Wainwright Conservative Club, Blackpool (c.1906)
Wainwright Conservative Club, Blackpool (c.1906)
A lively crowd greets Blackpool's Conservative MP - possibly on election day.
This is one of just a few politically-themed films in the Mitchell and Kenyon collection - the filmmakers generally preferred more ordinary (and possibly less divisive) subjects. The politician on the balcony of Blackpool's Wainwright Conservative Club appears to be Wilfred Ashley, perhaps celebrating his 1906 election as the town's MP, who greets a lively crowd before leaving in a carriage.
A former army Colonel, Ashley sat as MP for Blackpool from 1906, making this film some years later than 1902 as originally believed. In 1918 he jumped constituency to neighbouring Fylde and from there to New Forest in Hampshire, and served as Minister of Transport in Stanley Baldwin's 1924-29 administration. He moved to the House of Lords in 1932 as Baron Mount Temple. The well-connected Ashley counted Prince Albert Edward - soon to be crowned King Edward II - among the guests at his 1901 wedding. Thanks to the keen-eyed Gwyn Lishman and Kathryn Rix for identifying the location and the politician.
From the collection
The Great and the Good
Royals, military heroes and sportsmen compete in the Edwardian fame game.
Mitchell and Kenyon's films suggest a company that was most at ease filming ordinary people at work and play. But the Edwardian era, just as today, had its public figures who could draw an audience - and audiences were M&K's business.
Edwardian celebrity culture was narrower than today's: headed by the King and other royals, followed by military heroes of the Boer War, politicians and a host of mayors and other local dignitaries. But an increasingly professionalised world of sport was already making its own stars: early signs of the new celebrity order of the later 20th century.
37 videos in this collection
1
Funeral of Queen Victoria (1901)
2
Joseph Chamberlain at Home (1902)
3
Return of Kitchener (1902)
4
The King's Ride in the Isle of Man (1902)
5
Princess Louise at Liverpool (1906)
6
Arthur Mold Bowling to A.N.Hornby (1901)
7
Prince of Siam in Liverpool (1901)
8
Lord Mayor of Cork Arriving For Official Opening of Cork Exhibition (1902)
9
Wigan Coronation Celebrations and Street Scenes (1902)
10
Wigan Mayoral Coronation Procession (1902)
11
Chorley Coronation Processions (1911)
12
Royal Proclamation of Death of Queen Victoria, Blackburn (1901)
13
Police Annual Inspection at Birchfields Park (1901)
14
Coronation Festivities at Accrington (1902)
15
Visit of H.R.H. Princess Louise to Blackburn (1905)
16
St George's Day Procession in Liverpool (1901)
17
Clitheroe Coronation Procession (1911)
18
Royal Visit to Manchester, Owens College (1902)
19
Great Harwood Coronation Celebrations (1911)
20
His Worship the Mayor Leaving Lancaster Town Hall (1902)
21
Arrival of VIP For Official Opening of Cork Exhibition (1902)
22
Lord Roberts Presenting Medals to Boer War Volunteers in Liverpool (1901)
23
Visit of the Duke of Connaught C.I.C. Forces in Ireland and Prince Henry of Prussia to Cork Exhibition (1902)
24
Funeral of the Late Captain of the Mexborough Fire Brigade (1902)
25
Leeds Mayoral Procession For the Coronation Celebrations (1902)
26
Trade Procession at Opening of Cork Exhibition (1902)
27
Funeral Procession in Edinburgh (1901)
28
Oddfellows Procession in St Helens (c.1901)
29
Royal Visit to Bangor (1902)
30
Procession of Firemen, Nelson (c.1902)
31
Hollow Drift Children's Procession, Durham (1902)
32
Birmingham University Procession on Degree Day (1901)
33
Wainwright Conservative Club, Blackpool (c.1906)
34
Royal Visit to Rhyl (1902)
35
Visit of Sir George Cotton at Accrington (1902)
36
Funeral of Canon Morrissey in Burnley (1903)
37
Funeral in Manchester (1904)
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