Return of the Brave Manchester Volunteers (1901)

Manchester
1901
Silent
1m

Crowds throng the streets for the return of Manchester's Volunteers from South Africa.

These huge crowds massed outside Manchester's Exchange Station highlight the Edwardians' appetite for patriotism. The Volunteers (soon to become the Territorial Army) were enjoying new public respect thanks to their heroic service in South Africa. As well as capturing real events such as this, Mitchell and Kenyon also filmed several dramatised re-enactments of episodes in the Boer War.

Billed in the Manchester Evening News as "THE TALK OF MANCHESTER", this title would have been shown at the city's St James's Hall and other local venues as part of a varied cinematographic programme including other military-themed titles such as General Buller's Visit to Manchester (1901).

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.