Blogs-And-Stories

From our experts
From our experts

J Smythe: The WWII navigator & his Windrush story

By any measure, Johnny Smythe led an extraordinary life

Royalty & Aristocracy
Royalty & Aristocracy

Oliver Cromwell: The man who could have been king

Cromwell’s victories in the Civil Wars took him to the very top

Art & Design
Art & Design

Graham Sutherland’s eerie Blitz drawings

This south London-born artist recorded the carnage of the Second World War

From our experts
From our experts

First World War & the British Red Cross: War art with a difference

How artists documented the British Red Cross’ WWI relief efforts through powerful artworks

Trades & Workers
Trades & Workers

The Havering Hoard

London’s largest ever Bronze Age hoard, bundled up and buried 3,000 years ago

War & Weapons
War & Weapons

Boudica: Rebel queen of the Iceni

London burned when this warrior queen challenged the Romans

Collections
Collections

Embroidered memories: The WWI silk postcard industry

How these hand-embroidered WWI silk postcards are beautiful examples of sentimentality and wartime industry

Health & Disease
Health & Disease

How Florence Nightingale shaped London healthcare

Modern nursing has a lot to thank this 19th-century trailblazer for

From our experts
From our experts

Food rationing & wartime trading at Sainsbury’s

From food rationing to setting up emergency shops, here’s how Sainsbury’s operated during First & Second World Wars

Art & Design
Art & Design

The vivid photography of Bill Brandt

An influential photographer whose work spanned documentary images and Surrealist portraits

Death & Disasters
Death & Disasters

Silvertown 1917: London’s largest explosion

73 people died when an east London factory making TNT caught fire and exploded

War & Weapons
War & Weapons

Who was Admiral Nelson?

Nelson's naval victories gave him national hero status and a permanent place in Trafalgar Square

From our experts
From our experts

Suffragette teddy bears: WWI & women’s rights

What’s your favourite object connected to women’s history? One of ours is a Bow Bear

Art & Design
Art & Design

An introduction to Christina Broom

The pioneering photographer who captured the Suffragettes in action

Death & Disasters
Death & Disasters

The Walbrook Skulls: A Roman murder mystery

Did these 39 skulls belong to gladiators?

War & Weapons
War & Weapons

London’s Blitz: A city at war

The German bombing campaign which rained down death and destruction on London

From our experts
From our experts

Blitz Underground: How war artists saw tube shelters

Bill Brandt and Henry Moore’s war art during the Blitz offer a poignant view of human resilience amid chaos

War & Weapons
War & Weapons

Mary Seacole: Doctress of the Crimean War

The determined businesswoman and caregiver who looked after troops at war