Y8 National Archives Trip 2023

Year 8 visited the National Archives building in Richmond. They discovered that the building is nuclear bomb-proof! It houses most of the government’s important records that have been released, no longer secret. Most people visit the National Archives to research their family tree.

Year 8 were there to look at original documents that covered the Suffragette movement around 1913, particularly at files recorded by the Metropolitan Police and sent out to police forces in other parts of the country, as a means of alerting the police to be on the look-out for wanted suffragettes, who were committing ‘outrages’, such as breaking windows and arson in buildings that were known to be frequented by MPs or members of ‘the elite’.

Did you know? These days researchers are not required to wear white gloves to handle a delicate original document, because it is harder to be gentle with the pages. It is sufficient to just have washed your hands!