Electric Tram Rides from Forster Square, Bradford (1902) | BFI

Electric Tram Rides from Forster Square, Bradford (1902) | BFI. Subscribe: bit.ly/subscrib...
The BFI DVD 'Electric Edwardians: The Films of Mitchell and Kenyon' is available to buy at filmstore.bfi.o...
This film is part of the Mitchell and Kenyon collection - an amazing visual record of everyday life in Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century.
All titles on the BFI Films channel are preserved in the vast collections of the BFI National Archive. To find out more about the Archive visit www.bfi.org.uk/...
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[@Wombah-rc6zz]

It's good that historical footage like this has been preserved. It looks like it was only filmed yesterday.

[@Grace_Robbins]

The film negatives were found in old barrels in 1994 in the basement of a building. They were then successfully applied to film, taking care to regulate the speed because cameras those days were hand-cranked. So basically this was filmed over 100 years ago and with today's technology able to see the film almost as if it were yesterday.

[@woofer32]

A real treat and wonderful insight into life over one hundred years ago. I enjoyed this more than I can say. Must mention the fitting background music which actually enhances this clip as opposed to the usual overpowering explosions and drums with their cheapening qualities that mostly dominate media presentations these days. Finally the narrator was as clear as a bell and I didn't have to strain to hear one word.

[@harjinderchaggar4513]

Absolutely amazing I'm here in Bradford 2023 watching these people going about their daily life little did they know that someone will be watching them 120 years in the future on a handheld electronic device halfway around the world,

[@thomasbroadwater2214]

Thank you Mitchell and Kenyon wherever you are.

[@ashrafilm]

ive lived here 35 years and my father 49years, man it has changed even in 1960 things still had some vintage to them, it seems to have all but disappeared.

[@dylanthorne540]

Wow...I was born in Bradford in 1997. Still here now in 2015. It has changed so much.

[@MarkHenstridge]

Hope it's in colour now lol

[@mythinktube]

As they say in 21st century Bradford... "Allahu Akbar" ;-)

[@WillScarlet1991]

And not a single takeaway in sight...

[@GULFRAZMAJEEDseye8eyes]

practice of the coffee industry cloth industry industrial City Bradford where the Queen Victoria would come to collect crown half a crown half a bob Bob's your uncle uncle Sam DC Chicago boys Batman and the Blackman leader of Chicago Gotham Gotham City gotha City of Albert Einstein and Albert Victoria husband Albert vice Royal gotha claiming himself as a god judge and jury judiciary

[@howardmckeown7187]

@@GULFRAZMAJEEDseye8eyes could you elaborate on that, please?

[@yusufpatel2004]

You know where that is going😂

[@TramcarTrev]

I have to stop watching these old nostalic clips... Makes me so emotional, it was a time when you got a good salary for driving a tram and you had a job for life....

[@rosiebowers1671]

Women couldn't vote nor have a bank account without their husband's permission, child labour was a thing, there were no antibiotics and people died stupidly from diphtheria, tetanus or polio.. Yeah, it makes me cry too.

[@shirleymental4189]

@@rosiebowers1671 I'll bet your fun at party's.

[@asd36f]

Love the old feller on the tricycle!

[@PirateNinja6]

The quality of this is amazing. It must've been remastered, because I didn't think they had the technology to make a film of this quality until about the 1920's.

[@redsquirrel1086]

Everyone in this clip are long gone. A sobering thought.

[@edgaralanpoe.1173]

All this is so beautiful..!! Awesome nostalgic a view past from the our lives..!!

[@bluesborn]

Just like gazing through a window into another age.So sublime.

[@brucelee12]

Those guys would be pissed off if they saw bradford today, i live there.

[@ginettechiverton7113]

These film clips are so important for historical and social reasons

[@simontaylor2319]

Strange how many people walked on the road in those days

[@DocSawBlade]

Especially when smart dress girls have to step around horse droppings... Think about it, would you be walking in the street with a big dress no less with horse schit like a mine field? Somethings not right.

