Living Wigan (1902)

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.
To buy the DVD click here - www.bfi.org.uk/...
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/...

[@takerapoel]

It's incredible how we can watch films over a hundred years old. It was a different world back then. It's like a different universe. These videos are gold. I can't believe people would just ignore them. They are a small, short journey to the past.

[@gerrygeorge1468]

Yes, and theseMitchell and Kenyon full-length films were intended for all to see; not to be appropriated by some Newbie-out on youtube who has apparently seized them, and is only prepared to let us see less than two seconds of the footage, unless we grease their filthy grabbing palms for the privilege ? Who the Heck are you people to *try* to do this; what legal right do you have to try-this on ? Does the public know that the English people - at large - can apply for a legal injunction to prevent this, by stopping those culpable of grabbing and earning ouf of what is not theirs ? I urge people to do all in you can to stop this misappropriation of our history, simply to make a handful of fat-cat profiteers that much more rich ! This is Britain's Heritage; no less, and two seconds of footage, in the public domain, has nothing to do with fair--sharing, as decent people did, back-in-the-day, when Wigan's populace and Britain's public property belonged to us, as opposed to some profiteer in another country ! Now, this footage is more than 10-minutes in duration, so - if you want to appropriate it - let the country that *owns* it - ergo England - see it in full, or take the Legal consequences ! The rightful owners happen to be Mitchell and Kenyon, *when push-comes-to-shove*; aye lad; in Wigan, long before you and your syndicate were as much as thought of... or anywhere else for that matter ! Get me ?

[@gio-2020]

0:56 i wonder if the boy in the foreground holding his cap could ever imagine that 120ish years later I would be watching him on my phone wondering who he was and what life he had... 🤯

[@mintyisntaken5454]

I live in this town in England, its fun to see its evolution

[@silver-vo5cx]

What a beautiful old film. The word humility comes to mind. We think that town centre belongs to us but it doesn't, we're just minding it.

[@ClassicReplay]

I love how well dressed everyone were... suited and booted.

[@ceilingsandfloors]

At that moment they had no idea that 116 years later, they would be making people chuckle on youtube. I find these long dead children of the past to be quite a nice bunch.

[@MegaBeforeandafter]

+ceilingsandfloors so you like watching dead children - your sick.

[@ceilingsandfloors]

Casper C lol

[@MegaBeforeandafter]

ceilingsandfloors you beast !!!

[@tombomb2923]

@@MegaBeforeandafter Well no one from then is verified to be alive anymore, what they mean is people that are now dead.

[@rarecockneyguvnor4945]

These are lovely people so nice to see them smiling

[@2394Joseph]

This was not all that long ago for me, my grandfather was born in 1879 not far from here so he would have been around twenty years old at this time. I still remember visiting him in his two up and two down house. It only had one tap (cold water). The floor was flag stones and he used to cook on an iron stove that was part of the front room coal fire place . There was a cast iron kettle that hung over the fire that was always on the boil. He had no electricity just gas lights. He bathed once a week in a tin bathtub (whether he needed it or not) that he filled up with hot water from the kettle. and cold water from the one tap. He brought up three children in that house, a small family at the time; he was one of ten. Compared to many in this movie, he probably lived in luxury.

[@YokozunaNumber1]

I just love that little girl wearing the bonnet. Seeing her excitedly flailing her arms to the camera, a big smile on her face, just melts my heart. I wish we knew who she was.

[@rexluminus9867]

Gorilla Monsoon Yes indeed. What life she had. Any children? We'll never know in this life time. May be in an afterlife reunion perhaps? Would be interesting.

[@rexluminus9867]

Time Traveler Truly fascinating reality. Long forgotten friends & people. They dreamed of better times and gone from this existence. Hope to meet them again. Amen.

[@SwazersC]

@@rexluminus9867 God will not forget any of them.

[@dLimboStick]

For some reason when I see these old films, I only think of those young boys and wonder how many of them died on the fields of Flanders, 12 to 16 years after this film was made. So sad.

[@stevesolo.]

