Fleet in the Tyne (1901)

Newcastle upon Tyne
1901
Silent
2m

Destroyers from the Edwardian Royal Navy filmed from a ship in the Tyne.

This film seems to show a visit of the Royal Navy's Channel Fleet outside the Tyne estuary, on the Sunderland side. The picture has considerable movement despite an apparently calm day, so must have been taken from a moving boat. Several destroyers pass across the camera's field of vision. The local newspaper reports that this group of destroyers belonged to the 'fighting 5th' battle squadron.

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.