Search London Gazette 1665-2018
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Explore editions of the London Gazette between 1665 and 2018. The Gazette includes corporate and personal insolvency notices, personal legal notices relating to deceased estates, company notices and profiles such as the incorporation of a company, and state notices, for example, Bills receiving Royal Assent.
Each record includes a transcript and an original image. The details revealed in each image will vary, however, each transcript will include the following:
The London Gazette was first published as The Oxford Gazette on 7 November 1665. Charles II and the Royal Court had moved to Oxford to escape the Great Plague of London, and courtiers were unwilling to handle London newspapers for fear of contagion.
The Gazette was "Published by Authority" by Henry Muddiman, and its first publication is noted by Samuel Pepys in his diary. Charles II returned to London as the plague dissipated, and the Gazette moved too, with the first issue of The London Gazette being published on 5 February 1666, it was labelled number 24. The Gazette was not a newspaper in the modern sense, it was sent by post to subscribers, as opposed to being printed for sale to the general public.
Her Majesty's Stationary Office took over the publication of the Gazette in 1889. Publication of the Gazette was transferred to the private sector, under government supervision, in the 1990s, when Her Majesty's Stationary Office was sold and renamed The Stationery Office.
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