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Edwardian workers react to the camera at one of Rotherham's major employers.
Non-Fiction 1901 3 mins Silent
Factory workers made a popular subject for Mitchell and Kenyon, but the reaction of some of these workers differs from those seen elsewhere. Smiles are in abundance, but there's some hostility, too, notably from the youth giving the cameraman a V-sign (a cinema first?), although we're spared his accompanying language. Note the pair fighting in the background, possibly egged on by the showmen.
The Parkgate Ironworks was founded in 1823, and renamed Parkgate Iron and Steel Co. in 1888. By 1901 it employed over 6,000 people, making it one of the largest employers in the Rotherham area. Its workforce included many children as half-time workers, which accounts for their numbers here. The works closed in 1982 and the site is now occupied by Parkgate Shopping centre. This film is thought to have been shown at the annual Rotherham Statis, the local Wakes fair, where the Parkgate workers would have had the opportunity of seeing themselves on screen.
Non-Fiction 1900 3 mins Silent Location: Chorley
Lancashire cotton-workers pile out through the mill gates at dinner time.
Non-Fiction 1900 3 mins Silent Location: Elswick
An astonishingly crowded Victorian street reveals the vast scale of Tyneside manufacturing.
Non-Fiction 1900 1 mins Silent Location: Kingston upon Hull
Bicycles and broomsticks at the ready as workers finish shift at a marine engineering works in Victorian Hull.
Non-Fiction 1900 2 mins Silent Location: Manchester
Victorian Manchester mill workers enjoy the novelty of a moving picture camera.
Non-Fiction 1901 2 mins Silent Location: Dumfries
Worshippers in their Sunday best file out of the Church.
Non-Fiction 1902 1 mins Silent
A well-dressed church congregation gathers on the elegant portico.
Lifestyle show 1986 25 mins Location: River Don
Naturalist Michael Clegg retraces the paths of merchants who travelled from Cheshire to Rotherham with their goods.
Documentary 1985 25 mins Location: Swinton
A genuinely fascinating businessman, with workman’s hands, an old battered Austin, still labouring at 77, and keeping many a church going.
Non-Fiction 1942 9 mins Silent Location: Rotherham
This is an absorbing film of a Remembrance Day service and procession in Rotherham, unusual in being held in wartime, and made more poignant for being so.
Promotional 1930 13 mins Silent Location: Wolverhampton
Quieter than a diesel bus, more manoeuvrable than a tram. The Guy trolley bus is the answer to all your transport problems and they're 'perfectly safe up to 40mph'.
Promotional 1961 39 mins Location: Rotherham
An absorbing picture of council services at the beginning of the 1960s, with babies getting polio jabs and girls having braces fitted, while Roots is playing at the Civic Theatre.
Amateur film 1914 2 mins Silent Location: Rotherham
An intriguing and enigmatic early short film of photographers taking themselves as subjects having discovered the joys of moving image.
Non-Fiction 1901 4 mins Silent Location: Manchester
A volunteer cavalry regiment is enthusiastically welcomed home after active service in South Africa.
Non-Fiction 1901 2 mins Silent Location: Liverpool
All ashore! Passengers disembark and crew offload after a long Atlantic crossing.
Non-Fiction 1902 3 mins Silent Location: Weston Park
A stroll in the park for civilised city-dwellers in Edwardian South Yorkshire.
Non-Fiction 1924 1 mins Silent Location: Woking
The UK's first purpose-built mosque welcomes a huge crowd of worshippers - and newsreel cameras!
Comedy 1914 9 mins Silent
A vicar is caught flirting with an improperly-dressed chorus girl in this saucy silent comedy.
Travelogue 1953 21 mins Location: York
The Stationmaster at York guides us through a typical day, from dawn to dusk.
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