Belmont Wedding
16mm film Black & White Silent 10.1931 4:29
Summary: A film of a wedding at the Free Church in Belmont.
Title number: 685
LSA ID: LSA/894
Description: A curious film record of the marriage of a scoutmaster. The wedding takes place at the Belmont Free Church (then in Surrey) on the corner of Station Road and Kings Road. The wedding is distinctive because the groom has chosen to wear his scouting uniform (including short trousers) for the ceremony and is attended by several other young men also in scouting attire. The bride and her bridesmaids have chosen more conventional wedding garb however, appearing in white dresses and headwear. After the wedding the bridal party sit on chairs in the garden alongside family members and guests for wedding photographs. Many of the men wear bowler hats. As the party disperses, the film pans about briefly catching a glimpse of the still photographer and his tripod mounted camera. The wedding seems to have attracted local interest, as there are many people looking onto events from the surrounding streets, some peering over the hedge, which forms the church grounds boundary. Many children stand about the church gate to watch the bride and groom enter. The film features some incidental views along Station Road in Belmont, where the wedding cars appear to be the only vehicles.
Further information: The church on Station Road was built in 1915 and appears to have become a United Methodist Church in 1928, the building was sold in 1986 and subsequently demolished. The film may have been shot by Ivan or Athelstone Bawtree, who ran a local photographic and film supply shop. Ivan Bawtree had served as a photographer for the British Red Cross during the First World War and was attached to a Graves Registration Unit on the Western Front. The Imperial War Museum holds photographs by him.
Keywords: Churches; Weddings; Scouting
In galleries: Love and Marriage
Locations: United Kingdom; England; London; Sutton
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