[@RhettRowe]

Hauntingly lovely. Just lovely. Thank you.

[@greenisland75]

The 4 well dressed women with the hats looked so classy. The assistant at 0.30 made a good decision to get them to walk back and film them again.

[@rossmorebaz]

if they only knew what was to come .. the Great War , World war 2... their lives were so hard .. we have it so good in comparison

[@inkey2]

to bitterchew: yes, many films of the era looked abnormally fast because the cameras were hand cranked.....no electric or spring driven motors in them....also i believe there were less frames per second.....that would also tend to make them move faster

[@TomAraya23]

i was there not long ago and was shocked to see what kinda ppl are bases there now.

[@IbnShahid]

Well, I guess I’m one of the people who is “bases there now”, as you so eloquently put it. I just quietly get on with life and mind my own business, same as my neighbours. What’s so “shocking” about that exactly?

[@bradfordmdcvideo]

Fascinating to see how our city looked in 1902. How many people would recognise the street if the voiceover didn't say where it was?

[@damionelson]

I love all the archived photos of Bradford it looked so much vibrant and cultural. I hope with the new developments it can become much better :)

[@damionelson]

Just shared plus.google.com/u/0/communities/111513853311562051990 hope you can join the conversation?

[@MichaelSmith-ui5zs]

Me. It's obvious to me they're heading towards Manningham Lane.

[@Tattzz]

It's crazy to think, all these people have all passed away now, it was nice to see them having fun living life

[@amosthree]

wow. Those people acutually look like they enjoy living in Bradford. things must have changed a LOT!

[@IbnShahid]

No things haven’t changed a lot. I enjoy living in Bradford now.

[@akhan4559]

The buildings you see near lister park are still standing. As well as majority on manningham lane. Reminds of living in bradford in the 60s.

[@mattgunning]

as a bradfordian this is priceless thank you for uploading =]

[@anonimkaanonimka7352]

lovely video. it's good that something like this has arisen.

[@matrox]

This is definately a look back in time.

[@HistoricalHouseMouse]

I enjoyed this clip immensely. It's a brief glimpse into a way of life 106 years ago. I love the young women's dresses but am glad I don't have to wear them now!

[@inkey2]

to WKUHilltopper: I am an American and this almost looks like Boston from this era. Things were so rough for people back then. When I look at old films like this I always think.....my God these people actually lived, had a life just like me and they are gone and forgotten just as I will be. I have been searching my family tree and come to find that many of my ancestors lived 8 to a house (not a big house either). They must have been tripping over each other in such cramped housing

[@panchopuskas1]

Wonderful. Bradford, of course, has changed a lot since then, not always for the better....ahem........

[@mickmcdonagh1557]

Real shame now and will be forever a shithole

[@rossmorebaz]

Before it became Bradfordistan !

[@theoriginalshakil8013]

You didn’t complain when the immigrants ran the factories, mills and foundries.

[@tonylaverick7865]

@@theoriginalshakil8013 In your dreams....

[@theoriginalshakil8013]

@@tonylaverick7865 No, seriously. It actually happened.

[@frankworld13]

1902 wow ... I just want to say r.i.p all .

[@Rambobambo007]

I live on this road 😂🧡🤍❤️💚 the peaple we're so smart and modestly dressed

[@Vikingdescendent]

This footage is a time machine.

[@brythonicman3267]

After 1902 Bradford went on to become the richest city in Britain, then plummeted to become the poorest city in Britain.

[@WillScarlet1991]

When the mills closed, that's when the city went poor 🙁

[@MohamedDusoqi]

Things changed alot nowdays. It's funny how they were crossing the road and walking on the middle of it lol,there was no traffic rules I guess, it's alot better now with no doubt. poor donkey 1:53

[@marvy1118]

It's like watching ghosts.