My great grandfather was only five years of age when this magnificent film was made in 1902 and twelve years later at the age of seventeen years of age would go to war with the king's regiment of Liverpool in ww1 only to pass away in 1929 aged just 32years old from pneumonia leaving his wife my great grandmother and his two daughters and only son my own dear grandad on my mum's side of the family God bless all who featured in this film footage anyone who could be my late ancestors from Wigan, Ince and Hindley areas of Lancashire England.🌹🕊️🙏👍😎

[@e3dave744]

What a gorgeous piece of film history . 👌🏻

[@nez9751]

Watched this again, the girls in the shawls, hadn’t noticed them before. People swinging their hats round, so young and vibrant, almost can’t believe they all died before I was even born. Respect ❤

[@jameswhitaker8809]

beautiful film of happy people of Wigan from so long ago.

[@ceeny1]

Being a Kenyon myself i am a true Wiganer born and bred i love my home town and have found quite a few interesting videos of the town and enjoying watching it in it's hayday and to presant day. :)

[@Properbellend]

Carina Kenyon Kenyon=Scrubber

[@CurtHardacre]

A beautiful piece of film

[@peterrivet648]

This film is of special interest as a relatively rare shot of a steam tram in action. It may also show one of the last of them on that particular route. Towards the end of the sequence you can see an adjoining street with the traction poles and overhead wires in place, and one of the new electric trams coming up the hill. The steam trams were of special significance to Wigan as a lot of the engines were built locally by Wilkinsons, a firm specialising in colliery winding engines who diversified into what must in the 1880s have seemed a growing market. Unfortunately their life was a relatively short one, as from the late 1890s the cleaner and faster electric trams started to take over from them. For full details see E. K. Stretch: The Tramways of Wigan.

[@alexanderthegreat9663]

It would of been great memories for all of them looking back watching it too

[@nez9751]

Blown away by this, this was and is my town

[@wiganbrushbrother]

this is truly amazing..im blown away.,magical footage of a magical town.(didnt know they were filming stuff this long ago),.thankyou mr mitchell and kenyon..you were well ahead of the game..god bless the souls of them,,and everyone in the vid..just beautifull.

[@LuckyBide]

This video is beautiful. It makes me smile to see them all having a good time, but in another way it's sad to think that a lot of these young people probably died a decade later during WW1.

[@peterkay8073]

12/13yrs later, plenty of those young boys would probably lose their lifes such a waste after seeing them having fun as kids.

[@Rg-es9kv]

What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears. ― Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[@timmyblue2]

This is the top of Libary St, where the Moon Under The Water pub is. Your on Market Place, It then pans to the left past the old public toilets, and then down Market Place where the Crofters pub is.

[@bluemoons2443]

bet the flat cap maker was a good trade those days.everyone seems to have one.

[@jackcro8825]

Everyone looks so happy today in Wigan totally different lot of people hang they heads it's a shame really where have all the Wiganers gone fantastic evening people salt of the earth.

[@gatheringleaves]

Beautiful, this vid feels so warm and it makes me smile

[@TIBBSY]

Beautiful so many thoughts cross your mind whilst watching.

[@BAGGWIGAN]

Fantastic Stuff, many thanks

[@freqeist]

many of those children went off to war I suspect.

[@ian_b]

It's sad to think that but we should balance it by remembering that many would have survived the Great War and lived as late as perhaps the 1980s. They would have seen the development of powered flight, telephones, radio, television, the first home computers, space travel and Man on the Moon, and seen a massive increase in living standards and the Welfare State.

[@marcbrillant]

Amazing... my late grandfather was born in 1902...

[@ModelMan1987]

Bet None Of These Folks Would Ever Imagine That More Then A Century Later People Will Be Seeing Them On A Thing Called KZbin...WOW!

[@savedbygodsgrace.9058]

When someone points a box with a round glass and a cranking handle at you 😯❓and you can't make out how or why it works. ..now that is more a curiosity than a guy with a hose pipe. And a 100 yrs or so later people are saying we never went to the moon in 1969 and yet fail to see the development of technology reinforced within this film.. Thank you for sharing your video.

[@HXLproductions]

The poverty these people experienced is sad to think about

[@untalfelipin5202]

All those people are already dead, even the youngest, and in 120 years we will be history, and other people will have replaced us in this world. 💀😢

[@xemnas9098]

Just like the people who lived 120 years prior to this footage...happens every 120 years.

