Army Life; Or, How Soldiers Are Made - Infantry

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

The King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment bestrides the plains. This precious half a minute is all that remains of a veritable Victorian docu-epic. Film pioneer RW Paul premiered his whopping two hour long patriotic portrait of the British army in September 1900 at the Alhambra Theatre, Leicester Square.

The programme was screened in two parts divided into discrete sections taking viewers from enrolment through training and camp life to various regiments on polished show. All is now lost save this vivid fragment leaving us some sense of what a spectacular viewing experience it must have been.