Lady Congleton's film of the Cowes Regatta

Lady Congleton's remarkable film gets right in the middle of all the yachting action during Cowes Week

This remarkable film takes us right into the action of Cowes Week with views of several yachts racing on the Solent while a fast launch passes close by. A man wearing a captain's cap steers the boat's wheel as an elegant woman looks on. As the yachts round one of the Solent forts we see a trans-Atlantic liner in the distance, making for the open ocean.

The films in the Congleton collection derive from the family of the 6th Baron Congleton - John Brooke Molesworth Parnell. Congleton was married to Edith Mary Palmer Howard in 1918. They had nine children in all, some of whom appear in this film, though only seven would reach adulthood. Most of the films within the collection feature aspects of family life, and the children feature prominently.