Parade of the Bolton Artillery Volunteers (1901)

Bolton
1904
Silent
1m

The Bolton Artillery Volunteers put on an impressive parade despite the snow.

It's not known when this parade took place. Clearly it's winter. But are these volunteers on their way to war in South Africa or, more likely, returning after Britain's 1902 victory? The band lead the boys past a terrace of houses in the snow. Many soldiers are then marched past the camera by their sergeants. A further contingent is put through its paces with some very precise drilling.

Mitchell and Kenyon's many military procession films usually featured crowds of potential paying customers. There's a striking lack of public fanfare here, with only the snowy rooftops and a single onlooker (possibly one of the filmmakers' showman collaborators) to spur on the troops.

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.