Archives

What's new

Walter Tull, professional footballer and the first Black officer in the British Army

The City of Westminster Archives Centre has received a £49,900 grant from the Heritage Lottery to run a project entitled Crossing the White Line: The Walter Tull Story.

2008 marks the 90th anniversary of Walter Tull’s death and the end of the First World War. Tull was a professional footballer and played for Tottenham Hotspur. When war broke out Tull joined the 17th (1st Football) Battalion of the Middlesex regiment and was commissioned – and became the first black officer in the British Army. He was killed on March 25, 1918 at Favrueil

The project aims to bring Walter Tull’s extraordinary story to life through the delivery of a wide range of activities including: Education sessions, animation workshops, art sessions, drama workshops, discussion groups, a touring exhibition and a website. We will work with schools, NCH organisations and senior citizens. 

The project is support by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Army Museum, The Dover War Memorial Project, NCH, Central Hall Westminster, The West Indian Ex Servicemen, The National Football Museum, The Scottish Football Museum, The FA, Northamptonshire Black History Association and Kick it Out.

Contact Peter Daniel - pdaniel@westminster.gov.uk  for more information.

St Martin-in-the-Fields Settlement Indexes

When people applied to a parish for help they were examined to see if they had the right to be supported by that parish.  The St Martin-in-the-Fields settlement books are in the process of being indexed and you can now search the settlement indexes from 1732-1775 by surname online.

Free Wifi in the meeting room at Westminster City Archives

The meeting room's WIFI access to the internet is now up and running and available to anyone with a WIFI laptop. This feature will be available to anyone booking the meeting room FREE OF CHARGE, provided they bring their own PC.

Hundreds of images added to our online catalogue

This year we have already added over 600 new images to WESTCAT , our online archive catalogue.  The selection ranges from photographs of fashionable Regent Street to contemporary prints of the Cato Street Conspiracy and more.  To find out how to order prints see our Digital Imaging and Scanning page.

Selected archives added to our collection this year

Here are just three of the varied collections deposited at the archives centre recently:

The Royal Albert Hall photo-montage prints of interior and exterior views by Joseph de Haan, these prints were produced for an exhibition and draw on source material from the Archives and Local Stiudies Collections at COWAC. Finding number 2512.

The business records of Sams & Co, Dairymen, 25 North Audley Street  including Royal Warrants with associated correspondence and medal 1827-1938, account book 1859-1881, order books 1906-1954, stationery samples and printing blocks 1930s. The papers date from 1827-1954. Finding number 2515.

Dolphin Square residential flats, sales brochures, leaflets promoting services to residents, copies of periodicals Development Nos 1-2 published by Richard Costain Ltd and resident's magazine The Dolphin, volumes , 3-5, May-Oct 1937 and Dec 1938.  The papers date from 1935-1986. Finding number 2518.

Ancestry.com is now available at Westminster City Archives - free!

Ancestry  is an invaluable resource for those interested in tracing their family history, offering the most complete set of censuses on the Internet, complete from 1851 to 1901. We can now offer our customers free access to the site in the archives centre.

We now subscribe to The Times Online - a searchable facsimile archive from 1785-1985 you can search free in the archives centre and Westminster libraries - see the Newpaper and Magazine page.

National recognition for our outstanding art and design collections

Since 2005 the MLA (Museums, Archives and Libraries Council) has included collections in libraries and archives as well as museums in its Designation Scheme and Westminster is one of the first to receive designation as we hold a nationally and internationally significant collection, particularly important to the study of the decorative arts.

Our treasures include the Preston Blake Collection of material such as artist’s proofs, books and hand-written letters relating to the artist William Blake and the Liberty archive of sketchbooks, fabric samples, catalogues and business documents. The latter features the furniture and fashion designs of such exciting innovators as Archibald Knox, Christopher Dresser, Paul Poiret, Gio Ponti and Mary Quant. This collection is well used by London’s community of art and design students, notably those from the London College of Fashion. We also hold the Jaeger Archive so you can trace the firm’s history from purveyors of healthy (if itchy) woollen underwear, as worn by George Bernard Shaw, to high -fashion success as one of Britain’s best-known brands.