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Girls gut herring on the quay at North Shields while a Showman tries to stir up trouble.
Non-Fiction 1901 2 mins Silent
One of the most impressive sights of the year on the English coast was the herring harvest. Hundreds of women would assemble in a race against time to gut, salt and barrel the fish before they went off. Their rapid gutting technique fascinated filmmakers. The trawler men, down from Scotland and the Islands, were famous for brawling, but they won't be persuaded to throw a fist for the camera.
Mitchell and Kenyon's films abound with images of workers, but because the lack of light made filming indoors impossible in the early 1900s, relatively few of them show anybody actually working - which makes this film particularly special.
Non-Fiction 1901 4 mins Silent Location: Liverpool
Crowds gather to watch hundreds of Edwardian policemen marching through a Liverpool street.
Non-Fiction 1899 2 mins Silent Location: Rhyl
Fun on Rhyl seafront as E. H. Williams and his troupe entertain crowds with much ducking and diving in this hectic act.
Non-Fiction 1901 3 mins Silent Location: Oldham
The evolution of Rugby League in a top of the table match between rival Lancashire clubs.
Non-Fiction 1901 4 mins Silent Location: Fartown Ground, Huddersfield
The annual championship meeting of England's premier athletics association.
Non-Fiction 1901 5 mins Silent Location: Accrington
Marching bands and local volunteers fill the streets of the Lancashire town.
Non-Fiction 1901 2 mins Silent Location: Carlisle
The circus comes to town in wintery Carlisle.
Amateur film 1947 9 mins Silent Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
Downriver with a movie camera for a special launch of the Tynemouth lifeboat.
Documentary 1980 26 mins Location: South Shields
Captain Purvis muses on his long life as a river pilot and the generations of men in his family who guided ships on the Tyne.
Amateur film 1931 16 mins Silent Location: North Shields
The casual heroes of the shipyards – workers and the ships they build on Tyneside are captured in beautiful monochrome by an early cine club.
Documentary 1959 14 mins Location: North Shields
A gripping ballad of fishermen aboard the Ben Torc trawler chasing the cod shoals on the black night seas to bring the catch back to North Shields.
Documentary 1964 25 mins Location: Seaton Sluice
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end, and a fool at the other.
Documentary 1962 25 mins Location: North Shields
A striking documentary captures the waning fortunes of the herring industry as an old steam drifter braves a squally North Sea to bring in a fresh catch to North Shields.
Non-Fiction 1898 1 mins Silent
The Victorian great and good mark the passing of a political titan
Non-Fiction 1900 2 mins Silent
For Britons during the Boer War, a welcome opportunity to support the troops - and march alongside them
Non-Fiction 1900 1 mins Location: Barrow-In-Furness
Factory gate glimpses at - we think - Barrow-in-Furness
Non-Fiction 1898 1 mins Silent Location: Worthing
Worthing waves at us in this mesmerising early film
Comedy 1898 1 mins Silent
Film's first joke? A fresh take on an old prank.
Non-Fiction 1895 0 mins Silent
This was one of a series of actuality films made by the Victorian pioneer Birt Acres during 1895. The film is thought to have been shot on June 20, on the occasion of the opening of the Kiel Canal by the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. Acres shot other films at the same time, but they have not survived.
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