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Children in the Nursery

Children in the Nursery

Seen but not heard? Three children get up to mischief after mother puts them to bed in this Victorian entertainment.

Seen but not heard? Three children get up to mischief after their mother puts them to bed in this Victorian entertainment. This was one of numerous variations on the theme of 'naughty little boys or girls' in film's early years, demonstrating that Victorian ideals of child discipline didn't always match the reality.

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Robert Paul: Giant of Early Film

The most prolific filmmaker of the pioneer period of British film

The multi-talented Robert Paul (1869-1943) was the first British filmmaker to project film for a paying audience, in 1896. A contemporary of the Lumiere brothers, Paul had been producing film, in partnership with Birt Acres, for his own brand of Kinetoscope viewer since April 1895. Shortly after, he began producing for his Theatrograph and Animatographe machines, enjoying a long run at the Alhambra in Leicester Square. As an engineer, Paul made a number of significant innovations - such as an intermittent mechanism for efficiently projecting film. But he also made key innovations in film language, such as the first two-shot fiction film, Come Along Do! (1898). To cap it all, he was a shrewd businessman, with an instinctive grasp of audience tastes.

51 videos in this collection

1

The Fatal Hand

  • 1907
2

Aberdeen University Quatercentenary Celebrations

  • Aberdeen
  • 1906
3

Drat That Boy!

  • 1904
4

The "?" Motorist

  • 1906
Top-hatted pedestrians and horse-drawn traffic pass over Blackfriars Bridge in London
5

Blackfriars Bridge

  • Blackfriars Br
  • 1896
6

Extraordinary Cab Accident

  • 1903
7

The Dancer's Dream

  • 1905
8

The Medium Exposed? Or, A Modern Spiritualistic Seance

  • 1906
A pioneering example of filmed news: from Epsom to the screen in record time
9

The Derby

  • 1896-06-03
10

A Miner's Daily Life

  • Shirebrook
  • 1904
A simple special effect enlivens an early crime film
11

Footpads

  • 1896
12

Coronation Durbar at Delhi

  • 1902-12-29
13

A Lively Quarter-day

  • 1906
A boy asks a magician to entertain his sick sister in this edition of RW Paul's Sentimental Songs with Animated Illustrations.
14

The Waif and the Wizard; or, The Home Made Happy

  • 1901
The launch of H.M.S Albion, which was marred by the collapse of a gangway which resulted in many spectators drowning.
15

The Launch of H.M.S. Albion

  • Blackwall
  • 1898
16

Nurses Attending the Wounded

  • 1899
A handful of passers-by watch waves breaking gently onto a shore
17

Breakers

  • 1896
Fragment of an epic, starring the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment
18

The Training of Infantry

  • 1900
Debut film outing for Dickens' Yuletide classic
19

Scrooge; Or, Marley's Ghost

  • 1901
Plenty of laughs to be had as these Victorian clowns attempt to run a charity race - if they can get their wigs on
20

Comic Costume Race

  • 1896
A museum visitor takes an interest in a nude sculpture - to his wife's annoyance - in a sadly incomplete early film comedy
21

Come Along, Do!

  • 1898
22

Gordon Highlanders Leaving for the Boer War

  • Aberdeen
  • 1899
A river tragedy is narrowly averted in this early dramatic scene
23

Up the River

  • 1896
24

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Paul (St Paul's: South 3)

  • 1897
25

The Kiddies' Cakewalk

  • 1903
A Victorian gentleman is robbed at gunpoint, not just for his wallet but for his hat and suit as well. Oh, the humiliation
26

Robbery

  • 1897
A drunken spouse gets his just desserts in a timeless scene
27

Two A.M.; Or, The Husband's Return

  • 1896
28

Sirdar's Reception at Guildhall

  • 1898
Waves crash onto a jetty on the Kentish shoreline in one of Britain's earliest surviving films
29

Rough Sea at Dover

  • 1895
The hypnotic spectacle of waves breaking over rocks
30

Rocky Shore

  • 1896
31

Surprising a Picket

  • Muswell Hill
  • 1899
Quick on the draw: Victorian cartoonist Tom Merry does a rapid sketch of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
32

Tom Merry, Lightning Cartoonist, Sketching Kaiser Wilhelm II

  • 1895
Entertaining example of early 'special effects'
33

Undressing Extraordinary; Or, The Troubles of a Tired Traveller

  • 1901
At sea for weeks on end, Victorian sailors had to find ways to amuse themselves and get a little exercise in too
34

Tetherball, Or Do-do

  • 1898
35

Mr. Pecksniff Fetches the Doctor

  • 1904
Queen Victoria can just be made out under her umbrella in this sequence filmed in St Paul's Churchyard during her Diamond Jubilee.
36

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee - Paul - St Paul's South - Arrival of Queen's Carriage

  • 1897
A soldier takes boisterous revenge when an unwelcome stranger interrupts his romantic moment
37

Tommy Atkins in the Park

  • 1898
The moment preceding the arrival of the Queen's Carriage
38

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Paul (St Paul's: South 4)

  • 1897
Carriages full of well-heeled guests continue in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee procession, filmed for RW Paul.
39

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee - Paul - York Road - Front of Procession

  • 1897
A clear view of the head of the procession at Westminster
40

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Paul (York Road 1)

  • 1897
41

The Gordon Highlanders

  • 1897
These two little lovelies were captured on screen by RW Paul and were the hit of his 1896 Alhambra show.
42

The Twins' Tea Party

  • 1896
43

His only Pair

  • 1902
A film produced to celebrate the coronation of George V as King-Emperor at the Imperial Durbar of 1911.
44

A Delhi Durbar

  • 1911-12-12
45

The Extraordinary Waiter

  • 1902
The fabulous Deonzo Brothers in a spectacular barrel-jumping stage act
46

The Deonzo Brothers

  • 1901
Detective work reveals... this very early film was shot at Southampton Royal Pier Station. But who's the VIP on board?
47

Royal Train

  • 1896
This burlesque film fantasy has striking sexual overtones - and a surprising feminist twist
48

Artistic Creation

  • 1901
When a couple's home is burgled, the missus proves her mettle by confronting the culprit, come what may
49

His Brave Defender

  • 1901
Unusually detailed shots of the Jubilee procession
50

Queen Victoria's Jubilee

  • 1897
Seen but not heard? Three children get up to mischief after mother puts them to bed in this Victorian entertainment.
51

Children in the Nursery

  • 1898
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