This film is part of Free

Boys of the Bulldog Breed

The young boys of West Ham Naval Brigade demonstrate their prowess with guns, swords and flags before an appreciative crowd at Trafalgar Square

Non-Fiction 1915 1 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for London's Screen Archives

Overview

There’s something unnerving about this film, which shows boy soldiers aged around 10 marching with rifles as they demonstrate their readiness to join the conflict in France and Belgium. The boys of the West Ham Naval Brigade also produce an exhibition of fencing and semaphore, watched by an impressed crowd of London urchins at Trafalgar Square.