Frequently asked questions

I've found a mistake – can it be corrected ?

British History Online exists to provide accessible digital versions of previously printed books. As such, we make a general rule not to correct errors that were printed in the original book. To do this would be to create a quite different type of resource, and such silent emendation makes it impossible for users to rely on our site as an exact reproduction of the original.

However, if we know that the author of a book is still active, we may occasionally forward corrections on for the purposes of the production of later new editions. Please check the date when the book concerned was published – if it was 1850, then the author will obviously not be alive.

If, however, you believe the mistake to be an error of transcription on our part, then please let us know via our feedback page, giving the URL of the page concerned.

I have a website – could BHO link to it ?

British History Online does not, as a rule, act as a linking site to external resources.

New academic online resources for history may be listed by Intute.

Academic history events, such as seminars and conferences, are advertised by the IHR's own pages.

May I have permission to quote text from British History Online ?

This depends on how much you would like to cite.

As long as the article does not use direct quotations of more than 3 or 4 lines each, the citation form at the top of the page you consulted will be sufficient to acknowledge our material. It will be in the form:

'The Diary of Thomas Burton: 25 April 1657', Diary of Thomas Burton esq, volume 2: April 1657 - February 1658 (1828), pp. 45-6. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36826. Date accessed: 03 August 2006.

If you require more than this, please let us know the web address of the page and the exact portions of text you require (via the feedback page) and we will take the matter further. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to grant permission to reproduce text.

I tried to register, and my username is already in use

As we have over 30,000 registered users, it is often the case that another user will already have used your first choice. Try registering again using a slightly varied name, perhaps adding a numeral to the end (eg. johnsmith76).

Can I buy a paper copy of this book or map ?

Unfortunately we are not able to provide hard copies of our Ordnance Survey maps.

If a book is available for purchase in printed form, either a 'Buy this book' link or an option to 'Print on demand' will be displayed at the top of the list of contents. This so far applies to only a minority of those books we hold.

One of your pages mentions a place/person/document I'm interested in. Can you tell me more ?

We regret that we cannot provide personalised answers to general historical questions nor can we give guidance on specific research projects or essays.

The National Archives provides a directory of independent personal researchers who may be engaged to research on your behalf in the TNA collections.