FindMyPast has newspaper archive

[mshrmh]

I finally managed to get in first thing & was able to get some articles relating to OH's family where there's a very unusual surname - still got some other stuff due to OCR misreads I suppose. When I started on more common names I hit the problem others mentioned that it isn't treating the name as a whole so John Smith gives results for Smith, John, John Thomas Smith, Smith Road etc etc.

As others have also said the "refinements" don't stick beyond the first page of results. I had one where after the refinement to one paper I went from 400+ to 60+ results - got to page 2 of these & back to 400+. I did find by then selecting the same paper I got the next batch from that paper - had to do it 7 times to see all the results. Some tweaking (at the very least) would improve things!

[danuslave]

it isn't treating the name as a whole

That's because (implicitly) you're not asking it to   

Try one of these in the search field

"John Smith"

'John Smith'

John+Smith

Hopefully one (or more) of them will work

Linda

Retired computer programmer 

[LizzieW]

I suppose it's because it's asking for first name and surname as in other searches, so I suppose we should just be putting John Smith in the surname box.  There is a box to put another word, so for instance you could look for John Smith, death.  The problem arises if it can't find the newspaper you want.  For instance I was looking for Lancaster and it kept giving me Preston newspapers - although there is a Lancaster paper and sometimes it showed results from that paper too.

[smudwhisk]

It works better if you put "first name surname" in the keyword box (with the quotes), I've even managed to get it to almost always give me entries for Fennings rather than everything beginning with Fen.  

Just wish it wouldn't reset everything most times when you hit the refine button.   Perhaps I'm being too picky since at least haven't had to purchase an additional subscription to access them.  Mind you I've found some BMD announcements that have been useful.

[Maggie1895]

Well, I'm blowed.   Having seen this thread this morning I (thanks Barbara) I just logged on to look out of curiosity.

Until I searched with the fairly unusual name of my great great grandfather in Kent, I had his death date in 1874 but absolutely no idea that he, a respected local farmer, managed to drown in 18" of water on the way home from the local hostelry after, I quote, "becoming rather excited over the election, though still perfectly sensible".  Even more fascinating was the rider that it was the same spot where he had fallen in 2 years before - but on that occasion he'd managed to pull himself out.   And there was me under the impression that branch of the family was totally temperence.

The family certainly kept that one quiet...

[danuslave]

It works better if you put "first name surname" in the keyword box (with the quotes), I've even managed to get it to almost always give me entries for Fennings rather than everything beginning with Fen.

Thanks smudwhisk    I'd overlooked the fact that you have to fill in specific fields!  I was thinking of something more general like searching on google

Linda

[GrahamSimons]

Interesting: the search system has much reduced options compared to the Newspaper Archive website. I wonder why?

Perhaps an approach could be to outflank FindMyPast - do the initial searching on the Newspaper Archive site, then when you know what you are looking for, move to FindMyPast?

[smudwhisk]

It works better if you put "first name surname" in the keyword box (with the quotes), I've even managed to get it to almost always give me entries for Fennings rather than everything beginning with Fen.

Thanks smudwhisk    I'd overlooked the fact that you have to fill in specific fields!  I was thinking of something more general like searching on google

Linda

It's also worth limiting the search using a specific county and/or date range.  

I've managed this evening to prove that my Aunt's ancestor was the one convicted of horse stealing in Berkshire in 1847 even though at the time he was living in Middlesex.   Got even better 'cos one of the articles mentioned him disappearing to Brighton and having to be brought back.  Mentioned his son in law (well step son in law) which gave the game away.  Both of us always thought it was him but couldn't prove it.   Mind you managed to find out about a court case from one of the horse stealers cousins in Carmarthen in 1884 which I'd known about for some time and that the defendents were acquitted, but now got all the juicy details and he certainly lived up to the reputation of that family I can say.

It has it's frustrations, such as having to use the up and down arrows to navigate around the image (unless you download the full page which is easy to navigate round), but am having some fun.

Nicola

[mshrmh]

It works better if you put "first name surname" in the keyword box (with the quotes),J

Thanks for that tip. I'd been using the boxes & not thinking laterally though as Danuslave suggested am well used to using the "" method elsewhere.

Adding - just tried this with "Thomas surname" & still got a lot of other Thomases, so doesn't seem effective - just wish I'd a few more unusual names......