A volunteer archivist made an extraordinary discovery at The National Archives in Kew, UK, uncovering a rare 1776 copy of the Declaration of Independence. Michael Scurr found the document while cataloging Royal Navy captain papers from the American Revolutionary War. The find represents one of only 11 surviving copies printed in Exeter, New Hampshire during the summer of 1776 to spread news of American independence across the colonies.

British forces seized this particular copy on Christmas Eve 1776 when the HMS Raisonable captured the American ship Dalton off Portugal after a seven-hour pursuit. The document remained hidden among Captain Thomas Fitzherbert's letters, listed merely as "another paper" by Royal Navy officials. After conservation work to stabilize the paper and repair a tear, the Declaration will join the archives' Revolution 250 exhibition showcasing America's independence story.

The National Archives already maintains three original official copies printed by John Dunlap in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. Of approximately 200 copies printed that night, only 26 are known to survive today. Chief executive Saul Nassé called it a "vanishingly rare surviving copy" found not in America but here in the UK. The document's seizure during active military operations makes it unique among known copies. This discovery provides historians and researchers unprecedented access to a document that survived centuries of obscurity.