War Balloon and Transport Crossing the Vaal River
A Boer War poser: how do you get a balloon and a train of carts drawn by mules and oxen across a river with no bridge?
Shot just a few days after the relief of Mafeking, this film captures the progress of British military personnel across the Vaal River in South Africa during the Boer War. Fording the river takes time, with so many ox- and mule-drawn wagons and an unwieldy observation balloon to boot. This footage was shot by London-born Joseph Rosenthal for the Warwick Trading Company - one of many films he made during the conflict.
The Warwick Trading Company was an early American film production company, run by Charles Urban until 1903 and operating principally out of London. As well as distributing films by other producers, Warwick shot many actuality and reportage films, not just in Britain but in South Africa during the Boer War and in the Far East too.
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England Expects
The military loomed large in Victorian society - and filmmakers were naturally eager to satisfy public interest in military subjects.
In the hierarchy of Victorian celebrity culture, military heroes came second only to the Queen herself. With the British Empire at its peak, filmmakers jostled for glimpses of conquering heroes like Lord Kitchener and Field-Marshal Roberts.
The second Boer War was the first major conflict of the film era, and a few intrepid pioneers travelled with their cameras to South Africa. Military commanders kept them away from the front lines, meaning they rarely captured anything of the fighting, the footage they sent home gave filmgoers an unprecedented window on the war. Other filmmakers, meanwhile, were content to re-enact skirmishes at home, or to film processions of departing or returning troops to excite patriotic audiences.
56 videos in this collection
1
2
Coldstream Guards Embarking on Troopship Gascon
3
H.M.S. "Powerful" Arriving in Portsmouth Harbour
4
Lord Roberts Presenting Medals to Boer War Volunteers in Liverpool (1901)
5
Wooden Walls of Old England
6
Royal Scots Regiment at Edinburgh Castle (1901)
7
Battle of Spion Kop: Ambulance Corps Crossing the Tugela River (1) (1900)
8
A Skirmish with the Boers near Kimberley by a Troop of Cavalry Scouts Attached to General French's Column
9
Tommies on the March
10
Warships at Sunset
11
Dispersing the Troops at Windsor after Parade
12
Norton No. 57
13
Trafalgar Day London 1900
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Lancers Crossing the Modder River
15
Sailors on H.M.S. Black Prince Firing Cannon and Rifles
16
Train Load of C.I.V.s Leaving Southampton
17
War Balloon and Transport Crossing the Vaal River
18
Colonial Troops and Cavalry on the March
19
French Military Procession
20
Gymnasts on Parallel Bars
21
Lord Roberts Hoisting the Union Jack at Pretoria
22
Military Parade
23
Bluejackets' Field Gun Drill at Durban
24
Soldiers March along a Road
25
The Arrival and Reception of Lord Roberts at Capetown
26
The Gordon Highlanders
27
Parade of Troops with Band and Crowds Following
28
1st Volunteer Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment - Blackburn Rifle Volunteers (1900)
29
The 5-inch Siege Guns Crossing Vaal River
30
Artillery Crossing a River
31
The Australian Mounted Rifles Marching through Cape Town
32
Bayonet Drill
33
Duke and Duchess of York at Conway
34
Entry of the Scots' Guards into Bloemfontein
35
Field Ambulances Crossing the Vaal River
36
The Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers Digging Entrenchments at Orange River, South Africa - The passing of the armoured train
37
Gordon Highlanders Leaving for the Boer War
38
Indian Army Parade
39
Infantry at Pretoria (c.1900)
40
Mounting and Dismounting a 3-ton Gun
41
Troopship Nubia Leaving Harbour
42
King's Liverpool Regiment
43
Lord Roberts' Arrival in London
44
Lord Roberts Leaving for South Africa
45
C.I.V. Procession. Cyclists and Infantry
46
Lord Roberts' Visit to Manchester (1901)
47
Manchester's Welcome to the Imperial Yeomanry (1901)
48
Military Sunday in Newcastle
49
President Kruger
50
Ralph Pringle Interviewing Private Ward V.C. Hero in Leeds (1901)
51
Sir George White Leaving the London Hippodrome
52
The Return of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment (1901)
53
Return of the Brave Manchester Volunteers (1901)
54
The Seaforth Highlanders' Return to Cairo after the Fall of Omdurman and Khartoum
55
The Surrender of Kroonstad to Lord Roberts
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