[@CRAZYCOZZIE]

I live in Bradford now & I'm so proud of its history. I just wish a lot more were like me & if they were we could make Bradford a really good place again. I just wish people would realise that the history of Bradford didn't start when the first Asians moved in to the city. I just wish the council would stop ripping the heart oout of our beloved city

[@afsahnaz858]

Let me just clarify this my parents come from Kashmir/Pakistan they moved to the uk when they were fairly young back then they needed people working in the mills as they people in the Uk didn’t want to do that role so they called many immigrants over to do the job ! I and my siblings were then born in the Uk I hold my British and Kashmiri heritage very close to me, I have worked hard end educated myself and I like to give back to the country has given us so many opportunities by working for the NHS , not all of us are bad ! So plz don’t generalise

[@Shagyamum]

@@afsahnaz858 noone said Bradford got worse after asians came or that they're all bad. Just that ppl seem to forget our past.

[@Solomon030]

always makes me wanna go to the past by time machine... i want to talk to them. handshake with them. i want to talk to the ladies. i want to live in that time for a while. ONLY IN MY DREAMS.

[@MarkHenstridge]

I feel the same way, I'll let you know when I Finnish building my time machine, having flux problems

[@wahiba]

Interesting tramway. Great for modelling. Gauge was 4' which in 00 scale is nearer the 16.5 mm track than normal railway gauge. Like the tricycle. Other than along the valley though it is a steep climb out of the valley.

[@petersmith9530]

I walked up and down that street every day in the 1980s i can recognise some of the buildings

[@eccehomo1904]

Breaks my heart.

[@stvevescaife1472]

What a great city .

[@stealthpiccasso]

Truly wonderful archive footage. at 25 seconds the side road to the right is Thorncliffe Road, at around 1 minute 12 seconds a horse drawn van appears and turns down Clifton Streeet towards Thorncliffe Laundry, the van is quite clearly a delivery vehicle for the laundry.

[@boy18inva]

What strikes me about these films is that you see hardly if any overweight people. Everyone is walking and riding bicycles, even an older gentleman at 1:36.

[@edshed968]

***** Exactly, it's now full of shit like you.

[@stealth1692]

Ed Shed aww did i hurt your feelings the truth hurts sometimes

[@stealth1692]

Ed Shed so why are you moaning at me or are you a leftie

[@colonelsanders4006]

***** why are people so preoccupied with religion and race ?? everyone seems so dismissive and ignorant its crazy. we're all in this together for fucks sake

[@stealth1692]

Ed Shed btw i am not from bradford you muppet

[@artaliali]

nice to see how bradford was over one hundred years ago and sad to see its actually declined rather than get better.....wish i was born then...atleast it was a better placer and a lot more cleaner....

[@MarkHenstridge]

Simply a stunning view of life in 1904, that's a one hundred & eleven years ago. I seriously doubt that life is as good then to what it is now. However life goes on, one day we may look back and learn.

[@bitterchew]

old films always used to have everyone walking abnormally fast, i guess they found a way to make them look normal

[@frankyw8803]

You mean by slowing it down ???

[@ashleyhall9458]

Now look at state of it

[@BradfordThroughTheLens]

Incredible

[@alecporter1784]

What an amazing video, it should be part of the city of culture, please contact them.

[@JollyRodders]

At 1:25 I bet it wasn't much fun driving those trams in winter time.

[@timsears951]

the ting that really amazes me about this time is you dont see overweight people....

[@GULFRAZMAJEEDseye8eyes]

Late as 1969 it was just like nothing has changed from time of this film all the Cobble Street was there a couple roads were still there electric tram buses were still there Bradford City Ground haven't changed talking about the football Bradford City Ground Midland Road haven't changed in 1969 the Orange marches used to go on Midland Road 1969 Protestants and Catholics fighting each other 1969 lots of foggy days all the buildings were still black from chimney smoke and gas light Street gas lights 1969 Bradford Manningham Lane

[@casinoroyle5254]

That poor donkey at 1.49 Looks like it's on its last legs. I bet the poor sod didn't see 1903

[@WillScarlet1991]

Sadly animal cruelty was rife back then. I doubt it's changed much today 😞

[@robervalmachado5709]

Fantástic from Brazil.

