Return of Kitchener (1902)

Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief of the British army, returns from South Africa to cheering crowds.

Lord Viscount Kitchener may not have had the avuncular appeal of his contemporary Lord Roberts, but his return from the Boer War in South Africa was greeted by a rapturous London public. This film is shot from a position behind the veteran troops lining the route, somewhere in St James' or Hyde Park. We get a glimpse of the great man, signalled by an enthusiastic reaction from the crowd.

Kitchener, famous as the face of the WWI 'Your Country Needs YOU!' recruitment poster, is today the most recognised military figure of the Boer War. But in the immediate aftermath of the war, he was just one of the campaign's several heroes, competing for public affections with Lord Roberts, General Buller and Lt General Baden-Powell.