Accrington Catholic Procession (1912)
Filmed record of a local parade crammed with detail and charm.
This late Mitchell and Kenyon epic paints a superbly detailed portrait of a pre-WWI Catholic community - layered by clerical hierarchy, class, age, gender, cassock, surplice, suit and frock, bonnet, boater and bowler. The pageantry betrays its mixed roots in recent migration and old local families: Irish blood with English heart. Finally all pomp is burst by a joyous spill-out on to the street.
By 1912, the Mitchell and Kenyon film company was a shadow of its former self, no longer whizzing round Britain on behalf of a wide network of showmen, but instead confined to recording occasional local events in the filmmakers' Lancashire heartlands. Their coverage of the Whit procession to Accrington's Sacred Heart church feels studied and tired when compared with the infectious high-spiritedness of so many of the shorter films the producers had made in their pioneering days. All the same, at a time when everyone's films (not just M&K's) were getting longer, and film itself more familiar, what this film loses in vitality and brevity, it gains in documentary value. It would take endless viewings to pick up all the cultural details packed into this fascinating film.
Tags
Sunday Best
Church is the place to pray, meet and be seen for these faithful Edwardians.
On a weekday, Mitchell & Kenyon's cameramen might expect to filming workers leaving factories or schoolchildren parading. On occasional Sundays, they found a more sombre subject: the faithful leaving places of worship, or marching in parades or processions.
Mitchell & Kenyon's 'church gate' films mirror their 'factory gate' films, filling the frame with faces, though typically shot from a more respectful distance. Collectively, they reveal how integral Christianity was to Edwardian public life. Not surprisingly, Anglican churches are pre-eminent, but we see non-conformist denominations too, while Catholicism has a particularly strong presence, reflecting its strength in M&K's Lancashire backyard and in southern Ireland.
42 videos in this collection
1
2
Manchester and Salford's Harriers Procession (1901)
3
Congregation Leaving St Mary's Dominican Church in Cork (1902)
4
Blue Coat Children Marching to Curzon Hall, Birmingham (1901)
5
Manchester Catholics Whitsuntide Procession (1904)
6
Carnival Processions in Birkenhead (1902)
7
Congregation Leaving New Jerusalem Church in Accrington (1902)
8
Congregation Leaving St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Dublin (1901)
9
Morecambe Church Lads Parade at Drill (1901)
10
Southport Carnival and Trades Procession (1902)
11
Manchester Italian Catholic Procession (1902)
12
Congregations Leaving the Centenary Chapel, Middlesbrough (1902)
13
Manchester Spiritualists Procession (1901)
14
Procession in Accrington Park (1900)
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Manchester Catholic Orphanage Boys (1901)
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Congregation at Preston Parish Church (c.1901)
17
Warrington Walking Day Procession (1902)
18
Treat to 5000 Poor Burnley Children (1905)
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Old Poulton Parish Church, Morecambe (c.1901)
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Congregation Leaving Warrington Parish Church (1902)
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Accrington Catholic Procession (1912)
22
Scenes Outside St Elphin's Church, Warrington (c.1901)
23
St. Joseph's Catholic Whit Procession, Blackburn (1911)
24
Church Parade of the Boys' Brigade in Birmingham (1902)
25
Hunslet Carnival and Gala (1904)
26
Manchester Sunday Schools Whit Monday Procession (1904)
27
Congregation Leaving St James' Church, Hessle Road, Hull (1902)
28
Congregation Leaving Wesleyan Chapel in Mansfield (c.1901)
29
Halifax Catholic Procession (c.1905)
30
Oldham Catholic Schools Procession (1904)
31
Congregation at Hanley Old Church (c.1901)
32
Congregation Leaving Jesuit Church of St. Francis Xavier, Dublin (1902)
33
Congregation Leaving St Patrick's Church in Cork (1902)
34
Congregation Leaving Parish Church, Sheffield (1902)
35
Crowds Leaving Park Congregational Church in Accrington (1902)
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Congregations Leaving St. Hilda's Church, Middlesbrough (1902)
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Congregation Leaving All Saints Church, Blackburn (c.1903)
38
Boys' Brigade Review at Racecourse (c.1902)
39
Liverpool Church Parade and Inspection (1901)
40
March Past of 20,000 Coventry Children (1902)
41
Royal Halifax Infirmary Annual Street Procession (1908)
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