Newspapers in Britain began in the 17th century as pamphlets and ‘chapbooks’ – during the English Civil War these became a major source of information and of course gossip. The world’s first regular daily newspaper is believed to have been the Daily Courant, which started in London’s Fleet Street in 1702. The Times began in the 1780s, and from the 19th century onwards the publishing boom snowballed.

If your ancestor was famous in some way or a member of the gentry, it’s quite likely you can find references to them in old newspapers – but plenty of humbler folk will have been mentioned at one time or another, particularly in the local press. Birth, marriage and death notices were common, along with obituaries and of course reports of grisly accidents, crimes and other news.

Your local county record office is likely to have extensive collections of old papers, often on microfilm, though these are unlikely to be indexed. The largest single collection is held by the British Library, currently at its separate Newspaper Library in Colindale, North London, but this is moving to the main site near Euston in 2012. Growing numbers of national and regional newspapers are now being digitised so they can be searched online – the British Library is again spearheading this. TheGenealogist has several major papers, too, and newspapers including The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Mirror and The Scotsman have all put large chunks of their archives online now, usually for a fee.