NORTHAMPTON DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Title]
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- Title: NORTHAMPTON DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Title]
- Film Number: MGH 6820
- Other titles: AMATEUR FILM BY MAURICE NORTH [Alternative Title]
- Summary: A collection of instructional, record and family films shot by Maurice Blackaller North, a pharmacist in Northampton and active member of the St John Ambulance Brigade, provides a comprehensive record of the changes experienced by his town and its inhabitants during the course of the Second World War, detailing Air Raid Precautions (ARP) and health measures, the presence of Canadian and American servicemen, as well as scenes from the domestic life he shared with his wife and evacuees.
- Description: Reel 1: ST JOHN AMBULANCE INVALID TRANSPORT (1939-1948) Mixed colour and black and white promotional film, with intertitles, presumably made on behalf of the Northampton branch of this national charity, covers a typical incident of an ambulance (VV 6239) being called to a house, where a boy is assisted (by the filmmaker's wife Marjorie) out of bed onto a stretcher, brought downstairs and taken to the Accidents department of a large hospital. Detailed scenes inside the Operating Theatre, where shining sterilised surgical instruments are removed from autoclave, show patient (now a man) having abdomen opened by surgeon attended by nurses. After operation Nursing Sister checks respiration and pulse of patient, who has intravenous drip attached, and who then sits up to drink a cup of tea [Kodak stock date 1943]. "The Blessing of an Ambulance" Ambulance passes through Northampton, past shopfront of D Knight, wartime poster "Buy Defence Bonds" and shopfront "H Samuel. The Empire's largest Jeweller". Sign reads "1948. Presented by Northampton Master Butchers and County Master Butchers' Association. President H Wallington Esq 1939-1946" Parade outside St John's Brigade Northampton Corps Headquarters by men and women in uniform precedes ceremony outside neo-classical facaded church, where dignitary (Bishop ?) blesses a new ambulance (ANH 820), beside which the Mayor and other local notables pose. (ca 9 mins) Reel 2: [PERSONAL PORTRAIT OF FAMILY DURING WORLD WAR II] Mixed colour and black and white home movie film. "Marjorie and I choose to live at Dawnwendy" [home in Hillcrest Avenue] Marjorie North stands by Crittall French doors, which lead onto colourful garden where her husband, wearing suit, stands. Terrier and Great Dane dogs. "War comes to 'Dawnwendy'" Marjorie enters shelter beneath house marked "If yer knows a better'ole". "Evacuees from London - Ann and Pamela" Two girls, aged about eleven, blow bubbles in the air with Marjorie, all apparently happy. "Canadian soldiers billeted with us - Mac and Jeff" Two young soldiers, one dark-haired and the other fair-haired, pose for the camera, then set off in uniform and full kit through the front entrance gate. Maurice North at work on an allotment, for food sell-sufficiency in wartime. "Refugees from Colchester. The Roper Family" Mr and Mrs Roper, with two or three sons, come downstairs. Marjorie with cats and dogs. "Our Family War Effort" Marjorie in nurse's uniform with sergeant's stripes, and her husband filmmaker as a corporal, give instruction in human basic anatomy using a model, presumably to instruct their less medically qualified ARP colleagues. Garden scenes. Elderly couple. Cutting a birthday cake. "Bees" Maurice sports a swollen lip, and tends bees in hives. Marjorie emerges again from the Crittall French doors, with Great Dane, and camera pans over well tended colourful gardens in affluent neighbourhood where Mr and Mrs North have spent the war years apparently in conditions of comparative peace. (8 mins 47 secs) Reel 3: [NORTHAMPTON WARTIME] Mixed colour and black and white film, opening with coat of arms of Northampton, Castello Fortior Concordia [Peace is stronger than a fortress] "Do you remember?" [Kodak stock date US 1939] ARP spotters' platform on roof of house. Middle-aged bespectacled man wearing helmet and uniform with red ARP badge (Maurice North) stands outside the Crittall French doors of Dawnwendy. Vapour trails of two four-engined single tailfin bombers in blue sky overhead. Black and white: firewatching on roof. Civil Defence ambulance and other vehicles pass along Northampton street, with trunks of leafless trees painted with black and white rings for visibility during the wartime blackout. Men and women sleeping inside ARP shelter. Air Raid Warden sign. Wartime recycling boxes marked separetly for bones and pig food.Stirrup pump for use to fight air raid fires.. Park and main street, maked Keep Left, with sign indicating Relay Point No 79 (for fire fighting). [Kodak stock date UK 1942] Signs in main street of Northampton read "Citizens' Advice Bureau" and "US Military Police", below shop sign "Weaver to Wearer". US servicemen stand outside building marked "American Red Cross Service Club - Day Club", while others are filmed passing the J H Dewhurst high street butcher shop and The Queen's Arms pub. Bus stop with salvage container for bus tickets, and female bus conductor. Air Raid Shelter for seventy occupants situated in main street. Martin's Bank promoting War Savings Bonds; Boots the Chemist shop. Camera tilts up dilapidated building, possibly recording war damage (8-9 May 1941?). Shell cases (presumably from anti-aircraft defences - not seen) in a nissen hut store beside sign Danger Ammunition". Exterior of Young Mens Christian Association building, marked "YMCA Hostel Open to Men only of HM and Allied