Lord Methuen's Visit To Bristol (1902)

Bristol
1902
Silent
4m

Crowds gather to welcome Boer War hero Lord Methuen to Edwardian Bristol.

These Bristol crowds seem at least as enthralled by Mitchell and Kenyon's camera as by the carriage bearing returning Boer War hero Lt Gen. Lord Methuen. Methuen's successes were balanced by failures, notably at Magersfontein in 1899, when his 1st Division artillery bombed the wrong enemy positions, exposing the Highland Brigade to heavy casualties. He was wounded, captured and released in 1902.

Despite his failures, Methuen was held in high regard by the military high command, and he eventually rose to the rank of Field Marshall in 1911. Mitchell and Kenyon's visit to Bristol for this film marked a rare venture to the South of England for the Lancashire-based partnership - at least on the evidence of their surviving films.

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.