It includes documents on women from British colonies contributing to the war effort.
Home Front 1939-1945 (part two)
This collection looks at the political and social aspects of the Home Front, 1939-1945. It includes documents on the Women’s Land Army and women war workers, as well as posters aimed at women.
Jacobite Rising of 1745
Document collection on the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. Documents include Flora MacDonald’s testimony on assisting the Pretender; Soldiers’ letters home to their wives.
James I
Documents on the nature of monarchical power, challenges to the Church of England and the relationship between king and parliament. Themes include James I’s extravagance; the Hampton Court Conference, the impact of Catholicism; union with Scotland, relations between crown and parliament, and the Spanish match. Documents include a love letter from Endymion Porter to his wife, 17 July 1623.
Medicine on the Western Front (part two)
The records in this collection include war diary extracts which evidence the nature of trench warfare and the injuries and diseases experienced by those who fought on the Western Front. Other sources on Women’s Army and Nursing Services give insight into their work and the difficult circumstances in which they worked.
Protest and democracy 1818 to 1820, part 2
Documents include the Cato Street conspiracy women’s petition 1820 and Queen Caroline’s divorce.
Significant…
People
From writers to royals, politicians, artists, inventors or campaigners, this selection of sources, based on records held at The National Archives, can be used in the primary classroom to support the National Curriculum element ‘significant individuals’.
Includes documents on Nicola de la Haye, Lady Jane Grey, Elizabeth I, Mary Tudor, Levina Teerlinc (miniaturist of the English royal court), Queen Anne, Queen Victoria, Ellen Terry, Sophia Duleep Singh, Edith Cavell, Grace Darling, Florence Nightingale, Mary Wheatland, Amy Johnson, Noor Khan, Annie Kenney, Christabel Pankhurst, and Floella Benjamin.
Places
The collection contains some of the popular choices used for exploring historical places and helps to provide context for significant figures or events selected studied in the classroom.
Documents include women listed in Kensington census return; photographs of women agricultural workers, osier-peelers, circus performers, brick-makers, holidaymakers in Blackpool, factory workers and at Notting Hill carnival.
Events
From the sealing of Magna Carta to Decimalisation in 1971, this selection of sources, based on records held at The National Archives, can be used in the primary classroom to support the National Curriculum element ‘significant events’ beyond living memory.
Documents include illustration showing events at Peterloo 1819, including Sarah Hargreaves of the Female Union and women in the crowd; Emily Wilding Davison & Epsom Derby; Suffragettes outside Parliament; Coronation of Elizabeth II.
Suffragettes on file
A selection of documents relating to the suffragette movement including material from the Home Office, Metropolitan Police prison files, and the Women’s Social and Political Union offices which were used as exhibits in the trial of Emmeline Pankhurst and other leaders, including their correspondence and the Suffragette newspaper.
Includes letters from pauper women, wives and mothers. Emmeline Pethick Lawrence, Lady Constance Lytton, Millicent Fawcett, Elsie Howey, Mary Richardson, Emily Wilding Davison, May Billington, Ellen Pitfield, Lillian Ball, Annie Kenney, Emmeline Pankhurst, Christabel Pankhurst and others.
Introduced by Dr Diane Atkinson.
Suffragettes: Outrage at Kew
Students will look at records from the prison case files of two suffragettes involved in the burning down of the tea pavilion at Kew Gardens: Olive Wharry and Lilian Lenton.
Victorian Industrial Towns
Documents relating to urban living conditions in the 19th century. Includes Sarah Roberts’ cholera case.
Workhouse Voices
A collection of written by paupers to the Poor Law Commissioners, both men and women. Includes letters from pauper women, wives and mothers.
Twenties Britain (part one)
Covering themes of women’s employment, training, higher education, maternity clinics, policewomen, and the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act in 1928.
This collection also includes census records for Marie Stopes, Margaret Bondfield, and Nancy Astor.
Twenties Britain (part two)
Includes documents related to the persecution of the book ‘The Well of Loneliness’ by Radclyffe Hall, first published by Jonathan Cape Limited. It eventually went on trial for obscenity due to its lesbian story.
This collection also includes census records for Millicent Fawcettt, Nancy Mitford, and Evelyn Waugh.
Thirties Britain
Covers political and social aspects of 1930s Britain including unemployment, hunger marches, the economy slum clearance, the new national government, fascism, the Peace Ballot and leisure.
Also covers the Women’s League of Health and Beauty 1937, Women’s stories about living unemployment with in 1930s, and Margaret Bondfield on female unemployment.
Attlee’s Britain
This collection explores Britain between 1945-1951, including documents on women’s employment and maternity benefits.
Fifties Britain
This collection explores the political and social aspects of 1950s Britain and includes a photograph of sculptor Barbara Hepworth working on pieces at her St. Ives studio for the Festival of Britain exhibition.
Sixties Britain
This collection explores the political and social aspects of 1960s Britain and includes letters from Mary Whitehouse about the BBC, a report on women’s employment, a script for short film about Mary Quant, and a letter concerning ‘the mini-skirt project’.
Lessons
19th century people
Photographs and census material showing women and their families.
