On the March with the Bradford Artillery at Buckhaw Brow, Settle (1902)

Far from simply showing off for the camera, these troops have a specific and arduous task, marching in fits and starts up a dusty hill road with hefty weaponry in tow. All the same, the motley parade (mounted riders, cyclists, a motorcar, a steam-tractor and shire horses dragging a cannon) certainly makes for an entertaining spectacle. A handful of curious civilians tag along for the ride.

One or two of the flat-capped civilians seen milling around are probably members of the film crew, or the filmmakers' collaborators. The moustachioed gentleman in the foreground of the first shot is certainly a likely candidate, and may be Sidney Carter, a local exhibitor who owned New Century Pictures and also commissioned this film. We know from a contemporary report in the Bradford Daily Argus that this sequence was originally part of a longer film: "Following the struggle up Buckhaw Brow with the guns, the onlooker is taken to the camp ground at Batr, where the Bradford lads are seen indulging in the morning shave, the sergeants going for a bathe, and other scenes". Alas, these depictions of daily life at the camp seem no longer to survive.