ACTUALITY. General Sir Redvers Buller leaving to head the British Army at the start of the Boer War, 14 October 1899.

Watched by crowds, Sir Redvers Buller, in civilian clothes and accompanied by staff and the Mayor of southampton, and followed by Lady Buller and friends, walks down the gangway leading to the ship, towards the camera. Buller pauses to be introduced to one of the ship's officers before embarking (48ft).

Note: W.K-L. Dickson, cameraman for the British Mutoscope and Biograph Company, can be seen (without camera) to the bottom left of the frame from midway through the film.

Refs: John Barnes, Filming the Boer War (1992), p 283. National Film Archive, Catalogue, Part 1: Silent News Films: N.48. Warwick cat. no. 5473.