The British Empire, crime, punishment, leisure and advertising are all brought to life in our resources which are based on records from the second half of Queen Victoria’s reign. 
Showing 93 resources
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19th century mining disaster
What happened at the Trimdon Grange Mining Disaster?
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19th century people
What can we tell from this photograph?
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4099 is my name (SEND)
How can we share the experiences of someone who lived in the past?
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A ‘right’ to relief?
In what ways did paupers hold the Poor Law to account?
A Great Christmas Inconvenience
What can we learn from the documents about how some Victorians celebrated Christmas?
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A Victorian prison
Why were Victorian Prisons so tough?
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All on board!
What can we learn from old board games?
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Black Victorians
How much can documents reveal about the lives of Black people in Victorian Britain?
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Body Snatchers
What led to the Anatomy Act of 1832?
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Census detective
What can you find out?
Census Detectives
What does the census reveal about families in the past?
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Child migration
Why were children sent to Canada in 1869-1913?
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Children’s Clothing in the Workhouse
What do the letters tell us about pauper children's clothing in the workhouse?
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Coping with Cholera
How did the authorities react in 19th century?
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Coronations: Ceremony and Change
How can we find out about Coronations in the past? How far have Coronations changed over time?
Craft Club – Christmas Cards
Festive pop-up cards
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Criminal petitions
What do they reveal about the justice system?
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Dr James Barry
Why was he significant in 19th century medicine?
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Empire Windrush: Early Black Presence
What do the sources reveal about an early Black presence in Britain?
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Florence Nightingale
Why do we remember her?
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Food Glorious Food
What was food like for a child in the Victorian workhouse?
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Four days’ hard labour
What was life like for a Victorian child criminal?
Fun in the Files
What can our documents reveal about how people had fun in the past?
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Going to School in the Workhouse
How was school for pauper children different, and what was the same?
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Have we underestimated the Victorian Poor?
To what extent did the Victorian Poor accept their fate in the workhouse?
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Health and the Poor Law
To what degree did the Poor Law make an important contribution to Public Health?
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Holding History
What is 'The National Archives'?
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LGBTQ+ Rights in Britain
How have changes in laws and attitudes affected LGBTQ+ people in Britain?
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Mapping London
How and why does an area change over time?
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Mental Health on Record
What do the documents reveal about the understanding of mental health in the past?
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Past pleasures
How did the Victorians have fun?
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People – GCSE English Language
Using images for descriptive and narrative writing
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Places – GCSE English Language
Using images for descriptive and narrative writing
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Protesting against the New Poor Law
What can archival material tell us about protest?
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Punishment in the workhouse – Lesson One
What can ‘pauper voices’ reveal about punishments for workhouse children?
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Punishment in the workhouse – Lesson Two
What can ‘pauper voices’ reveal about attitudes towards punishments in the workhouse?
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Rebels in the records
What can we learn from documents that show how people ‘rebelled’ in the past?
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Rob Roy
A Victorian railway accident
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Say ‘cheese’: a portrait of Queen Victoria’s family
What can Queen Victoria's family photographs tell us?
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Selling the Victorians
Victorians for sale! Has advertising changed from Victorian times?
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Significant Events
What happened then?
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Significant People
Who is who?
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Significant Places
What's in a place?
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Spirit of Invention: Explore, design, create!
What can the Victorians teach us about how to be an inventor?
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Suffragettes on file
What did the struggle for the vote involve?
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The Boxers of Whitechapel
What do the documents reveal about the inhabitants?
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The South African War
How did the British conduct war in 1899-1902?
Time Travel Club Activities
Discovering The National Archives
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Travel smart through time (SEND)
How and why have people travelled around in the past and how have they done it safely?
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Treasures
What 'treasures' are there at The National Archives?
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Trimdon
What was it like living in a late 19th century mining town?
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Uncovering LGBTQ+ lives in the archive
What types of sources might be useful to find out about the lives of LGBTQ+ people in the past?
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Uncovering the past
How can we use photographs to find out about the past?
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Victorian children in trouble with the law
Did the punishment fit the crime?
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Victorian family history
How can we find out about the life of a Victorian child?
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Victorian Food and Drink
What do old adverts reveal?
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Victorian Health Reform
How did the Victorians view compulsory vaccination?
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Victorian homes
Was there much difference between rich and poor homes?
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Victorian Industrial Towns
What made them unhealthy?
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Victorian lives
How was life different in Victorian times?
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Victorian Railways
Did they create more crime?
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What is a Jubilee?
What can we find out about Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee?
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What is history?
How do historians know what to believe?
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What was Chartism?
Political and social reform in 19th century Britain
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What was the significance of the Match Girls’ Strike in 1888?
Political and social reform in 19th century Britain
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Whitechapel
How can we find out about what Whitechapel was like in 1888?
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Workhouse Voices
What did paupers say about the Poor Law?
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Workhouse Voices Creative Writing
Stories inspired by letters from the past
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Workhouse Women
How were women treated in the Victorian workhouse?