Robert Paul: Giant of Early Film

There’s a killer on the loose in Muswell Hill

Edward VII and Queen Alexandra open new buildings at Marischal College, Aberdeen

A boy being supervised by his grandmother sees a chance for mischief

The lengths that some people will go to, just to avoid a speeding ticket… in this case to Saturn and back.

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

A comic traffic incident

A ballerina enjoys a fantastical dance

Faking the ability to contact the dead proves to be a big mistake for one Edwardian charlatan.

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

A day in the lives of colliers at Shirebrook coal mine on the Nottinghamshire Derbyshire border

A simple special effect enlivens an early crime film

Pomp and circumstance marking the coronation of King Edward VII as Emperor of India.

Chaos reigns as the removal men do their worst…

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

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

Brits versus Boers... or are they?

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

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

Debut film outing for Dickens' Yuletide classic

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

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

A rambunctious crowd greets the Highlanders in Aberdeen, some more interested in the camera than the soldiers.

A river tragedy is narrowly averted in this early dramatic scene

A particularly enigmatic fragment of Jubilee film.

Four-year-old girl and boy dance a mean cakewalk

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

A drunken spouse gets his just desserts in a timeless scene

Military hero Lord Kitchener is presented with the Freedom of the City of London.

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

The hypnotic spectacle of waves breaking over rocks

A reconstruction of a Boer War atrocity made by one of early cinema's greats.

Quick on the draw: Victorian cartoonist Tom Merry does a rapid sketch of Kaiser Wilhelm II

Entertaining example of early 'special effects'

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

An Edwardian father-to-be is the star of this RW Paul caper.

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

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

The moment preceding the arrival of the Queen's Carriage

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

A clear view of the head of the procession at Westminster

The Gordon Highlanders parade over Edinburgh's (brand) New North Bridge

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

Grandma sews a patch on her grandson’s trousers

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

Alarming so-called 'comedy' featuring an irate tourist and a recalcitrant waiter in blackface

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

Detective work reveals… this very early film was shot at Southampton Royal Pier Station. But who’s the VIP on board?

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

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

Unusually detailed shots of the Jubilee procession

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