Lord Roberts Presenting Medals to Boer War Volunteers in Liverpool (1901)

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces recognises war heroes old and new in front of crowds on a wet day in Edwardian Liverpool.

Although recognising the contribution of volunteers to the Boer War was the order of the day, some of the veterans shown here may even have served in the Crimean War nearly half a century earlier. The last part of the film was found in ten pieces of varying length and may not have been originally screened. Today these fragments of snatched past all seem vital, regardless of the quality.