Forces". Blast walls protect the exterior of the Guildhall, Shakespeare Street. Relay Point No 86 with painted hoses laid along guttter. Posters for recycling of Paper, Bones and Rags. Railing stumps. Houses windows are boarded up against air raid damage, with sandbags piled nearby. Maurice North's MG car with headlights blinkered for blackout purposes. Sign to American Red Cross Service Club. Victory in Europe scenes, May 1945: flags adorn streets, citizens demonstrably happy, with women dressed in green posing (staff of Maurice North's pharmacy?) for the camera. US MP (Military Police) pass along road. People queue outside the Midland Railway hotel. Children dressed in red, white and blue, and wearing (French ?) cockade hats. Scenes from street party to celebrate Victory in Europe: boy wears captured Luftwaffe jerkin, tables laden with food enjoyed by elderly and young of both sexes and young mothers, followed by street games including three-legged race, Ring a Ring o' Roses and boys with bicycles. B&W at 9:29: celebrations conclude with street bonfires, night parade and dancing. Colour at 10:26: high angle shot down to Victory Parade by US, British and French (?) troops, as USAAF Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses fly over the city. B&W at 11.05: air raid street shelters are demolished. End title: God Save the King. (11 mins 31 secs) Reel 4: AKEMMA [Title of film] Film with descriptive intertitles shows male teenage members of the Northampton Civil Defence Messenger Service keeping fit by weekly physical training, organised by Sydney Kilsby, outdoors and in a gymnasium, then dressed in their black uniforms, playing billiards, darts and cards in a room with an AKEMMA sign "Though Young We Serve". Spectators watch races, games and prize-giving at the Annual sports day; cricket match between Northampton and Leicester, football match, marching in a long parade by other wartime Civil Defence units, male and female, past a saluting base in summer, and emerging from a building (their headquarters?). (8 mins 9 secs) (Kodak stock dates are 1942, 1943 and 1944) Reel 5: [HOME GUARD FILM] English seaside resort town, with pavillion and 1930's Art Deco building on seafront and anti-invasion tank defences; children wade between anti-invasion scaffold pole defences on beach at low tide in large bay with partially destroyed pier and barbed wire. Cycling in the country past pill box and large military encampment of tents. Back in town, windows of large hotel display bomb damage; square ancient castle on steep hill behind, and high white cliffs border sea. Elsewhere, in Lewisham (South East London), Methodist Church shows bomb damaged roof, followed by upright V2 rocket and captured Messerschmitt Me 262 jet on display in Trafalgar Square, during London's Thanksgiving Week celebrations (September 1945), with poster on Nelson's Column "Give Thanks by Saving". Maurice North's MG parked in street. Crowds watch Home Guard Civil Defence parade and demonstration of equipment and tactics in small stadium, prior to units parading through Nottingham past Roses Furs shop and Lipton's "For the best bacon" grocery shop to city square flanked by Midland Railway Hotel and banner "The Victory". Victory parade march past. Swimming pool race and diving competition. Fireworks, rockets and silhouetted outline of the Guildhall clsoe the Victory celebrations. (7 Mins 48 secs) Reel 6: NORTH MIDLAND REGIONAL COMPETITION Members of the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) Rescue Party winning team pose in front of an ivy-clad country house. Men in ARP uniforms stand beside their Rescue truck holding a silver cup and displaying their English teeth. First Aid Party winning team, including women, pose seated, wearing helmets marked FAP and are congratulated by a local worthy. Interior shot of a Civil Defence van. Civil Defence vehicles parked beside garage in grounds of country house. Men practise rescue exercise, mending wheel or tyre of rescue vehicle and raising fallen concrete beam, for the benefit of spectators. (3 mins 5 secs) (Kodak stock date 1943) Reel 7: RESUSCITATION DRILL - SCHAFER METHOD Instructional film, prefaced by the coat of arms of the Borough of Nortthampton, (3 mins 52 secs) MUSTARD GAS DETECTED, DECONTAMINATION FOLLOWS. Instructional film intended for ARP Civil Defence workers, and shot in an open space in summer on the edge of Northampton (presumably around 1939, though film stock has no date), shows an area being cordoned off and treated with white powder by men in decontamination suits, who step through bleach foot-baths Trestle tables Mustard Gas Decontamination Practice and Demonstration to Civil Defence workers in Northampton (2 mins 58 secs)
- Alternative Title: AMATEUR FILM BY MAURICE NORTH [Alternative Title]
- Colour: Mixed
- Digitised: Yes
- Object_Number: MGH 6820
- Sound: Silent
- Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (MGH 6820)
- Featured Period:
- Production Date: 1938
- Production Country: GB
- Production Details: North, Maurice Blackaller1908-04-061992 (Production individual)
- Personalities, Units and Organisations:
- Keywords:
- Physical Characteristics: Colour format: Mixed Sound format: Silent
- Technical Details: Format: 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 7 Footage: 2089ft; Running time: 87 mins
- HD Media:Yes
- Link to IWM Collections page:
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Related IWM Collections Objects:
MGH 6877 (BOROUGH OF NORTHAMPTON AIR RAID PRECAUTION FILM [Main Title]) MGH 6878 (NORTHAMPTON AND ELSEWHERE BEFORE AND DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Title])