The Education Service provides free online resources and taught sessions, supporting the National Curriculum for history from key stage 1 up to A-level. Visit our website to access the full range of our resources, from Domesday to Britain in the 1960s, and find out about more about our schools programme, including new professional development opportunities for teachers.
The Education Service provides free online resources and taught sessions, supporting the National Curriculum for history from key stage 1 up to A-level. Visit our website to access the full range of our resources, from Domesday to Britain in the 1960s, and find out about more about our schools programme, including new professional development opportunities for teachers.
An introduction, zip files and link to The National Archive's 45 document collection on Protest and Democracy in 1818-1820. (N.B. total ZIP file size: 195MB - individual sources can be viewed and saved via the link provided)
The documents included primarily cover events at Peterloo, Manchester and during the Cato Street conspiracy in London. Some of the documents relate to:
Henry Hunt
female reformers
yeomanry at Peterloo
responses to Peterloo
reading societies
Cato Street plotters
Cato Street preparations
seditious songs
These documents can be used to support any of the exam board specifications covering the political, social and cultural aspects of 20th century British history, for example:
AQA History A level
Breadth study: The impact of Industrialisation: Government and a changing society, 1812-1832
Edexcel History A level
Paper 1: Breadth study with interpretations 1D: Britain c1785-c1870 democracy, protest and reform
Paper 3: Aspects in depth: Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform in Britain, c1780-1928: unit: Radical reformers c1790-1819 Mass protest and Agitation
OCR History A level
Unit Y110: From Pitt to Peel 1783-1853
British Period Study: British Government in the Age of Revolution 1783-1832
Teachers notes and a 26 document collection on the Holocaust from the National Archives' repositories.
These key documents from The National Archives lend themselves most readily to an analysis of the Allied response to the question of saving the Jews. The documents in the collection are labelled and arranged together according to theme.
Please note some of these documents, particularly towards the end of the collection, are distressing to read. Please be aware of this when presenting to students.
The purpose of this document collection is to allow students and teachers to develop their own questions and lines of historical enquiry on the political and social aspects of 1950s Britain. The documents themselves are arranged according to theme, so that sources are grouped together rather than a chronological order. Some of the themes include: the economy; rationing; housing, the National Health Service, race relations, cultural life, the Suez crisis, and nuclear protest.
This lesson is intended for use either as part of a study of the use of propaganda over time, or within the context of work on Elizabethan England and the Spanish Armada.
The purpose of this document collection is to allow students and teachers to develop their own questions and lines of historical enquiry. A possible enquiry question would be: 'What was Britain's response to the child refugee problem in Nazi occupied countries?' Again, these sources could be used to support school programmes which use survivor testimony. Alternatively, teachers may wish to use the collection to develop their own resources or to &'curate&'; their own 'exhibition&'.
Magna Carta is called the most important document in history. So important that people still call upon it 800 years later. But where did it come from and why did people die for it? Jump into the 13th century and decide for yourself why Magna Carta keeps coming back…
Collect Badges for each stage of learning in this interactive resource
The purpose of this document collection is to allow students and teachers to develop their own questions and lines of historical enquiry on the Georgian period. The documents themselves are titled on the web page so it is possible for teachers and pupils to detect different themes and concentrate on documents on similar topics if they wish.
This lesson provides pupils with evidence about Shakespeare that differs from the traditional 'greatest playwright of all time' material that many will be used to. Pupils studying life in Tudor times both from a History and English perspective can learn about Shakespeare as a person rather than a world famous writer.
This document collection allows students and teachers to develop their own lines of historical enquiry or historical questions using original documents on this period of history.
Students could work with a group of sources which identifies different themes – for example, loyalty, bravery, motivation, radicalism or sedition within the Indian army. They also could consider how the experience of the Indian army affected imperial relations or assess the contribution of the Indian Army to the First World War. We hope that the breadth of the collection allows such flexibility and offers students the chance to develop their powers of evaluation and analysis and support their course work.
Also, teachers can use the collection to develop their own resources or encourage students to ‘curate’ their own ‘exhibition’ of the most significant documents on the topic.
The pdf holds our teachers notes, curriculum connections and a link to the 25 document collection on The National Archives website.
This collection of documents introduces students and teachers to the reign of Elizabeth I through the original State Papers held at The National Archives. They have been selected and introduced by eminent historian of the period, Tracy Borman. Students and teachers can use the documents to develop their own questions and explore their own lines of historical enquiry on different aspects of Elizabeth’s reign including the marriage question and succession, her style of monarchy, religious and foreign policy, or her relationship with Mary, Queen of Scots.