African nurses
Use this lesson to find original documents which explore the role of African nurses in the health services of Britain.
This lesson has been developed in collaboration with the Young Historians Project and their project ‘A Hidden History: African women and the British health service’.
Belsen concentration camp 1945
What did the British find when they entered Belsen concentration camp? This lesson includes photographs and documents on Belsen female prison guards.
Caribbean History in photographs
What can we learn from these photographs about women in Caribbean history? This learning resource encourages the user to examine representations of race, culture and identity using The National Archives’ collection of photos, which spans 100 years of
Caribbean history.
Produced by the New Art Exchange in Nottingham as part of the Caribbean through a Lens project.
Census detective
This lesson uses the census to find out about the past. It includes women reflected in three pages from the census in 1851, 1861 and 1911.
The Empire Windrush
Caribbean migration
This lesson includes accounts of Caribbean women who migrated to Britain, including singer Mona Baptiste.
Early Black Presence
This lesson is about early Black presence in Britain since the medieval period. It includes naturalisation papers of Sarah Parker Redmond.
Life for Migrants in the 1940s and 50s
This lesson encourages pupils to explore original sources to find out how Caribbean migrants were treated after their arrival. It includes photos of Jamaican women and girls arriving in Britain.
The Notting Hill Carnival
This lesson explores the significance of the Notting Hill Carnival and why it began, from its origins as the indoor Caribbean Carnival founded by Trinidadian human rights activist Claudia Jones on 30th January 1959.
England’s Immigrants, 1330-1550
This is a database which expands our knowledge of early immigration. The database reveals evidence about the names, origins, occupations and households of foreigners who chose to live and work in England in the era of the Hundred Years War, the Black Death and the Wars of the Roses.
Includes a teaching resource developed from the database on female migrants.
English Language GCSE – People
This collection of photographs has been collated to provide a resource for English Language GCSE. It includes images of female cyclists, a woman in a postwar kitchen, women swimming in Scarborough, and mayor G. E. F. Morgan.
Evacuation to Shropshire
This lesson includes the stories of two female evacuees during the Second World War.
Florence Nightingale
Documents outlining the work of Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War. The lesson also looks at the work of Mary Seacole during the Crimean War and includes an extension activity on Edith Cavell.
Huguenots in England
This lesson uses sources from The National Archives to explore Huguenot migration to England in the seventeenth century. It explores the reference to a man’s wife in his will and gives information on Mary I’s foreign policies.
Kenilworth Castle (part two)
This lesson uses different types of original medieval records to examine how Kenilworth Castle functioned in times of peace and war during the ‘Middle Ages. It includes the petition of Mary de Shepeye to King Edward II, 1322 and the petition of Joan, widow of Sir Hugh de Quilly to King Edward II, 1322.
LGBTQ+ Rights in Britain
This lesson offers an overview of the history of LGBTQ+ rights and persecution in Britain. It includes Anne Lister’s will, a discussion about a clause that would criminalise female same-sex relationships, an article written by April Ashley, and a 1985 Black Lesbian and Gay Centre newsletter.
Life in 1950s Britain
This lesson uses original sources to explore life in the first decade of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II in conjunction with her Platinum Jubilee. It includes sources relating to the Queen’s 1953 coronation.
Life in 1960s Britain
This lesson uses original sources to explore life in the 1960s, the second decade in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, in conjunction with her Platinum Jubilee. It includes a photograph of women in 1960s fashion on Carnaby Street.
Mangrove Nine protest
Use this lesson to find out more about the history of Britain’s Black Power movement and the trial of the Mangrove Nine. It includes photographs of the women who were involved in the protest, including Barbara Beese.
Medieval castles
The purpose of this enquiry is to allow students to explore documents relating to the general function of castles. It includes a document where King Edward I grants Portchester Castle to his mother in 1273.
Medieval seals
This lesson looks at what seals can tell us about what it was like to live in medieval England and Ireland. It also explores why people from a range of social backgrounds might need or want to have a seal of their own, including Nicolaa de la Haye and a woman named Desiree.
Medieval Society
Medieval women’s lives were as varied as they are today, but unlike today, most women (and men) lived in the countryside and worked the land on what were known as manors, estates on which tenants rented their properties from the lord and often performed services for him at harvest time. Women can also be found living and working in towns and cities, or in religious communities. There were extremely rich and powerful women, such as queens and noblewomen, but there were also countless ordinary women, whose names we do not always know, who emerge from the archives.
Use this lesson to find out about their lives in medieval England and Ireland from records held at The National Archives.
Murder at Kirk o’ Field
The story of Mary Queen of Scots and her marriage to Lord Darnley shows both the romantic and the brutal side of politics in the 16th century. The lesson also includes letters from Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I.
Past pleasures
This lesson includes photographs and images of women cycling and playing croquet.
Queen Anne
Lesson using different documents to find out about Queen Anne. It includes Queen Anne’s seal, a treasury document, and a petition relating to the monarch.
Role of a Queen – Mary I and Anne
What can we find out about the roles of Queen Mary I and Queen Anne? This lesson includes a record about Queen Mary I and a portrait of Queen Anne. It is part of the Platinum Jubilee lesson resources.
