Search thousands of fascinating images and connect with these snapshots of the past. This unique collection brings together original images capturing the events of the Second World War as well as local news of sports, schools and life events. The collection has been created in partnership with Mirrorpix/Reach PLC and also features photographs from Library and Archives Canada. You can search the photos by keyword; such as war, boxing, 1920s, Home Guard, Arsenal, women, etc. You also have the option search just by year, subject or country. Use the arrows on either side of the photo to discover more.
Every photograph tells a different story whether it is a picture of Emmeline Pankhurst leading a woman’s march or a sports day from a school in Birmingham. The information with each picture will depend on the event captured and the age of the picture. All the pictures are displayed with a transcript which shows:
Subject
Year
Date
Place and country
Details or description
Headlines
Source
Use the arrows on either side of the photographs to view more images. Many of the photos have been digitized to display the original caption created by the photographer or editor at the time the picture was taken.
Findmypast is thrilled to bring you this unique collection of press photography. The collection was created in partnership with the Mirrorpix/Reach PLC and feature pictures captured by the newspaper group’s photographers. Many of the images have been scanned and digitised for the first time.
A variety of countries and theatres of conflict are covered including the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Burma, Italy, Nigeria and the Netherlands. Highlights include a large number of never before seen images of wartime London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Cardiff, scenes depicting Home Guard units, members of the Women’s services, the first American GIs to arrive in Britain, the aftermath of devastating air raids, VE Day festivities and much, much more.
The subjects include armed forces/war, World War 2 home front, evacuees, sport, school, work and others. You can discover pictures from the front lines, images of British people contributing to the war effort, photographs of the devastating effects of the Blitz, and more. The collection also includes pictures from sporting events and teams as early as the 1920s, pictures of residents featured in news stories, and images of everyday life and work.
The photographs were captured by photographers who worked for newspapers which are a part of the Mirror Group. We sourced photographs from the following newspapers:
Newspapers Titles:
Liverpool Echo, Coventry Evening Telegraph, Birmingham Evening Mail, Birmingham Post, Manchester Evening News, Daily Mirror, Scottish Daily Record, Sunday Pictorial, Sevenoaks Chronicle
The Daily Mirror pioneered the use of photography in news reporting, re-launching as a daily picture paper in 1904 to serve an untapped market interested in more accessible photo-illustrated news stories. The success of The Daily Mirror’s innovation led to many other publishers quickly following suit and in no time national and local newspapers across the UK were covering events large and small in both words and pictures.
Historical photographs not only provide rare windows into the world in which our ancestors lived, but they also give the past a human face, allowing for far deeper connections with those who came before and a greater appreciation of the stories they left behind.
Start your search with a simple keyword or year
Use the arrow to the right of the image to discover if there is an original caption available. The caption will give you even more details about the picture.
If you want to know more about the photo, try searching the newspapers. The photographs were captured by newspaper photographs so you can bet that there is a news story.