A copy of the United States Declaration of Independence that had been lost for approximately 250 years has been found in the United Kingdom, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The discovery comes just days before the 250th anniversary of American independence, lending the find a striking sense of timing. The document is one of a number of copies that were made and distributed following the original signing in 1776. Over the centuries, several of these copies lost track in archives, private collections, and institutional holdings on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Financial Times reported the finding but details about where exactly in the UK the copy was located, who found it, and what institution or individual currently holds it were behind a subscription paywall and not fully accessible for this report. What is confirmed is that the copy had been unaccounted for since the founding era and that its existence in Britain connects to the period when printed copies of the Declaration were circulated widely, including to audiences abroad.
The Declaration of Independence was formally adopted on July 4, 1776, by the Continental Congress. Following the adoption, printer John Dunlap produced an estimated 200 broadsides, known as Dunlap Broadsides, for distribution to colonial governments, military commanders, and others. Only 26 of those Dunlap Broadsides are known to exist today. Subsequent handwritten and printed copies were also made and distributed over the following decades.
The rediscovery of a copy held in the United Kingdom points to how widely the document traveled in its early years, even reaching the nation against which the colonies had declared their independence. British archives and country estates have long been known as potential repositories for American historical materials dating to the colonial and founding periods.
The timing of the find, just before the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration's adoption on July 4, 2026, adds to the significance of the announcement.
