Employees Leaving Alexandra Docks, Liverpool (1901)

Alexandra Dock
1901
Silent
4m

Edwardian workers leave the Liverpool docks at the end of another long shift.

At the turn of the 20th century, Britain's shipbuilding yards were the envy of the world. Docks in Liverpool and elsewhere were twice as productive as their American counterparts. The steel columns of the overhead railway, the famous 'dockers umbrella', make this unmistakeably Liverpool. The workers weave through the oncoming traffic towards the camera, a hard day's labour etched in their faces.

Like most of Mitchell & Kenyon's commissioned work, the emphasis here is on capturing as many of the faces of these potential filmgoers as possible as they go about their business. This film, though, is less effectively stage-managed than others. The workers trickle rather than flood past the camera, and at one point two carts, loaded with sacks, stop in mid-frame, blocking much of the view.

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.