The lying in state of the body of Sir Ernest Shackleton in Montevideo, Uruguay, and its transfer to ship for burial on the island of South Georgia, 1922.

The film opens with a portrait still of Shackleton, followed by film of one of his expedition companions, Captain Hussey RN, getting out of his car in Montevideo. Various society mourners arrive by car or on foot to pay their respects to the body, which has a military guard and is lying in a church. (The film shows only the arrival and departure of the mourners, not the interior of the building.) For transport to the quayside the coffin is given a mounted escort and full military honours. While a large crowd watches the coffin is placed on a guncarriage, covered with a Union Jack and has wreaths placed over it. At the quayside the Uruguayan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Doctor Juan Antonio Buero, delivers a speech (quoted in the captions) and the British charg d'affaires replies. The coffin is loaded onto the exploration ship SS Woodville. The escort of lancers and the crowd departs. The Woodville itself then steams out of harbour.

Notes

Summary: probably a purchase by the Museum, source unknown. See also IWM 456

Remarks: something of an oddity, and outside the Museum's normal terms of reference, but providing some interesting views of South American society in the early part of the century. The captioning, both in style and choice of language, is extremely florid