The documents offer students a chance to develop their powers of evaluation and analysis and support their course work. Alternatively, teachers may wish to use the collection to develop their own resources or encourage students to ‘curate’ their own ‘exhibition’ of the most significant sources on the topic. All documents are supported with some contextual information. Transcripts are provided and more difficult vocabulary is explained in square brackets.
Updated - Now with ZIP file of all documents to download.
Holding History is a stop motion animated film created by students during a week-long workshop at The National Archives. The film was designed to highlight key historical stories from within our collection and covers a variety of time periods and themes. Many thanks to the Friends of The National Archives for their support on this project.
When making the film, students were asked to consider:
What is The National Archives? How has it changed and developed over the centuries? And what are the challenges, threats and importance of an archive in today’s world?
Each student was then given a specific story to research within our records before they could storyboard, design, create and capture their stop motion sets.
These finished film clips can now be used by teachers and students as brief overviews, introductions or interest points for the various topics explored within the film. These accompanying questions are designed to work alongside the film clip, to guide students in thinking about what they have learned from the clip or from their lessons and previous knowledge. Some questions can be answered from the film itself, others are intended to be answered after class discussion or independent thought.
The clips can also work as a model for student’s creative exploration of history, allowing students to see what can be done to tell stories from history and inspire their own creative work – either through animation, drawing, storytelling or other creative exploits.
The purpose of this document collection relating to the creation of India/Pakistan is to allow students and teachers to develop their own lines of historical enquiry or historical questions using original documents on this period. The sources offer students a chance to develop their powers of evaluation and analysis. Teachers may wish to use the resources to encourage students to ‘curate’ their own exhibition
Victorians for Sale! Has advertising changed from Victorian times?
This collection of Victorian advertisements is aimed at any teacher or student engaged in a local study of the Victorian period. The sources could be used to help provide a sense of period and show pupils the type of source material they might find in their local archive, museum or record office. The collection could be used alongside the Victorian lives collection on this website to give further insight into the Victorian home life.
The National Archives has created a set of resources for use in secondary level school assemblies to mark the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement which ended the conflict in Northern Ireland.
A 7-minute video gives an overview of the conflict and the peace process that brought it to an end, plus details about what the Agreement did and the results of it. This can be used as part of an assembly presentation which should take around 15-20 minutes depending on the amount of time allowed for discussion at the beginning about what students know already about Northern Ireland and the Agreement.
There are additional resources designed to embed knowledge about the Agreement and support student discussion about how it successfully brought an end to the violence and established a new era of peace in Northern Ireland.
Medieval women’s lives were as varied as they are today, but unlike today, most women (and men) lived in the countryside and worked the land on what were known as manors, estates on which tenants rented their properties from the lord and often performed services for him at harvest time. Women can also be found living and working in towns and cities, or in religious communities. There were extremely rich and powerful women, such as queens and noblewomen, but there were also countless ordinary women, whose names we do not always know, who emerge from the archives.
Use this lesson to find out about their lives in medieval England and Ireland from records held at The National Archives.
What was the context and impact of migration in modern Britain?
This collection of original documents can be used to support GCSE units on modern British immigration for AQA History: Britain: Migration, empires, and the people: c790 to the present day; Edexcel, Migrants in Britain c800-present; OCR, Migrants to Britain c1250 to present (Schools History Project) and for ‘depth studies’ on ‘Modern Britain’ at A Level for AQA and Edexcel.
Some of sources could be selected by teachers to support history lessons for the Key stage 3 unit: ‘Challenges for Britain, Europe, and the wider world 1901 to the present day: social, cultural, and technological change in post-war British society; Britain’s place in the world since 1945’.
This collection of original documents is particularly useful for knowledge selection on modern British migration. Teachers can use it with students to develop their own historical enquiries as well as to prepare and practice source-based exam questions. The collection includes a wide range of source types to encourage students to think more broadly when exploring attitudes towards migration and its impact. Teachers have the flexibility to download all documents and transcripts to create their own resources.
It is important to note that many documents cover sensitive subjects. Some include language and concepts that are entirely unacceptable and inappropriate today. We suggest that teachers look at the material carefully before introducing to students. It would be helpful to discuss the language and ideas contained in a source beforehand. Teachers may wish to break the documents into smaller extracts if they appear too long or create additional simplified transcripts.
Please note that the government film on the Race Relations Act 1968 (available via The National Archives website) is a public record created in 1969. It was also released in Hindi and Urdu. It has been preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives. Courtesy of the BFI National Archive. It includes language which may be considered offensive. However, we think it important to show the film as accurate representation of the record to help us understand the past.
With each document we have provided a ‘brief descriptor’ to signal the content; a document caption, and 3-4 suggested prompt questions. We hope this will allow students to work independently if wished on any document, or within small class discussion groups, or to assist teachers in the development of their own questions. Also included in these notes is a suggested starter activity. The aim is to familiarise learners with the types of sources contained in the collection. We hope too that exposure to original source material may also foster further document research.