Role of a Queen – Matilda and Elizabeth I
Here pupils explore two original seals comparing the role of Matilda and Elizabeth I. What do these sources reveal about their roles? How different were the roles to Queen Elizabeth II? This lesson is part of the Platinum Jubilee lesson resources.
Say ‘cheese’: a portrait of Queen Victoria’s family
A lesson based on a photograph of Queen Victoria and some of her children on a very special and normally happy occasion. But no one looks very happy. Why?
Significant People
Activity book that includes activities on Queen Elizabeth I.
Suffragettes ‘in Trousers’
How did men support votes for women? This lesson features documents on the male support for the suffragette movement.
The Great Seal
This lesson features the second Great Seal of Queen Elizabeth I. The Great Seal can reveal important clues about the way a monarch wished to be seen by their subjects and the responsibilities that they had. Elizabeth I wanted to create an image of herself that would impress her subjects.
Victorian Food and Drink
Here pupils explore two original seals comparing the role of Matilda and Elizabeth I. What do these sources reveal about their roles? How different were the roles to Queen Elizabeth II? This lesson is part of the Platinum Jubilee lesson resources.
Victorian Railways
Documents include cases of women committing crime at railway stations.
What is a Jubilee?
This lesson uses original sources to find out about how Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee was celebrated in 1897.
What methods did the Suffragettes use to gain the vote?
Use the original documents in this lesson to discover the methods that the Suffragettes used to gain the vote in the twentieth century.
What was the significance of the Match Girls’ Strike in 1888?
In 1888 the match girls employed by the company Bryant & May in the east end of London went on strike. Use the original documents from 1888 in this lesson to find out about the match girls’ strike and assess its significance in the history of trade unions for unskilled workers.
Who was Noor Khan?
Delve into some of the exciting files held at The National Archives, to find out all about the role of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War and the experience of one individual woman – Noor Inayat Khan. We’ve selected a range of documents to help your pupils learn more about the world of espionage in the 1940s, including photographs, reports and guidance for spies!
This lesson was developed for students with dyslexia.
Women and the English Civil Wars
The lesson explores the stories of some of the women whose lives were changed by the English Civil Wars. This lesson has a History Hook video starter activity based on one of our documents to ‘hook’ students into the lesson tasks that follow. It also includes several petitions and other documents relating to women during the civil wars.
Workhouse Women
The seven letters selected within this resource show a wealth of varied experiences of women inside the workhouse. Students are encouraged to analyse each letter, focusing on the treatment of women and their mental health.
Videos
Spotlight On
Spotlight On is a series of video guides, each based on an individual collection held at The National Archives.
In each video, a specialist presenter introduces one of our collections and highlights a document from it connected to the history curriculum for Key Stage 3/4/5.
Spotlight On: Copyright Office
Collections expert Katherine Howells introduces two records from the Copyright Office collection, including a photograph of a suffragette being beaten by police during the 1910 Black Friday protest.
Spotlight On: Thatcher
Collections expert Mark Dunton looks at a document relating to a cabinet meeting in 1981 during the premiership of Margaret Thatcher from our Cabinet Office collection.
History Hook
These short video tasks are accessible introductions to some of our online lesson resources.
History Hook: Bound for Britain
Join Ela as she introduces a document related to migration. In this episode we explore document BT 26/1460.
This video forms a starter activity for our Bound for Britain lesson, which looks at experiences of immigration to the UK.
History Hook: Suffragettes in Trousers
Join our Education Officer, Kathryn, as she introduces a document related to the Suffrage movement. In this episode we explore document CRIM 1/149/3.
This video forms a starter activity for our Suffragettes ‘in Trousers’ lesson, which investigates the question: How did men help the Suffrage movement?
History Hook: The Civil Wars
Join Rachel as she introduces a document related to the Civil Wars. In this episode we explore document SP 16/454.
This video forms a starter activity for our Women and the English Civil Wars lesson, which investigates the question: How did these conflicts affect women’s lives?
Time Travel Club
The National Archives invite children and families across the country to join us in travelling through time! These short videos are aimed at younger children and families as part of our Time Travel Club.
Time Travel TV: A suffragette and the census
This episode explores the life of suffragette Sophia Duleep Singh.
Census Detectives
This episode explores a fascinating document that can reveal lots about families in the past! But whose famous household is this and what can we find out about the people who lived there?
Unboxing the Archive
Unboxing the Archive tells the stories of our collection through individual documents. Each episode features one of our record specialists exploring a key moment or figure from history and how they feature within our collection.
Chevalier D’Eon
Vicky Iglikowski-Broad introduces FO95/604, the calling card of Chevalier D’Eon. Chevalier D’eon was a French spy who appeared publicly as a man until 1777, after which D’Eon lived as a woman and was legally recognised as such.
Other videos
Aphra Behn: Memoirs of a Shee Spy
In this film, Record Specialist Dr Katy Mair, and Professor of 17th-Century Studies at Loughborough University, Elaine Hobby, tell us the less-well-known story of Aphra Behn the spy – a young woman who was recruited by Charles II and sent to the dangerous city of Antwerp to turn her rumoured former lover into a double agent.
Celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
Drawing on a rich selection of records held at The National Archives, including photographs, letters, and speeches, this film looks back at Elizabeth II’s extraordinary life and reign.
The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 2022
Watch this animated video from our education team to find out about the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II through our collections. Use our exciting downloadable lessons and creative activities to learn more and find out about other female monarchs.
Civil War People
View five videos to find out how a Bishop, Puritan, Scotsman, Irishman or King Charles I himself possibly viewed the prospect of civil war in 1642.
Sex, Treason and Death: the Downfall of Two Tudor Queens
The story of Henry VIII’s six wives is intertwined with the history of treason. In this film, Principal Legal Records Specialist Dan Gosling describes how two of Henry’s wives, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, lost the favour of the king and were executed for the worst crime you could commit, treason.
Trailblazing Women of the 20s
Trailblazing Women of the 20s is part of 20sPeople – our season to mark the release of the 1921 Census, connecting the 1920s and the 2020s. Lisa Berry-Waite, our 1920s record specialist, tells the story of 10 women through 10 short videos. Lisa reveals how each individual, through their determination and resolve to defy contemporary expectations of women, influenced lasting change.
Were the suffragettes successful? Historian Answers Suffragette Questions from the Internet
Modern historian Vicky Iglikowski-Broad answers the internet’s burning questions about the suffragettes. Who were the suffragettes? Were the suffragettes middle class? Why did the suffragettes go on hunger strike? Were the suffragettes terrorists? Were the suffragettes successful? Vicky answers all these questions and more.
Topic sites
Britain 1906-1918
A website using documents about Britain at the beginning of the 20th century including the campaign for women’s suffrage. Includes documents covering the fight for the vote, women’s health, and their role in First World War.
Cabinet Papers
Core records of the British Cabinet from 1915 onwards that have been digitised and fully searchable. Search for topics relating to history of women e.g. Equal Pay Act 1970; Representation of the People Acts 1918 & 1921; Sex Disqualification (removal) Act 1919;
Abortion Act 1967.
Civil War
Documents about the civil wars and the people who lived through them – in their own words. Includes the Petition of Mary Baker, a letter from a lady wanting peace.
Crime and punishment
Investigate crime in Britain, its prevention and punishment, from the 13th century to the present. Includes documents covering violent crimes against medieval women, witchcraft cases, 18th century female petitions for justice, female borstals in 1938 and the case of Ruth Ellis.
Focus on Film
A collection of early film clips to present including those relating to suffragettes. Search Film Archive for women 1900-present.
Henry VIII
A website celebrating 500th anniversary of Henry VIII. The section on Passion covers Henry VIII’s relation with his six wives.
Home Front 1939-1945
Life during the Second World War on the home front. Includes documents on the Women’s Land Army, Women’s Voluntary Services, Auxiliary territorial Service and women in factories, as well as a letter from Jenny Fleming to Herbert Morrison.
Moving Here
An archived website covering 200 years of migration to Britain, including the migration stories of women.
Power, politics and protest
This website contains a section on the suffragette movement and their tactics including the actions of Emily Davison.
Secrets and spies
Website including documents on spies, codes and ciphers. Includes documents on Mary Queen of Scots and SOE agent Nathalie Sergueiew alias ‘Treasure’.
The art of war
This website showcases records from the Ministry of Information and features many original pieces of wartime propaganda from dozens of artists in a range of media. This artwork covers recruitment, volunteering, production, recycling, health and safety and public safety. Includes work by artist Laura Knight. Women also feature in wartime propaganda artwork.
Treasures
A showcase website with some iconic documents from The National Archives. Includes documents on Catherine Howard, Elizabeth I, Jane Austen, Mary Smith, Queen Victoria’s census, and female child criminals.
Victorian Britain
A website with sources relating to Queen Victoria, childhood, women, The Great Exhibition, The British Empire and Local History. Includes sections on Victorian Women and the life of Queen Victoria.
Women in Uniform
Documents covering how women have played an important role in wartime, working as nurses over the centuries. Includes sources on nurses in the Crimea, nurses in the British army, Scottish hospitals, Royal Naval Service, and women in Second World War.
World War II
Documents taking a fresh look at the biggest conflict in history. Includes documents on Christine Glanville SOE agent and ‘Pam’, mystery woman in Operation Mincemeat.
Onsite & online education sessions
Choosing for the Archives (SEND)
Available onsite & online
Students with ASC, MLD, SLD and PMLD
In this interactive session, your students find out about different people’s stories from the archives. Using documents, images and sensory storytelling, they explore the lives of individuals such as Elizabeth I. Students then make decisions about what they feel is important to keep and choose objects to add to the archive box.
Crisis in the reign of Mary I
Available onsite & online
Key stage 5
In this exciting session, students work with original Tudor State Papers and consider what is meant by the term ‘crisis’. How far can this notion be measured during Mary’s reign?