[@Mike-jv9cl]

Someone born in 1792 was still alive that year!

[@fl3162]

I wish that I could be there for a few minutes

[@BradTheThird]

Judging by the layout of the buildings, it looks like this was filmed up at the top near Pound Bakery.

[@opelske]

Fabulous!

[@elementz1986]

Strange to think all these lively people are all now long gone.

[@218girl]

Beautiful

[@Lemon020202]

wow...people from 109 years ago. amazing. I waved hi back lol.

[@SwazersC]

Now 119 years ago. Your comment was written a decade ago.

[@SwazersC]

@@aaronsinger Time stops for no one.

[@slippolives]

Vey well done, a look into the past

[@JohnBarringercopper101]

Life looked a bit harsh in those days but for those people it was normal. My grandson thinks it was barbaric for me to have been working in a car factory when I was only 15 years old, but at the time it was normal and OK.

[@peterfrandsen1948]

Great film footage. Shame about the mumbling audio though.

[@Properbellend]

Do better then wankstain.

[@Properbellend]

The film should have been longer, but some degenerate from Platt Bridge robbed the camera and sold it at Ye Olde Cash Converters for a tuppence to buy a pie.

[@TREYOLDHIPPIE]

wow, so much to see and hear of.

[@greenisland75]

Watching this clip makes me wonder what life was like for them in those days and what happened to them in later life.

[@nonyabusiness8487]

Now days, people hide from videos.

[@graemeloyer]

What I find incredible is that ALL those living souls are now dead and buried, and long ago returned to dust. How many of the young men died in the Great War? And those in the Blitz?

[@Bruno47602]

Fantastic!

[@fegelein5362]

It's really interesting to see are towns history.

[@tennysonfordblackbird2087]

The Dawn of the twentieth century what a century good and bad.!!

[@robharding4028]

Amazing to think, The launch of RMS Titanic was still a decade away !.

[@pauljones8135]

is this kingstreet wigan.look how happy people are there.this is even before the first world war

[@randomguy56789]

If the were born in 1902 they might still be alive but in another 15 years they will be gone all together.

[@normalparodies931]

That would make them 116, highly unlikely they'd live that long

[@osvaldotrigueiro3884]

Aqui do Brasil , imagens históricas muito interessantes !

[@menacinghat]

uploaded a colourised version

[@nezkeys79]

Even without xbox, PlayStation, social media etc kids just kids lol. They look like they're having so much fun. Sadly most of these probably ended up going to war 😕

[@elementz1986]

HAHA, look at the kid in the bottom right at 1:53 making goofy gestures at the camera...kids never change.

[@BradBrassman]

Strangely melancholic.

[@opoknock]

Amazing clarity,where can I find more like this of Wigan?

[@mikethespike7579]

It's a sad thought to realise that many of the young boys in that film will later be sent to the front in the coming Great War never to return back to their families.

[@IgnatzKolisch]

Does anyone know about any film of Rebecca Clarke, an English centennarian born in the 1790s? I've read of this film's existence, its accompanying note, as well as a description of what it depicts... but I haven't been able to find where it is!

[@martinlanigan9202]

Big population about them times

[@gatheringleaves]

How lucky those children were

[@givingbirthiseasy]

Some bonny Wiganer's there....

[@TheLucreziia]

In all these old films nearly every male has a hat on. Stockport, Denton, and Luton were well known for the once thriving hatting industry in the UK.

[@nowgrownup]

Wigan hasn't changed much still a back wood town ..Manchester mayor lives there he has no idea detroyed Manchester City centre that says it all ....

[@iceoman1]

old times hey

[@T-mohammed12345]

They wave to us from the past

[@matildabond..2390]

I think that a lot of the little boys in this,,will be in WW1,only 13 years in the future .Makes me sad

[@nelliebug1]

Brilliant footage. Wonder if any of those are relatives of mine?!

[@tiernieves5940]

Taken on Wednesday, December 14, 1904.

[@adj789]

everyone wore hats

[@johnathanryan2117]

You sure this wasn't filmed yesterday??