[@imransharif443]

Old video beautiful

[@tokyohands]

Some pretty interesting comments! I`m pretty sure many citizens of countries that fell to the British empire didn`t want our ancestors there governing them, just as much as some of you don`t want their decendants living in Britain. It`s sort of karma I think.

[@sylvier9548]

un beaux document

[@rkhan187]

The asian people came to this city to work in the woolmills and moved into houses that would have been torn down.Through sheer hard work they have revived the old terrace houses and preserved them as an asset for this city.The white working class moved out of the dilapidated old terrace houses and into brand new council estates which dot the the outskirts of the city, and believe me they are no go areas for asians eg buttershaw,wrose,idle,ravenscliffe,holmewood,.

[@IbnShahid]

Damn right.

[@marvinwatkins8889]

Motorcars may indeed pollute, but whom amongst us would prefer a return to a plentiful and widespread distribution of 'road apples'?

[@GULFRAZMAJEEDseye8eyes]

eye remember it like that when eye was a kid in the late 60's the building's was all black of soot dust, you could not see where you was going in the fog.

[@marvinwatkins8889]

Evidently a lot of these people never saw a 'movie' camera before, and perhaps only saw the end result at a cinema, if they had ever been at one or if any had been set up in their areas. Meanwhile, it's a pity to think that a lot of these lads will be killed in the (not so ) 'Great' War in a dozen years or will be maimed or left limbless or with half a face, or whatever (permanent shell shock?). And if that won't do the trick, many, along with the girls and women will die of the 'Great' Flu Epidemic that would soon later sweep the world. To think that they could never know what we do. And to think we can never go back in time to prevent these tragedies.

[@keepinguptheday]

All things must pass. What would we think if we could see the famine of 1245 or the dead on the battlefield of Towton in 1461? Our time will be as remote as this in 2120.

[@amosthree]

I can't believe it looked like that! And now most of those buildings have been knocked down and replaced witht those modern monstrosities.

[@ashrafilm]

@mike19821982 thats prejudiced because that is the lowest thing to state, asians people have contributed greatly to this country. NHS workers, lawyers, sportsmen, restaurants, we have served england well and if and when we break the law we also accept its method of judicial system right through to the jails and rehabilitation. we are here to stay my friend, and we offer no harm to anyone.

[@JADEAV]

Poor horses,dog and donkey!! Yeah they are gone!

[@wisejatt]

Oh man!! So many CHARLIE CHAPLINS!!!

[@Siobhan-swanny]

So interesting only if you could travel time

[@lkijju]

It is indeed WKUHilltopper, in fact I live 2 miles from Bradford City Centre. 200 miles north of London roughly

[@AQSAPAL]

Wow so is this PRE- RAJAS CHICKEN & CHIPS?!

[@nysun6293]

Amazing film. Are any of those buildings still there?

[@adairpereiradias996]

😊 bela época muito lindo gostei de ver

[@ashrafilm]

@brucelee12 nah they would have accepted the changes that have come, we have to remember that it is the people who make the area, there are somevery good people living and working here and they are of all backgrounds, i think BD5 especially LIttle Horton is probably the most integrated area in central bradford. this mitchell and kenyon film shows the poor and affluent, back then deseases were rife, poverty, there was no NHS. nevertheless the film is a poignant reminder of the past good or bad

[@kennethj1956]

Color lifted the spirits of people so much in the late 1930's that the color bomb was given credit for ending the worldwide depression. Thank You, I am done talking with letters.

[@milosit]

LOL. Very good.

[@hansmoser989]

as the ladies at least walk by i´ve heard a "thank you" from the cam-man. h.m.