Enquiring into Elizabeth
Available onsite & online
Key stages 3-5
What can we learn about Elizabeth I’s ruling style from her letters and speeches? In this workshop, students explore Elizabeth’s letters and speeches to learn about her ruling style
Introduction to document research
Available onsite
Key stage 5
In the onsite workshop students will get the opportunity to investigate a selection of original historical documents around a theme. This session develops skills in document analysis and strengthens understanding about how history is constructed. ‘Suffragettes’ is one of the available themes.
Significant Women: discover their stories in the archives
Available onsite & online
Key stage 1
In this dynamic onsite workshop children discover the lives of women, through exploring original documents. Children will investigate clues about three women’s achievements: a 20th century nurse, a pioneering pilot and a defender of a medieval castle. Learners consider questions like ‘why is it difficult to find out about a woman who lived a long time ago?’ Learners engage with different types of evidence, including medieval wax seals, passenger lists, newspapers and census records.
Suffragettes through government eyes
Available onsite & online
Key stages 3-4
In the onsite workshop students explore methods used in the suffrage movement through handling original documents like coded diaries and court testimony. They will examine the state response to the movement through a range of documents housed in Home Office, Metropolitan Police and prison files. This session develops skills in evidential understanding as students will consider why the government archival collection contains more documents related to militancy and what might be missing.
Whitechapel
Available onsite & online
Key stages 3-4
Students will investigate what Whitechapel was like in 1888 by exploring a range of documents including a photograph, the census and register for a homeless shelter. Themes such as poverty, immigration, women’s lives and housing are explored.
Young people’s projects
Capturing our Collections
This is a collection of student artworks creating in response to documents found in The National Archives inspired by the theme ‘Equity, Freedom, and Belonging’. Many of the entries are in response to documents related to women’s histories such as the Suffragettes, the story of Elizabeth Eckford, women in uniform, and women during Partition.
Holding History
Working with professional filmmaker, Nigel Kellaway, our young people had the opportunity to explore original documents from our collection spanning key events and lesser-known personal stories from the past 1,000 years of history, considering questions such as: What is The National Archives? How has it changed and developed over the centuries? What are the challenges, threats and importance of an archive in today’s world?
The film includes the story of Noor Khan.
Mental Health on Record
‘Mental Health on Record’ is a stop-motion animation film made by young filmmakers during the summer of 2019. The group worked with professional filmmaker Nigel Kellaway to create the film. The National Archives partnered with Richmond Borough Mind and Jon Bartlett, a mental health first aid instructor, on the project.
The film includes the stories of multiple women throughout history and their experiences within the mental healthcare system.
Rebels in the records
‘Rebels in the records’ is a series of film combining puppetry, model-making and animation created by young people in July 2021. They explored people/groups who have stood up for what they believe in, campaigned for change or lived in a different way to their contemporary society.
The films include the stories of the 1968 Ford Ford sewing machinists strike, Countess Markievicz, and Radclyffe Hall.
Suffrage Tales
To mark the 100-year commemorations of the Representation of the People Act, the Education Service worked with professional film-maker, Nigel Kellaway, to engage young people (aged 16-19) with suffrage records held at The National Archives.
Uncovering LGBTQ+ lives in the archive
‘Uncovering LGBTQ+ lives in the archive’ is a series of films combining puppetry, model-making, and animation created by a group of eight young people in July 2022. The project allowed the group to explore moments of LGBTQ+ history from the collection, including the stories of LGBTQ+ women. They then used their reflections to inspire the narrative and artwork for their films.
Writing War, Writing Peace
‘Writing War, Writing Peace’ is a creative writing anthology written by students who spent a week at The National Archives, learning from our records about the experiences of Nurses in the First World War. Mentored by Melvin Burgess and Sara Robinson, the students were encouraged to explore service records, diaries and photographs to put together their own creative pieces inspired by real events. These stories and poems are the result.
Outreach resources
Five Photos online resource
Five Photos is an online resource designed to encourage people to engage creatively with our collections. It aims to provide a mindful, social or reminiscence-based activity for those shielding or in care home settings.
One of the photos features of a scene with women traders and shoppers in Barbados between 1950 and 1969.
Indian Indentured Labour
The National Archives Outreach team has developed new projects on Indian indenture researching our collections and writings on indenture to support collaborative projects with Nutkhut and BAATN, including a creative anthology, talks and blog posts. This research includes information on women’s stories.
My Home
We have chosen old images from around the world to explore the idea of ‘home’. How does it look on the outside and on the inside? What does ‘home’ mean to different people? This resource includes multiple photos of women from around the world.
Ugandan Asians
For the 50th anniversary of the expulsion of all Asians from Uganda, The National Archives worked with partners British Ugandan Asians at 50 to host a commemorative panel debate headed by leading British Ugandan Asians from the fields of media, medicine, politics and business.This page also links to a resource with stories from women recounting their experiences.
Research guides
British Army nurses
This is a brief guide to finding records of nurses who served with the British Army.
British Army nurses’ service records 1914-1918
These are over 15,000 First World War service records for nurses in series WO 399 who served in the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (Reserve) and the Territorial Force Nursing Service during the First World War.
The vast majority of the records cover the First World War period only. There are some records for nurses who served before 1914 and some for those who served after the war. There are no records, however, after 1939.
