On the Record at The National Archives

In this episode of  On the Record , we explore Chartism, Britain's first mass political movement, driven by the working classes.   It  emerged  in response to the failure of the 1832 Reform Act to extend the right to vote beyond those who owned property.  The Chartists published newspapers, organised mass rallies, and, in some cases, took up arms, becoming a driving force for reform.    To guide u...

In our next episode of On the Record, we explore the rise of Chartism, the 19th-century working-class mass movement that shook Britain's political establishment.

In 1647, inside St Mary's Church in Putney, army generals sat alongside ordinary soldiers to debate nothing less than the future of the nation. Should political power remain in the hands of property owners, as it always had? Or could it be a birthright - something every man possessed simply by being born? In this episode, we step into the Putney Debates, where soldiers, radicals, and reformers wre...

Coming soon…In our next episode of On the Record, we step inside St Mary's Church, Putney in 1647, where soldiers, radicals, and reformers wrestled with bold, world‑shaping ideas about rights, representation, and how society should be governed.

When King John sealed Magna Carta in 1215, it was meant to end a civil war. Instead, it sparked an idea that still resonates today. In this episode, we explore two medieval documents that shaped ideas about power in society - Magna Carta and the 1265 summons list for a parliament led by the charismatic baron Simon de Montfort. This is the first instalment of our mini-series People and Power, which...

Coming soon...In the gripping first episode to our People and Power mini ‑ series, we explore two medieval documents that reshaped ideas about power in society, Magna Carta and the 1265 summons list for Simon de Montfort's parliament.

Love letters might not be what  you'd  expect to find in a government archive, yet The National Archives holds an extraordinary collection spanning over 500 years of devotion, longing,  sacrifice  and passion. From heartfelt declarations to calculated proposals, intimate notes and secret exchanges, these records reveal the deeply human emotions captured in the nation's documents.   As we open Love...

In our next episode of On the Record, we explore 500 years of devotion,  longing  and forbidden love from our new Love Letters exhibition   at The National Archives in Kew running until 12 April 2026,  uncovering the intimate stories preserved in the nation's archives.  

The story of Britain's railways isn't just about steam engines and steel tracks—it's about the people who built them, worked on them, and sometimes fought for their rights along the way. To mark the 200th anniversary of the first modern passenger railway in 2025, this episode explores the human stories hidden within The National Archives' vast railway collections, focusing on records up to around...

In our next episode of On the Record, we uncover the personal stories behind Britain's railway history—tragedy, resilience, and everyday journeys.  Join us as we mark 200 years of rail travel through The National Archives' records.

From Richard III's lavish wardrobe to Queen Victoria's chaotic ceremony, coronations have a rich and fascinating history.   For some, a coronation is a once-in-a-lifetime public event; for the new king or queen, it is a display which can set the tone for their reign.  In this episode of On the Record released to mark the coronation of King Charles III, our specialists examine records from previous...

From frozen festivals to royal polar bears, from wartime recovery to medieval merchants. The River Thames has been the stage for some of Britain's most extraordinary moments. In this episode, Sarah Castagnetti explores this rich history—from the 13th-century king who kept a polar bear in the river, to a Dutch naval attack that brought war to London's doorstep, and the legendary Thames frost fairs....

In our next episode of On the Record, we explore three very different stories—each revealing how central the River Thames has been to London's history.

In this episode, we bring you four stories that span two hundred 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. For a transcript and information about the documents used in this episode visit our s...

On Tuesday, May 8th, 1945, the Allies who had been fighting the Second World War formally accepted Germany's unconditional surrender. May 8th became known as Victory in Europe Day, or VE Day, and is still marked every year. In this episode, host Chloe Lee is joined by Will Butler, a specialist in British society during the First and Second World Wars, to explore what that first VE Day was like, fr...

In our next episode, we explore what Victory in Europe Day (or VE Day) was like, from the soldiers and medics who'd been at the frontline, to the folks at home who wanted peace — and for butter to be easily available again in British towns and cities.

Spy fiction has captivated our imagination for decades, but the truth behind Britain's security service is even more fascinating than the high-stakes capers of the movies. At The National Archives, we hold the real files—declassified documents that reveal the actual operations, successes, and sometimes failures of MI5 since its creation in 1909.   In celebration of our new exhibition featuring the...

In our next episode of On the Record, we uncover the fascinating stories behind the UK's security service, MI5. To celebrate our new exhibition featuring formerly secret files and spy gadgets, we delve into the real world of espionage – one perhaps more intriguing than fiction.  

To mark Women's History Month, we take a long view of working women. Our guest host, Jessamy Carlson invites three historians to explore the lives of working women over the centuries. From the working lives of medieval women, through the story of the first Women Patrols in the Metropolitan Police, to the striking Ford factory workers in 1968, this episode examines women's jobs, their conditions, t...

Join us for Women's History Month as we explore the lives, struggles, and resilience of working women through the centuries .   

The National Archives holds over 4,000 boxes of letters, papers, and artefacts from ships captured by the British between 1652 and 1815. Join us for the conclusion of our three-part series diving deep into the fascinating Prize Papers collection. In this episode, Chloe Lee takes a step back from the ship logs and scrawled letters to uncover the grand tapestry of colonialism, empire building, and t...

The National Archives holds over 4,000 boxes of letters, papers, and artefacts from ships captured by the British between 1652 and 1815. In the second episode of our three-part series on the Prize Papers collection, Oliver Finnegan explores the scientific techniques and conservation skills used to analyse these items. Guests Marc Vermeulen and Marina Casagrande discuss examining and reading letter...

Across more than 4,000 boxes in The National Archives sits a significant collection of letters, papers and artifacts from ships captured by the British between 1652 and 1815. In this first episode of a three-part series, Chloe Lee meets Oliver Finnegan, a specialist in what is known as the Prize Papers collection. Oliver tells Chloe about some of the most fascinating items in the collection, provi...

Join us for our upcoming podcast mini-series, where we delve into a remarkable collection of letters, papers, and artefacts from ships captured by the British between 1652 and 1815.

With recruits from across its empire, Britain's troops in the Second World War were a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic force. Among those involved were more than a quarter of a million soldiers from East Africa and 2.5 million from South Asia, whose contributions to the Allied forces were absolutely essential to the outcome of the war. In this episode of  On the Record , host Chloe Lee speaks with Iqba...