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Return of the Brave Manchester Volunteers (1901)

Crowds throng the streets for the return of Manchester's Volunteers from South Africa.

Non-Fiction 1901 5 mins Silent

Overview

These huge crowds massed outside Manchester's Exchange Station highlight the Edwardians' appetite for patriotism. The Volunteers (soon to become the Territorial Army) were enjoying new public respect thanks to their heroic service in South Africa. As well as capturing real events such as this, Mitchell and Kenyon also filmed several dramatised re-enactments of episodes in the Boer War.

Billed in the Manchester Evening News as "THE TALK OF MANCHESTER", this title would have been shown at the city's St James's Hall and other local venues as part of a varied cinematographic programme including other military-themed titles such as General Buller's Visit to Manchester (1901).