Doctors and nurses
The National Archives is not the best place to find information about the careers and service of individual doctors or nurses. However, this guide will help you find the doctors’ and nurses’ records that we do hold and some of the most significant collections held in other archives. Most of the records we hold in this subject area relate to the administration and policy of health services.
Military nursing
Use this guide for advice on records of nurses who served with the British Army, Royal Air Force or Royal Navy, each of which had its own nursing service.
Royal Air Force nurses
This is a brief guide to researching records of nurses who served with the Royal Air Force.
Royal Navy nurses and medical officers
This guide contains advice on where and how to look for records of nurses, surgeons and other medical staff who served with the Royal Navy.
Sexuality and gender identity history
This guide will help you find records relating to sexuality and gender identity history.
Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps service records 1917-1920
These are the service records of more than 7,000 women who joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) between 1917 and 1920.
Women in the British Army
The National Archives holds various records of women’s service in the British Army, though finding an individual’s record can be difficult. This short guide will outline the records which can be found and explain how to begin searching for them.
Women’s Land Army
This is a brief guide to researching records of the Women’s Land Army. Though the original service records of the Women’s Land Army have not survived, The National Archives has microfiche copies of alphabetical index cards from 1939 to 1945 that contain some basic information about the women’s service.
Women’s Royal Air Force personnel
This is a brief guide to researching records of the Women’s Royal Air Force, also known as the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.
Women’s Royal Air Force service records 1918-1920
These are the service records of around 30,000 airwomen who served with the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF) between 1918 and 1920.
Women’s Royal Naval Service personnel
This is a brief guide to researching records of the Women’s Royal Naval Service, also known as the Wrens.
Women’s Royal Naval service records 1917-1919
These are the service records of over 5,000 women who served in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) between 1917 and 1919.
Women’s suffrage
This guide will help you to find records of the women’s suffrage movement and of the women and men who campaigned for the cause in the early part of the 20th century.
Talks, podcasts & webinars
On the Record
The National Archives presents On the Record, a podcast that unearths the real life stories found in our vast collections.
Join our experts and special guests as we dig deep into the people behind the paper and bring fascinating stories from more than 11 million records to life. Discover tales of forbidden love, spies, protest, and the everyday people of the past.
20th Century Migration: 1914 – A nation divided?
This first episode begins with the story of an English woman who loses her citizenship because of who she chooses to marry, and a British citizen arrested because of his country of birth. Then we uncover the lesser-told story of people leaving Britain for a better life.
Coronations
From Richard III’s lavish wardrobe to Queen Victoria’s chaotic ceremony, coronations have a rich and fascinating history. In this episode of On the Record released to mark the coronation of King Charles III, our specialists examine records from previous coronations and explore how traditions have formed and changed through the centuries.
Disappointed and forbidden love
A lovestruck medieval clerk writing out romantic lyrics as he daydreams. A gay man in the 1930s who tears up a letter to his lover to hide it from the police. Two women who defy 18th century conventions to marry in secret…these are some of the characters you’ll meet in this episode, which features three stories of disappointed and forbidden love.
LGBTQ+ histories
In this episode, we bring you four stories that span 200 years of British history. Two women leave their families to make a new life together in Wales in 1780; a Manchester drag ball in 1880; a secret gathering space for gay men in 1920s London; and a community archive collected by Black LGBTQ+ Londoners.
Love divided
In 1588, Queen Elizabeth received a letter from her friend the Earl of Leicester just a few days before he died. She kept the letter by her bed for the next 15 years. In 1919, a Jamaican sailor named James Gillespie was forced to leave Cardiff after the Race Riots. Faced with the prospect of returning to Jamaica without his wife and child, he wrote to the Home Office, asking for help. These letters reveal two very different love stories nevertheless joined together by the theme of love divided.
Reform: Violence and the struggle for suffrage
The campaign for women’s suffrage is often characterised by its militant factions and leaders like Emmeline Pankhurst, who used bombs and destruction of property to get their message across. That characterisation is accurate, but it’s not the whole story. In fact, militant suffrage actions didn’t begin with the Women’s Social and Political Union…or women at all.
In this episode, we explore how a lesser-known male suffrage movement called Chartism advanced the suffrage agenda and how the militant tactics of the women’s suffrage activists fit into a large historical trend.
Spies: Archetype of a Spy
In this episode we use documents in our collection and expert insight to go beyond the popular image of spies. We explore the history of intelligence in Britain, and tell the wartime story of a courageous Muslim woman who defied all expectations to carry out a dangerous spy mission in Nazi-occupied territory.
Spies: Double agents and double standards
In this episode, we use intelligence records in our archives to illuminate three stories of double agents. Mata Hari was executed for using her seductive powers to spy for the Germans, but where’s the evidence that she was actually a spy? Did the Cambridge Five get a pass because of their elite social status? How did British laws against homosexuality make their own agents vulnerable to Soviet blackmail?
Spies: Lawrence and Bell
The exploits of T.E. Lawrence are legendary. Thanks to the famous film ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, millions around the world know about his time spying and fighting in the Middle
East during the First World War. Or at least they think they do. In this episode, we use the records in our collection to debunk the mythology around Lawrence. We also share the lesser-known story of Gertrude Bell, another intelligence officer working for the British in Arabia.
