Flying a Kite

In the year the Wright Brothers made their first flight, an Edwardian family film themselves taking to the skies… sort of.

The Passmore family were pioneers of the home movie at a time when few had access to film equipment, so these surviving films are a real treasure trove. It's strange to think that when this was filmed, even the box kite itself was a relatively new invention, developed in 1893 by another pioneer in the pursuit of flight, Lawrence Hargrave. Probably filmed on Streatham Common near the Passmore home, it appears the enthusiasm of the children - Brian, Mavis and Margaret - was greater than the wind speed that day.