Baden-Powell Opening Accrington's Ambulance Hall (1904)
Baden-Powell Opening Accrington's Ambulance Hall (1904)
A magnificent procession marks the Boer War hero's arrival in Lancashire in a stunningly-preserved film.
The huge crowds at this military and civic parade have turned out to celebrate Robert Baden-Powell as the hero of the 217-day Siege of Mafeking, a few years before he launched the Boy Scout movement for which he's best remembered today. Baden-Powell poses with an upper-class family before travelling with the mayor by open carriage to a warm reception at the Ambulance Brigade's new Drill Hall.
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.
26 videos in this collection
SS Mongolian Leaving the Clyde (1906)
Glasgow
1906
All Saints Church with Parade of the Northamptonshire Regiment (1902)
Northampton
1902
Baden-Powell Opening Accrington's Ambulance Hall (1904)
Accrington
1904
Return of the Brave Manchester Volunteers (1901)
Manchester
1901
Royal Scots Regiment at Edinburgh Castle (1901)
Edinburgh Castle
1901
Torpedo Flotilla Visit to Manchester (1901)
Manchester
1901
Return of the Lancaster Volunteers (1901)
Lancaster
1902
Parade of the Bolton Artillery Volunteers (1901)
Bolton
1904
Fleet in the Tyne (1901)
Newcastle upon Tyne
1901
Regiments Returned from Boer War to Victoria Barracks, Cork (1902)
1902
On the March with the Bradford Artillery at Buckhaw Brow, Settle (1902)
Buck Haw Brow
1902
Lieutenant Clive Wilson and Tranby Croft Party (1902)