Darwen Street Scenes (1901)

Darwen
1901
Silent
2m

Young lads are out in force on the crowded streets in Edwardian Lancashire.

The first electric tram to Darwen, near Blackburn, ran in 1900. This film, shot the following year, shows a pair of them in the town's bustling centre weaving between a mass of people and other traffic, including a horse-drawn laundry van. The lads in the foreground grow livelier as the film progresses, jumping up and down enthusiastically - probably at the prompting of the filmmakers.

The Victorian World

Vivid portraits of everyday Victorian life, thanks to the first generation of filmmakers to take to Britain’s streets.

Some of the most fascinating of early films are those which are content to watch the world go by. Numerous filmmakers parked their cameras on street corners, in parks, on seaside promenades or outside workplaces or churches to capture fleeting moments of everyday life.

In their own day, these films held a mirror up to Victorian society. Today, these images of our ancestors – relaxed, smiling and laughing, gazing at us through the camera lens - are a gift of moving history. The offer us extraordinary insights into a lost world, more vivid than any still photograph or written account.