The 1920s: Beyond the Roar
In this episode we use documents in our collection and expert insight to go beyond the popular image of spies. We explore the history of intelligence in Britain, and tell the wartime story of a courageous Muslim woman who defied all expectations to carry out a dangerous spy mission in Nazi-occupied territory.
The 1920s: Fashion and Nightlife
In this episode, fashion historian Amber Butchart discusses the fashion movements of the 1920s. Then we tell the story of Kate Meyrick, the Soho Nightclub Queen. Meyrick’s popular clubs were frequently raided, and the records of those raids reveal a lot about what a night out in London was like 100 years ago.
Treason: People, Power and Plot
The history of English monarchs is a tale brimming with assassination attempts. Queen Elizabeth I thwarted many attempts to replace her with a Catholic monarch, following her
excommunication by the Pope.
In this episode, we explore direct attempts to kill the monarch in the 16th and 19th centuries and their long-term impacts on the British legal system.
Trials: Ordeal and combat
In the first instalment of a three-part series on our trial records, we’re examining the history of trials by ordeal and combat. This episode has witch trials, defamation lawsuits
from accused witches, myth-busting, strong-men for hire, Irish landowners fighting to the death in a castle, and some facts about duels.
Victorian cats, medieval hospitals & frontline nurses
Includes the story of brave young Nellie Spindler, who lied about her age in order to serve as a frontline nurse in the First World War before her tragic death.
Windrush at 75
In this episode, we mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush through the lens of several unique records held at The National Archives, including the official passenger list. It includes the stories of Ena Claire Sullivan, one of seven nurses on the Empire Windrush, a government training scheme for ‘colonial subjects’ in nursing and midwifery, and a twelve-year-old Polish passenger on the ship called Janina Folta.
Women’s Land Army
In this episode, we’re digging deeper into the history of the Women’s Land Army using unique collections at The National Archives. Discover fascinating stories of everyday bravery and the no-nonsense women who were enlisted in what the Ministry of Information called the ‘Battle for Bread’.
Talks and webinars
100 years of the WI: The acceptable face of feminism
‘A Little Daylight Game’: the story of two militant suffragettes
A tormented Tudor queen’s treasonous ‘love letter’
Annual Digital Lecture 2021: Data Feminism and the Archive
Barbara Hepworth, her life and work
‘Cama’: a play about a female Indian revolutionary at the time of the First World War
Constance Emily Kent: nightdresses, breast flannels and child murder
Did she kill him? Addiction, adultery and arsenic in Victorian Britain
Fashion or ration: Hartnell, Amies and dressing for the Blitz
Fictional obscenities: lesbianism and censorship in the early 20th century
First Lady: The Life and Wars of Clementine Churchill
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn: clothing, courtship and consequences
Hidden Women: uncovering the veil of silence during the partition of Punjab, India 1947
Jane Austen: from beginning to end
Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister, in 10 documents
Medieval queens in The National Archives
Meet the Author: Alison Weir – Katheryn Howard, The Tainted Queen
Nancy Astor: First steps towards a better balanced world
Newly released files from 1985 and 1986
No place for ladies: the untold story of women in the Crimean War
Reform: Violence and the struggle for suffrage
Sessions for Schools: Noor Khan as a wireless operator
Simply a Jacobite woman? The life experience of Lady Nairne
Suffrage 100: Did militancy help or hinder the fight for the franchise?
Sylvia Pankhurst: suffragette, socialist and ‘scourge of the empire’
Talks from the National LGBT History Festival: Hilary McCollum on ‘Sapphic Suffragettes’
The Women’s Aid Federation of England Archive: A case study for inclusive cataloguing
‘Things as are all Forms, & Ceremonys’: Ritual and authority in the reign of Queen Anne
To Her Most Excellent Majesty…
Tracy Borman on ‘The Private Lives of the Tudors’
War Girls – poetry and prose by women in the First World War
Webinar: Tracing your ancestors – women in the military services during the First World War
When a woman is not a woman: how the Ministry of Pensions constructed gender in the 1950s
Women, darts and the pub in the interwar period
Writer of the month: Helen Castor on Joan of Arc
Blog posts
100neHundred: dancing to remember the fight for the vote
100 years of women in the professions: The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919
100 years since the formation of the Women’s Royal Air Force
A glimpse into mental health history
‘A Most Lamented Princesse’: an English princess at Versailles
African Princess in Guy’s: The story of Princess Adenrele Ademola
Alice Hawkins, suffragette and working woman
April Ashley: The legal battle
Archives and agency: Sex work and the state
Black History Month – the movement for black civil rights in Britain
Books to celebrate the legacy of Florence Nightingale
Book-women after the Great Fire of London
‘Brown Babies’: The children born to black GI and white British women during the Second World War
Carnival: bringing a ‘little bit of heaven’ to Notting Hill
Celebrities, a former Prime Minister and the Workhouse
Constance Markievicz and the 1918 General Election
Death, the doctor and the detective writer
Deceptive, deviant and dextrous: Your humble petitioners?
