ACTUALITY. Troops embarking at Southampton for the Boer War, 21 October 1899.

Rear view close shot of a line of troops in dark uniform (2nd Coldstreams) passing up the gangplank to board the `Gascon' troopship at Southampton, while a line of troops in khaki come down the gangplank on the right. An officer in charge stares at the camera (26ft).

Note: The 2nd Coldstreams left Southampton for South Africa on the `Gascon' on Saturday 21 October 1899. Identified from the frame still under descriptive title `Embarkation of the 2nd Coldstreams' in Barnes, p 146, among a series of photographs from films of the embarkation of troops reproduced from a special supplement of the journal `To-Day'. The general descriptions of these films closely match known titles taken by Fuerst Brothers, though Barnes does not make this connection. Fuerst took two films under this title, the first (here) marked `close view', the second marked `Showing the Royal Engineers in the foreground'.

Refs: John Barnes, Filming the Boer War (1992), pp. 146, 195. British Journal of Photography, 27 October 1899, p 683. To-Day, 23 November 1899 (special supplement) The Times, 23 October 1899