Georgians (1714–1837)

Anne Lister and Ann Walker's romantic relationship defied societal norms of their time, as we can encounter through the archival material they left behind.

This volume offers a glimpse of the numerous ‘Black Loyalists’ who seized the American Revolutionary War as a chance to gain freedom from enslavement.

These intricate 1716 drawings were submitted by Sybilla Masters in the final stage of securing a patent for machinery for 'cleaning and curing Indian corn'.

This note threatens death upon anyone talking to the authorities about the Luddites, textile workers protesting against new, labour-saving technology.

Pre-trial statements from this 1776 dispute between the Chevalier d’Eon and Charles de Morande provide intricate details about these two French spies.

Following the Napoleonic Wars, smuggling became a major concern for the British government.

On 16 December 1773, 340 chests of tea were thrown into Boston harbour by protesting colonists. This letter from the East India Company requests reimbursement.

We hold one of the lesser known records from the Battle of Trafalgar, the Surgeon’s journal for HMS Victory by William Beatty.

Sir John Fielding grew to become one of England’s first and greatest police detectives. And for his entire crime-fighting career, he was blind.

This previously unknown set of records from an 18th-century galleon shines a light on one of history's most significant trade routes.

Our collection includes many weird and wonderful records – one of the weirdest is undoubtedly a small box containing the remains of two long-dead rats.

This angry letter offers a rare view of the words of ordinary people at the time, threatening violence in response to falling living standards in rural England.