1916 on Film

There's shades of Moriarty to the mastervillain in this wartime potboiler.

Pure tranquillity in rural Somerset, a world away from the war raging on the continent.

It's Hastings' first fishing festival since WWI broke out and Britain's foremost newsreel company take to the pier to capture the catch on film.

London schoolchildren wave their flags for the first official Empire Day, as soldiers parade in the playground.

The clownish Pimple turns thespian with inevitably chaotic results in this riotous comic fragment.

Was this a lesson in how to shell out on frontline firepower?

In the wake of the defeated Easter Rising in Dublin, the British Army parades its Republican prisoners.

Crowds throng Bow Street during the trial of British diplomat turned Irish nationalist Roger Casement.

Smiling soldiers receive shamrocks at a traditional St Patrick's Day ceremony.

Rip-roaring motorboat scenes, plus one of the earliest examples of the Boat Race on film

British leisure time, from intrepid climbing and frolics on the ice to the skill of billiards.

Magnificent men - or perhaps women - in their flying machines in this beautifully tinted film fragment

This moving scene of wounded WWI fighters in a London park reminds us of the real costs of combat.

In the year that British Summer Time is introduced, the weather gods have their say, with a snowy gale ripping across southern England

High milk prices during WWI drive mother and child onto the street in protest

Colonial recruits from Trinidad meet the Lord Mayor of London during WWI

The hand of the artist tweaks the nose of “Kaiser Bill” and friends in this episode from an early animated propaganda series

A generous display of charity from London - or just good PR for the politicians?

WWI conscription has whisked away all the young men, leaving the girls so man-hungry that even Tubby looks attractive!

Retired nags enjoy a well-earned New Year's feed at the Cricklewood Home of Rest for Horses.

The elderly of Westminster are the grinning beneficiaries of royal charity on Maundy Thursday.

Three cheers for Maurice Samuels, as a Chiswick tram driver receives a medal for bravery at the Western Front at Ypres.

Soldiers stage a mock brawl and watch performances during festivities for 600 wounded soldiers held on an island in the Thames near Hampton Court.

A huge crowd watches the Lord Mayor of London open a fete in Tottenham for blinded soldiers and sailors.

Soldiers show off a fine crop of sprouts, grown at the Army Service Corps depot at Osterley Park in Hounslow.

New Zealand artillery troops might not have to pull their big guns, but they are in for a bumpy ride

Soldiers representing South Africa and New Zealand billeted in London get stuck in during a rugby fixture in Richmond Park.

Oyez! What's the news from Devizes' town crier?

Top-hatted dignitaries turn out in force for this service held to honour Wanstead locals serving in the armed forces.

A wonderful newsreel showing scenes at the 1916 by-election in Wimbledon, featuring charismatic challenger Kennedy Jones.

Excitable children in their Sunday finery gawp at cameras during the parade for London’s May Queen.

Rheumatic soldiers are treated with the latest in hydrotherapy at the Devonshire Hospital in Buxton, Derbyshire.

Firepower and fancy dress as a captured German field gun is the focus of a parade through Croydon to mark Red Cross Week.

Brass bands, bicycles and marching special constables outside the Albert Hall for a Sunday presentation before Bishop John Taylor-Smith outside the Albert Hall.

Palms and fanfare ahead of Easter - a salient event in the Christian calendar is captured with crisp clarity.

Preston turns out in force for the homecoming of Private William Young, the valiant recipient of a Victoria Cross

Young sailors from the Boys Naval Brigade give a demonstration on the lawn of the Star & Garter Home in Richmond.

Police officers hold back curious crowds as George V's infantrymen go about their day-to-day.

Crowds applaud 900 Special Constables as they drill before a packed pavilion in Barking.

A military legend on location, and some vertiginous thrills from a balloon.

Poignant scenes as a public roll of honour for Liverpool and Merseyside's war dead is unveiled.

Speed and stealth are on display as a US submarine tests its capabilities in this mid-WWI newsreel.

Coming out, going up and landing – a British-built Sea Scout Zero class blimp is put through its paces with the US Navy

London's at a sombre standstill as both ends of the Empire mark wartime casualties.

Developing the lifebelt of the air - or "how the stranglehold demon was exorcised"

Sail away to a bygone Cornwall in this wistful coastal travelogue

Close encounters of the furred (and spiny) kind: cute critters put through their paces in this light-hearted nature film.

WWI recruits apply their training - to a friendly snowball fight

The adventures of the spirited Tom Brown at Rugby School in the 1830s.

Daft comedy in which a suspicious wife poses as a naked Venus statue to spy on her husband

Brace yourself for some unusual and sometimes disturbing sights from round the world

The course of true love certainly doesn't run smooth in this unlikely Scottish drama from the Clarendon Film Company.

Parrot takes umbrage at ticking off and exacts revenge by being super annoying

Edith Craig in a short fragment of this lost crime drama.

The first married men to be conscripted to fight in WWI undergo training for the trenches.

It's all about the angles at this bowls tourney, with the cameraman hitting the green for a nice ground level view.

The scorched remains of a downed “baby-killer” draws half of London to Snail’s Hall Farm near Billericay

Two sisters love the same man - one marries him, but the effects of WWI complicate their relationship

Leads and locations shine in this feature adaptation of Oliver Goldsmith's popular novel, a tale to soften hard hearts

No, not a poker hand but the arrival of royalty to a Saturday matinee in aide of women war workers

The Battle of the Somme is looming as Allied commanders meet at the French Army’s HQ.