Made as the Victorian era morphed into the Edwardian, this is the earliest known movie footage of London.
It shows a number of scenes taking in locations such as Hyde Park Corner, Parliament Square and Charing Cross Station. We see crowds of people disembarking from a pleasure steamer at Victoria Embankment, pedestrians dodging horse-drawn carriages in Pall Mall, and heavy traffic trotting down the Strand.
There are plenty of famous landmarks to spot here, including Big Ben, the National Gallery and the Bank of England, and it is fascinating to see the similarities between the customs of “then” and “now” – the dense traffic (mainly horse-drawn, with the occasional motor car) is highly reminiscent of today’s London rush hour, whilst advertising on public transport is clearly no new phenomenon – in one scene, an advert for Nestlé’s Milk seems to be plastered on every other vehicle.
We end at the 1908 London Olympics where the marathon staged there set the standard distance still in use (and caused not a little controversy).
Video timelines
00:05: BLACKFRIARS BRIDGE (1896) Pedestrians cross the bridge
00:40: HYDE PARK CORNER (1897) General traffic scenes
01:50: BANK OF ENGLAND (1897) A maelstrom of activity
03:15: WESTMINSTER (1903)
04:20: CHARING CROSS (1903)
04:40: TOWER BRIDGE (1901) Seven years after the bridge opened
05:24: VICTORIA EMBANKMENT, WESTMINSTER (1903) River traffic
05:40: EMPIRE THEATRE, LEICESTER SQUARE
06:35: THE STRAND (1903)
06:45: PICCADILLY CIRCUS (1902)
07:31: PALL MALL (1903)
07:45: HORSEGUARD’S PARADE (1899) Very early footage
07:55: LONDON BRIDGE (1896) Nineteenth century pedestrians in amazing detail
08:25: LAW COURTS (1902)
08:41: View of St Martins In The Fields (1903)
09:00: THE STRAND (1903)
09:15: BANK OF ENGLAND (1903)
09:25: PETTICOAT LANE (1903) A Market at the heart of the East End
11:05: WHITE CITY: The 1908 London Olympics
12:28: The 1908 London Olympics marathon
The movie is a montage of material from both Pathe and the British Film Institute.