Discover the Women’s Suffrage movement through our records
Domestic duties only? WRNS and the First World War
Emily Davison and the 1913 Epsom Derby
Emmeline Pankhurst Day: our records on women’s suffrage
Ena Clare Sullivan: A Jamaican nurse aboard the Empire Windrush
Equal pay for equal work: female munitions workers in the First World War
Family planning in the 1920s: Marie Stopes and the ‘wise precaution of delay’
Fifty years since the 1970 Equal Pay Act
Fighting a great fight: Women workers at Ford Dagenham
Files on Film: women policing women
First World War: the women of Buxton Lime Firms
Food for thought? Rationing and the Second World War
Fragmented lives: Migrant sex workers’ lives in the archives
Gentleman Jack: Anne Lister – the first modern lesbian?
Getting creative with our collections: a women’s history zine workshop
Hannah More: A woman of letters
‘Having fear of death before me’: life before the 1967 Abortion Act
Hidden in plain sight: Finding working-class women in The National Archives
How Florence Nightingale David saved lives during the Blitz – with statistics
How to research your suffrage ancestor
International Women’s Day 2018
Jeannie Cameron and the case of the three Jennys
Keeper’s Gallery: Women in Second World War art
Keeping tabs on suffragettes: the official watchlist
Lady Hester Stanhope: Queen of the Desert
Lady in the Archives: The life of Florence Nightingale (part one)
Lady in the Archives: The life of Florence Nightingale (part two)
Lady Jane Grey’s correspondence
Land girls, Spitfire girls and spies: women in war
LGBTQ+ history: Maud Allan and ‘unnatural practices among women’
Lieutenant Euan Lucie-Smith ‘reported missing’: A mother’s enquiry
Lost voices from the Civil Wars
Mary Hare’s Pioneering Establishment: The Dene Hollow Oral School for the Deaf
Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley: extraordinary mother and daughter
Medieval Church and State, and the nun who faked her own death
Millicent Fawcett: her statue is unveiled in Parliament Square
Mistaken identity: Elizabeth Burley and the Contagious Diseases Acts
My Tommy and Hetty’s War: the show must go on
Myth-busting the women’s suffrage movement
Nancy Astor: 100 years of women in Parliament
‘No vote, no census’: The 1911 suffrage census protests
Official discourses and personal sources: Women’s History Month
Official discourses and personal sources: Women’s History Month, part 2
Ogu Umunwanyi, Ekong Iban, Women’s War: A story of protest by Nigerian women
‘Our women on the land’: Women’s Land Army index cards go online
‘Our Special Agent’: ‘Fifi’ and the Special Operations Executive
Painter Rose Wylie revealed as one of the long lost Aero Girls
‘Peace to millions of women’: A history of the cervical smear test
‘Plucky Pioneers’: the 1918 General Election
Political pioneers: The first 20 women in Cabinet
Prophet, prisoner and pretend prelate: Lady Eleanor Davies (1590–1652)
‘Raided!!’ London headquarters of the Women’s Social and Political Union
Reclaiming the records: Sex work and the state
Reform: Violence and the struggle for suffrage
Reuniting the long lost Aero Girls (and boys)
Rosa May Billinghurst: suffragette, campaigner, ‘cripple’
Series of blogs looking at hair in the Archives
Sex, Spies and another Scandal: the other Profumo affair
Striking women: labour unrest among First World War female workers
Suffragettes, 1912: ‘Rather broken windows than broken promises’
Suffragettes and the Black Friday protests: 18 November 1910
Suffragette outrage and prayers at St Paul’s
Surviving the 17th century: the widowed and the fatherless
Thalidomide: Limb-fitting centres
The 1913 Suffrage Pilgrimage: peaceful protest and local disorder
The birds and the bees: Sex education in the early 20th century
The First World War’s forgotten women: ANZAC girl
The image of the female munitions worker
The Inter-Departmental Committee on Abortion
The Life Peerages Act: a legacy of the women’s suffrage campaign
The Representation of the People Act 1918: Votes for (some) women, finally
The Women’s Aid Federation of England Archive: A case study for inclusive cataloguing
The Women’s Institute: it’s not all jam and Jerusalem
The Women’s Land Army in eight documents
The working women’s struggle for the vote
Till death do us part? Divorce in medieval England
Wettin to Windsor: changing the royal name
Why was Mrs Churchill in Moscow on VE Day?
Women in engineering in the First World War
Women in the Second World War: Military service in East Africa
Women in the Second World War: The Palestinian Auxiliary Territorial Service
Women in the Second World War: The sinking of SS Khedive Ismail
Women on board the Empire Windrush
Women, Parliament and Political Space
Women’s rights: Keeping up appearances or winning the war?
External websites
London School of Economics: Women’s Library
The Women’s Library is a library, archive and museum and the collection follows the history of feminism from the late 19th century to the present day. Here, you can see collection highlights and search the catalogue.
Suffragettes in the BBC Archives
In this collection of programmes we hear from those women whose part in the struggle would finally culminate in the 1918 Representation of the People Act and the election of the first woman MP.
UK Parliament: Women and the Vote
An overview of the path towards women’s voting rights featuring expert interviews and Parliamentary collection highlights.