Mounting and Dismounting a 3-ton Gun
Royal Marines demonstrate the fearsome artillery skills they would take to the Boer War - all without firing a shot
It takes at least 15 Royal Marines just to lift this gun into position with levers and chocks, although dismounting is simpler - just tilt and drop. It's a heavy job, and the men work fast, jumping into position as rapidly a Formula One pit crew. This film would have shown people in Britain what life and work was like for the country's armed forces in the Boer War, on a front thousands of miles away. Today's military technology makes this kind of combat seem even more distant.
This film was produced by Cecil Hepworth's production company Hepwix and was almost certainly shot by HV Lawley, a recent addition to the staff, who made several military news films for the outfit.
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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
14
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
56