[@Embracing01]

Amazingly clear quality film footage considering this was 1902, others like it are the Halifax footage, Morecambe prom footage from the same time and others. Just a pity the only known footage of the Titanic taken in Belfast in March 1912 is very poor and doesn't come close to this. I wish Mitchell and Kenyon where there to film that. Just shows the technology was there back then, but I suppose very few people had access to the right professional camera and film stock. I've seen photos from the 1900s that are 10x better in resolution than most of the family photos I have from the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s until the advent of digital. This would be a great piece of film to remaster and colourise. There's a guy on KZbin named Denis Sheirfy (or something or other) who takes these films, enhances them into a higher res, stabilises them, and adds colour to them in breathtaking realism.

[@ta8258]

This footage is enhanced by a cam tech pro if enhances pixels to make it more clearer the original footage is all blurry

[@grandmaoldschool7011]

Not an obese person to be seen. Love the stylish, modest clothing. Beautiful buildings.

[@MohamedDusoqi]

The best city in UK , have anyone noticed the woman crossin the road in 00:37 ? why was she dressing like that?

[@bigbarty8648]

It looks much more civilised than Bradford does now!

[@brucelee12]

How civillised we dressed then!

[@THEGATHERING20]

Imagine if these people back in 1902 could see the state of our city today, looks like downtown islamabad, 68 mosques in bradford and there trying to build more, what a shame our city has been ruined and allowed to become a mini islamic state.

[@theoriginalshakil8013]

These people would be gratefully to the immigrants who, after the war, rebuilt the area, worked in the manufacturing industries, and bought wealth to the country. Without the immigrants, UK could very easily have slipped into oblivion. As far as the number of mosques are concerned, it’s demand and supply. Simple economics.

[@aadil239]

Omg that’s the street I live in now

[@GULFRAZMAJEEDseye8eyes]

In the 1960s I also look the same nothing has changed as I walked in the same Street as a kid observing many abuses of human right Bradford was the last place to change

[@mike19821982]

@ashrafilm aye and look at the area now,

[@Havoc776]

Amazing video. I love P/B videos. *-*

[@kevinceniceros1690]

I have noticed that everyone, in the scene that I have just watched, was looking at the camera. That was probably because that cameras were rare to com by in, 1902.

[@MarkHenstridge]

The narrator states in the film that the cameraman and his assistant walk along asking people to take note of the camera.

[@criticalhard]

Kevin C. they were rare in 1890's but more common in 1900's tho.

[@samdub]

I agree with nearly all the comments here, but we can forget times change, everything changes.... Change is good!

[@tonylaverick7865]

Not necessarily....

[@GULFRAZMAJEEDseye8eyes]

what did they not stage and plant

[@DefaultRat]

well said

[@trainrover]

few avenues or even boulevards around the BI there

[@johnbroadhead80]

Wild

[@snaplesugar]

It is interesting to see how they created films back then and then we can see the way they are dressed which I've always found facinating. The girl's look so skinny and curved, probably a corset. Must've been painful.

[@nitramgnal]

No one asked the British people if they wanted mass immigration.

[@neonskyline1]

Most British people are immigrants, 30,000 Angles alone went there after the Romans left, Britain has ALWAYS had Immigrants going there, We actually moved to Poland, that's cos i'm fucking smart

[@Kirsten_is_cursed10]

Nobody asked the British to colonize them either, but here we are...

[@IbnShahid]

You’re wrong there. I DID ask the British people and they were totally chilled about it.

[@theoriginalshakil8013]

If it wasn’t for the migrants like my parents, the factories, mills, foundries, shops, stores, restaurants would have stood empty. Immigrants became the workforce of the country. Without them Uk would never have recovered from the war. You’re welcome 👍🏼

[@KitanKate]

i dont even recognise it.

[@Harrison1420]

"over half can't even speak English" Then they shouldn't be hear if they can't speak English to an acceptable standard if they have no job. "It is cheap labour" That people are happy to receive, that's capitalism.

[@theoriginalshakil8013]

If you can’t even write in proper English, maybe you shouldn’t be here either.

[@ashrafilm]

may i just add mike, BD5, the greatest area in bradford and england, for all time, why? because it made our family fortunes.

[@lkijju]

Yes Bradford is in England, although parts of it look like Pakistan.