Mary Seacole Pioneer Crimea Nurse

After researching the Birth of the NHS for her blog post earlier this year our Assistant Librarian, Sandi, has been looking into the life of Mary Seacole for Black History Month.... We have all heard of Florence Nightingale the Crimea Nurse but few know the name of Mary Seacole. Yet at the time, 1856, the …

Away From the Western Front – Thomas Cork’s story

We have come across many stories of local men who fought in the First World War, putting a human face to the events which still have an imapct on our lives today. One of those stories is that of Thomas Edward Cork of Appledore and his older brother William. Born on the 21st November 1894, …

Our Top 5 Posts From the Last 5 Years

As part of our 125th Anniversary celebrations we launched a blog to bring some of the stories found in our collections to life. Five years on we take a look at five of the most popular stories... 5. Beyond the Library... At number five we have an introductory post to our Beyond the Library series …

Royal North Devon Hussars at Gallipoli – a first hand account

A hundred years ago today the Royal North Devon Hussars were landed at Sulva Bay as part of the Gallipoli Campaign. Very little was reported in the newspapers at the time as there was a ban on the reporting of movements. It was only after the evacuation of the peninsula that the stories of those …