How was law enforcement changed by Sir Robert Peel’s new Metropolitan Police Force?
In 1822, Sir Robert Peel was appointed Home Secretary. He would become closely associated with penal reform in Britain. He is remembered especially for the formation of the Metropolitan London Police Force in 1829. Police constables were called ‘bobbies’ or ‘peelers’ in reference to Peel. Before Peel’s reforms, public order in London was a serious concern, with crime rates rising as the population of the city grew. London had previously been policed by an old system of 4,500 night-watchmen, the Hue and Cry, the Bow Street Runners, and 450 constables, who were generally seen as corrupt, inefficient, and jealous of one another’s powers. Peel was convinced that the establishment of a state-funded, professional, and unified police force was the solution.
The Act for Improving the Police in and near the Metropolis in 1829 saw the establishment of the Metropolitan Police Force in central London, including eight superintendents, 20 inspectors, 88 sergeants and 895 constables.
Use this lesson with original documents, to explore the foundation of the Metropolitan Police Force, the nature of the new police force, and contemporary attitudes to this new system of law and order in London.
On 4 August 1972, General Idi Amin, leader of Uganda declared his intension to expel all Asian passport holders from Uganda. This was regardless of whether they were British nationals. He argued that since they had all been British subjects at some point, he was right to include even those who had taken out Ugandan citizenship.
What was the impact of this decision on the lives of Ugandan Asians? What did it mean to become stateless? What was Amin’s motivation for this policy? How did the British Government respond to his actions? What was the reaction of the British public? British Ugandan Asians at 50 logo
Use this lesson to find original documents and video testimonies which explore the expulsion of Ugandan Asians and their experience as refugees in Britain.
This lesson has been developed with the support of the British Ugandan Asians at 50, a programme of the India Overseas Trust. We are grateful for their generosity in supplying the video testimonies included in this lesson.
The six documents selected within this package reveal the difficulties of making peace at two selected snapshots of time in the peace process in Northern Ireland: June 1996 and June 1997, as well as how and when progress was made at these points.
Although this is ‘packaged’ as a single lesson, it is likely to take at least two lesson periods of learning time to complete if all students use all the sources. Alternatively the sources could be shared within small groups with each student working on a single source and feeding back.
Students are encouraged to analyse each document, looking for:
any evidence that the talks are going well or that progress is being made;
any evidence that there are still challenges or barriers to peace; and the reasons why making peace was difficult
Learning objectives
By the end of the session, students will:
know two of the key moments on the road towards the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement;
understand why it was so difficult to make peace; and
be able to use contemporary documents to deepen their understanding of the peace process.
Please note, the transcripts of the resources retain any typographical errors included in the original documents.
This resource takes a twin track approach to the subject matter.
Track 1: The significance of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement of 1998
The Agreement was clearly an event of huge historical significance. However, it can sometimes be difficult to articulate why this was the case. This collection of documents aims to help students to meet this challenge. In the first instance, they are presented with two documents in which prominent political figures clearly think the Agreement was significant and successful. They are then asked to examine six more documents which all illuminate some aspect of the attempts to implement the Agreement and make it work. In the process the documents also provide evidence of the difficulties faced and the determination of the participants to overcome these difficulties.
Track 2: How historians use sources
This resource is NOT an examination practice paper. It is designed to take one step back from the exam question-based approach and to explore how historians think about documents and make use of them. The aim is that by understanding this set of fundamentals, students will be better equipped for the inevitably more limited approaches which examination conditions place on them. In this instance, students are introduced to the concept of a line of argument. This is a challenging idea, and it is difficult to master. With this in mind, we have provided some examples of lines of argument relating to the key issue of the significance of the Agreement for relations between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
The five possible lines of argument are:
The Agreement ended all of the tensions over Northern Ireland between the UK and Ireland.
The Agreement failed to ease tensions over Northern Ireland between the UK and Ireland.
Some groups actively opposed the Agreement even after it was signed.
All sides gave up on the Agreement after it was signed.
Despite the problems, all sides worked hard to make the Agreement work and this helped to ease tensions over Northern Ireland between the UK and Ireland.
In each source we ask students to consider which argument the document could be used to support. For each document, there are additional questions to aid students in their analysis.
Students should complete the table before discussing which of the lines of argument are supported by the sources. It is possible that several are supported so they will then need to make a judgement about which has the most evidence and is the most convincing.
Once students have decided on a line of argument, they should develop an extended paragraph in response to the question “What was the significance of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement?” Their answer should explain why they have chosen the line of argument and what evidence from the sources supports it.
Please note, the transcripts of the resources retain any typographical errors included in the original documents.