Manchester Catholic Orphanage Boys (1901)

Young orphans march through the streets of Edwardian Manchester with heads held high.

Lavish Whitsuntide processions like this one attracted huge numbers of participants and spectators, and are well represented in the Mitchell and Kenyon collection. Some remarkable close-ups give this film a rich intimacy that sets it apart from similarly themed titles such as Manchester Catholic Whitsuntide Procession, shot three years later.

Catholics made up around a sixth of Manchester's churchgoing population in the Edwardian era and they began to participate in the Whit Walks from the mid-19th century. By the turn of the century their processions, which took place on the Friday and Sunday of the Whit weekend, were a major attraction. (Whit-Monday remained devoted to the Sunday School processions of Protestant denominations.) A contemporary Manchester Evening News article reported that the 'Animated Pictures' screenings at St James's Hall attracted more than 370,000 people over a five-week period.