It describes and evaluates the process of using transfer learning to retrain a Named Entity Recognition (NER) model capable of extracting place names from the short abstracts of the State Papers, and how the resulting placenames were then geocoded with a custom method using contextual information. Finally, the paper demonstrates how the project used this data—and a web application which can be used to map and browse the archive through the places mentioned—to understand more about one particular section of the State Papers: the extensive network set up by the Undersecretary of State, Joseph Williamson, which provided him with handwritten news.