Lieutenant Clive Wilson and Tranby Croft Party (1902)

Kingston upon Hull
1902
Silent
1m

Celebrations to mark the return of a local hero from the Boer War offer an insight into his wealthy family.

The Wilson family owned one of Britain's biggest shipping businesses, which had paid for the building of the large country house Tranby Croft at Anlaby, near Hull, seen in this film. Their local celebrity was enough to justify the commissioning of this film, which is almost a home movie, yet was screened for the public, as well as the family, in April 1902.

In 1890 Tranby Croft had been the scene of a baccarat cheating scandal which fascinated Victorian society because of the involvement of the then Prince of Wales - by this time King Edward VII. Clive Wilson's father, Arthur Wilson, was a friend of the Prince and hosted the party, which all perhaps helps further explain the profile they are given in this film. Tranby Croft is now the site of a school.

Back from the War

Britain's troops return from war in South Africa to a rapturous welcome - despite more ambivalent public attitudes to the Boer War itself.

A few adventurous film companies journeyed to South Africa to capture (mostly heavily sanitised) film documents of the Second Boer War (1899-1902). Mitchell and Kenyon, like most others, stayed at home, choosing instead to film reconstructed or dramatised war stories. But as they visited towns and cities across the North, M&K also captured the jubilation that greeted homecoming troops.

There's no sign here of public misgivings about what had been a brutal and hard-won war, nor any hint of disrespect for the military commanders who appear in several films. Instead, the overwhelming focus is the ranks of ordinary soldiers, and the collective joy and relief for their safe return.