Arrival at the White Hart Hotel, Campbeltown, Kintyre, Argyll, Scotland - July 19th 1914

Arrival at the White Hart Hotel, Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland.*
Filmed on July 19th 1914 - Soldiers from the 6th, 7th & 9th Battalion's Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders arrived on Clyde Steamers SS King Edward, SS Kylemore and SS Queen Alexandra. They were bound for their annual camp at Clochkiel, by the Machrihanish dunes.

Our grateful thanks to Ian Armstrong for the updated information about the film and the man behind it. See below for the additional information from Ian:

"The man that commissioned this film to be taken was my Great Grandfather, Samuel John Rendell Burnette, (not Randall Burnette, as that is his last names, and not spelt right), but he was the owner of the De Luxe Cinemas in Rothesay and Glasgow, and member of the Board of the Picture House, Campbeltown. (as stated by Machrihanish Online)

Samuel John Rendell Burnette is also in the film in a few frames like when he is parting the people so the camera can get a good shot of the marching soldiers, he is wearing the long white coat.

He was also a magician

"The Campbeltown Film," as it is known locally. It's proper title is "Arrival at the White Hart," which is held by the moving image archive in Scotland. This is the film that Samuel John Rendell Burnette commissioned and showed in the cinema in Campbeltown. His plan was to film his journey from Glasgow to Campbeltown, along the scenic route and on arrival in Campbeltown he wanted to film the arrival of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlander Regiments disembarking from the Clyde Steamer.

When Samuel had it filmed, nobody realized that 17 days later, the UK would have declared war on Germany on the August 4, 1914 and a lot of the young soldiers seen in the film would not return from war. Unfortunately, the film was damaged and only a few minutes of it survive.

It is a great look back in history and most people had never seen a movie camera before, and that is easy to tell by the reactions of the crowd, some don't know what to make of it, but the kids soon catch on and then play up for the camera.

See https://www.machrihanish.net/the-wee-toon for more pictures and info on Campbeltown.

Shared here for educational purposes.

*Updated with information from Ian Armstrong.

Видео Arrival at the White Hart Hotel, Campbeltown, Kintyre, Argyll, Scotland - July 19th 1914 канала Machrihanish Online