[@fl3162]

These people look quite civilised

[@MegaBeforeandafter]

the wigan IQ has definitely gone down hill since this was filmed.

[@movement26]

The youtube "Time Machine".

[@pitbikecrazy]

i can't picture where about that is now

[@JorgeNunez-bp9yr]

May be the world,,like a book,,all,,is it forever,,past ,presen,,future,,,,,or not ?

[@movement26]

It is tragic to think that quite a lot of those kids would be in the trenches in 12 years time.

[@ohsheelamakeme]

There is a little boy smoking a cigarette lol.

[@MegaBeforeandafter]

+Zen O'Fobe he was 38

[@chanctonbury63]

@greenisland75 Life was hard and they died early.

[@theresaholguin699]

I wish that I would born in 1890. I love this time period. Of silent films and beautiful fashions that women wore. People always dressed like on a Sunday going to church. Elegance and style beautiful times of a bygone era

[@untalfelipin5202]

They may look elegant, but they surely stunk, they did not have drinking water, there were many diseases and infections, it was very normal to develop polio and die from the terrible smallpox, women did not have many rights, there was slavery, even children had to work, Men worked like 18 hours a day, the technology that makes life very comfortable for us today did not exist ... they were terrible times.

[@Wotsitorlabart]

​@@untalfelipin5202 This is 1902! Of course they had water - these people kept themselves clean. Men did not work 18 hours a day. Children did not have to work - by this date there were child labour laws in place - they had to attend school at least up to the age of 12. Smallpox was becoming increasingly rare. The Vaccination Act of 1853 made it compulsory for children to to be vaccinated against smallpox. Within 20 years most women would have the vote, access to the professions, equality with regard to grounds for divorce. What slavery?

[@untalfelipin5202]

​@@Wotsitorlabart Excuse me? You are denying reality, the children worked in coal mines and industries, and not only because they have already mentioned it in other videos, but because these children are seen leaving the factories together with the adults, they are dirty and look tired. Of course they were working. Children's rights as we know them today did not exist at that time.

[@comanchio1976]

@untalfelipin5202 Last time there was any slavery in this area was probably around 2,000 years ago. Give your head a wobble.

[@99ontguy1]

Was your grandad the one with the hat?

[@Hoscitt]

10 years later these kids were being slaughtered in France 😥

[@gatheringleaves]

what is wigan like today?

[@eddieb270]

The trams dont work anymore thats about all thats changed

[@mdogg9135]

14 years since your comment. Wigan has sadly lost its character. It is quite a poverished community. Drugs are rife. It houses many different ethnicities, some of which are genuine refugees. Some good some bad, same goes for the actual Wiganers... some good, some bad. I left 4x years ago for New Zealand as I wasn't happy raising my children there... Shame really as I had the best childhood growing up in Hindley, Wigan.

[@TyrSkyFatherOfTheGods]

These people act like they've never seen a movie camera before!

[@kiltedjohn1000]

The child would be 123 if still alive

[@magicmomentsvideo]

The truth about the Mitchell and Kenyon Film find is incorrect you can find the full facts at the Gregory Audio Visual Website under "News Tab"

[@mephistopholes23]

Hes right!. Not a fat person in sight.

[@fernandoalves67]

Wolli acima dos verões dos tempos das léguas. A inocente contou que avião cruzava nosso firmamento vindo do lugar ultra. Endeu que sua decolagem atingia toda humanidade. A inocente viu que piloto onipotente brilhava que sol no seu respladecer. Somente existia ele no avião. Não existia condensação. A inocente viu véu que sai do avião. Ela entendeu a inocente entedeu.!

[@mikehuber1]

wigan born,wigan bred.....;-)

[@enzocolt8205]

loko eh poko

[@gatheringleaves]

@greenisland75 why do you care, you never knew them

[@m1aws]

886,939 KIA. 1,663,435 WIA. UK numbers in the army by 1917: 5.3M. So much for 8 in 9.

[@fernandoalves67]

Wolli cuide dos Cometas. Eles estão ai.

[@c2757]

Look at all the women in that sequence! About half a dozen.

[@WAYNE1977100]

Pie Eaters.

[@خالد96-غ7ش]

😟

[@fernandoalves67]

ok