On the Record at The National Archives

In 1936, Edward VIII abdicated the throne to be with the woman he loved. A century earlier, an pauper named Daniel Rush and his wife faced a terrible choice: enter the workhouse and be separated or try to survive in poverty. Who made the greater sacrifice for love, the king or the pauper? Documents: MH 12/6846; PC 11/1; TS 22/1/1; TS 22/1/2 Listeners, we need your help to make this podcast better! Visit smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ontherecord/

In 1588 Queen Elizabeth received a letter from the Earl of Leicester which she kept by her bed for 15 years. In 1919 a sailor named James Gillespie faced leaving Cardiff and returning to Jamaica after race riots without his family. He wrote to the government asking for help. These letters reveal two very different love stories joined together by the theme of love divided. Documents: CO 318/350/400; SP 12/215 Listeners, we need your help to make this podcast better! Visit smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ontherecord/

A love struck medieval clerk writing out romantic lyrics as he daydreams, a gay man in the 1930s who tears up a letter to his lover to hide it from the police, two women who defy 18th century conventions to marry in secret...these are some of the characters you’ll meet in this episode, which features three stories of disappointed and forbidden love. Documents: DPP 2/224; E 163/22/1/1; PROB 10/6000. Listeners, we need your help to make this podcast better! Visit smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ontherecord/

With Love. In our latest mini-series we’re re-reading famous love letters preserved in our archives and reading between the lines of less obviously romantic records to discover the love-stories of everyday people from the last 500 years.

In 1965, Britain passed the Race Relations Act, which made it illegal to refuse service on the basis of race. To some, it looked like progress, while some anti-racist activists were critical. In this episode, we’re going to examine two stories of Black people in 1960s and 70s Britain using the legal system to fight racism and discrimination. Documents from The National Archives used in this episode: CK 2/367; CK 2/690; HO 325/143

The campaign for women’s suffrage is often characterised by its militant factions who used bombs and destruction of property to get their message across. In fact, militant suffrage actions didn’t begin with the Women’s Social and Political Union...or women at all. In this episode, we explore how a lesser-known male suffrage movement called Chartism advanced the suffrage agenda. Documents used in this episode: ASSI 52/212; HO 45/2410; HO 45/10700/236973; ZPER 34/1; ZPER 34/12; ZPER 34/142

In 1990 the Poll Tax Riots became one of the most infamous protests in recent British history. But this wasn’t the first time protesters rioted and set fires in London to show their anger at a poll tax. In fact, 600 years earlier, the first mass uprising in English history was prompted by a very similar situation. In this episode, we use the medieval records in our collection to uncover the real story of the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.

What would you do to change the status quo? In our newest three-part series we're sharing stories of protest. Using the records in our archive, we've pieced together stories of people fighting back against inequality and oppression that span 600 years.

we use the intelligence records in our archives to illuminate three stories of double agents. Mata Hari was executed for using her seductive powers to spy for the Germans, but where’s the evidence that she was actually a spy? Did the Cambridge Five get a pass because of their elite social status? How did British laws against homosexuality make their own agents vulnerable to Soviet blackmail?

Thanks to the famous film Lawrence of Arabia, millions around the world know about his time spying and fighting in the Middle East during the First World War...or at least they think they do. In this episode, we use the records in our collection to debunk the mythology around Lawrence. We also share the lesser known story of Gertrude Bell, another intelligence officer working for the British in Arabia.