ARMISTICE DAY 1920 - HOMECOMING OF AN UNKNOWN WARRIOR [Main Title]

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  • Title: ARMISTICE DAY 1920 - HOMECOMING OF AN UNKNOWN WARRIOR [Main Title]
  • Film Number: IWM 505
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: I. Scenes in the Charing Cross area of central London on Armistice Day, with crowds cheering in the streets, 11th November 1918. II. The transport from France and burial at Westminster Abbey in London of the Unknown Warrior, 10th-11th November 1920.
  • Description: A temporary British cemetery in France, possibly Thelus. The camera closes in to a cross marked "A British Soldier". Then the coffin of the Unknown Warrior being carried to the quay at Boulogne by senior NCOs of the Royal Army Service Corps, London Regiment, Royal Engineers, Royal Field Artillery, Machine Gun Corps, Royal Army Medical Corps, and the Australian Imperial Force and Canadian Expeditionary Force. It is escorted by French soldiers in military mourning. At the quayside Marshal Foch waits with General Weygand, Colonel Wyatt and Colonel Bradstock (?). The coffin is transferred to the destroyer HMS Verdun, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Colin Thompson. The ship crosses the English Channel to Dover, where the pallbearers and escort are provided by regiments of the Dover Garrison. 10th November 1920. The ceremony of 11th November 1920. The procession comes through Admiralty Arch led by silent military bands. (The gun-carriage on which the coffin is carried went to France with the BEF in 1914.) The pallbearers (not clearly visible) are British gunners. The chief mourners from the Army are, from the front, General Sir Julian Byng, General Sir Henry Horne, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson (CIGS), Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Field Marshal the Earl of Ypres (John French). The naval mourners can be only occasionally and indistinctly seen. They include Viscount Jellicoe and Admiral Beatty. At the Cenotaph in Whitehall the King, in Field Marshal's uniform, places a wreath on the coffin and another at the base of the monument, after unveiling it. The Prime Minister, Lloyd George, places his wreath on the Cenotaph after the King. The procession moves off at a slow march. The King leads, behind him are the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York (the future George VI) and the Duke of Gloucester. Outside Westminster Abbey the pallbearers take the coffin from the gun-carriage and prepare to enter the building.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: IWM 505
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (IWM 505)
  • Featured Period: 1914-1918
  • Production Date: 1920
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Pathe (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Foch, Ferdinand (person) Weygand, Maxime (person) Wyatt (Colonel) (person) Bradstock (Colonel) (person) Thompson, Colin (person) Byng, Julian Hedworth George (person) Horne, Henry Sinclair (person) Wilson, Henry Hughes (person) Haig, Douglas (person) French, John Denton Pinkstone (person) Jellicoe, John Rushworth (person) Beatty, David Richard (person) George V, King (person) Lloyd George, David (person) Edward, Prince (Duke of Windsor) (person) George VI, King (person) Henry, Prince (Duke of Gloucester) (person) British Army (regiment/service) British Army, Dover Garrison (regiment/service) British Army, Australian Imperial Force (regiment/service) British Army, Canadian Imperial Force (regiment/service) Australian Army, Australian Imperial Force (regiment/service) Canadian Army, Canadian Imperial Force (regiment/service) Royal Navy (regiment/service) French Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: celebrations, British - event-related: armistice (object name) casualties, British graves - formal (object name) ceremonies, British - state (object name) ceremonies, British - event-related: funeral (the Unknown Warrior) (object name) journalism and record, British - cameraman (?) (object name) ships, British naval - destroyer: Verdun (object name) buildings, British - monumental: Cenotaph (object name) buildings, British - religious: abbey (object name) First World War, Armistice & 11/11/1918 (event) GB, England & London, WC <Charing Cross> (geography) Thélus, Pas-de-Calais, France (geography) Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais, France (geography) GB, England & Dover, Kent <harbour> (geography) GB, England & London, SW <Admiralty Arch> (geography) GB, England & London, SW <Cenotaph> (geography) GB, England & London, SW <Westminster Abbey> (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: English Subtitle language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 413 ft; Running time: 7 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    IWM 505

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    NPU 1009 (ARMISTICE DAY 1920 [Main Title])
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