By Lauren Chaloner There are many misconceptions and questions about researching your family tree. Is it going to be costly and time-consuming? What if you only come from a long line of bucket and nail makers? With the likes of Who Do You Think You Are? and Long Lost Families being increasingly popular amongst television …
By Hannah McCann It is said that the death of King William II was foretold. His untimely death occurred in 1100 CE when he was struck by an arrow in the New Forest. That year strange events were afoot in England, events which bore bad tidings. One such event was the birth of conjoined twin …
By Oliver Bould In the chaotic and cosmopolitan nature of twenty-first century living, it appears we are all relentlessly chasing the ultimate goal – the pursuit of happiness. However, for many of us, this tireless pursuit often results in being whisked away in a whirlwind of ‘to do’ lists, reminders and a persistent struggle to …
By Anya Goulthorpe The 1990s was a time of liberation, and radical new ideas within the club and nightlife scene of New York. Here, we introduce the Club Kids, an underground subculture of inclusivity, promiscuity, and a period of relief for those damaged by the 1980s AIDS crisis. According to self-proclaimed ‘Club Kid’ Walt Cassidy, …
By Hannah McCann (Repost from Volume 15) Every year on 21st December the tallest stone at Stonehenge lines up with the rising sun. The midwinter solstice would have been a very important day for Neolithic people. Archaeological evidence from around Stonehenge shows us that they had immense feasts – from pork and beef to mead …
By Lauren Chaloner Located in the North Western suburb of Sheffield between Middlewood and Wadsley, Middlewood Hospital is a former psychiatric hospital first opened in 1872. Although visitors to the site today would be met with rows of modern family homes, in the early nineteenth century this was quite a different story. The hospital is …
By Bethan Davis “It appears that there is in England somewhere, a Miss Groom who thinks she is doing a good work by purchasing a quarter section of land in the North West and settling a colony of fifty deaf mutes upon it.” Toronto World, 1884 This alarmist article refers to an emigration scheme invented …
![[This portrait shows Princess Alice on yellow parchment. She has only been painted from the shoulders up, but we can see she is wearing a blue dress, as she looks over at the artist.]](https://newhistories.group.shef.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Princess-Alice-260x200.png)
By Hannah McCann When discussing the life of Princess Alice of Battenberg, people often describe it as ‘stranger than fiction’. But that undermines the achievements of a remarkable woman who, despite being born in the presence of her grandmother Queen Victoria and dying in the home of her daughter-in-law Queen Elizabeth II, was immensely humble …
By Anya Goulthorpe Frida Kahlo (1907-54) is known as a mogul of the artistic realm. The average person may know her from the self-portrait ‘with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird’, featuring the now iconic monobrow, which now stands in the artistic hall of fame. However, some – not even avid art enthusiasts – may know Kahlo’s …
By Charlie Bunker Franklin Roosevelt was and remains the longest serving President in the history of the United States. In the 12 years Roosevelt led America, he won a record four presidential elections, dragged his country from the depths of the Great Depression, and commanded the free world to victory in the Second World War …
