An American tourist’s 100-year-old footage of the streets of London that shows residents of the capital going about their business as the First World War draws to a close has been found in an archive.
Among the sights, many of which were captured as a moving image for the very first time, are famous buildings such as the Houses of Parliament, Windsor Castle and Tower Bridge.
The video, which dates from 1918, was taken just months before the end of World War One by American traveller Elias Burton Holmes.
In the archive footage, Eton schoolboys are seen larking in top hats and Downing Street is shown completely open in the days before armed police and large black gates were brought in to protect the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile men wear bowler hats and horse-drawn carriages trundle gently down streets unencumbered by traffic.
The nostalgic footage reveals how the streets of London looked 100 years ago
In the archive film, well-dressed schoolboys from Eton are seen larking in top hats
Downing Street is also seen in the clip. At the time the famous political road was unprotected – in stark comparison to the big black gates flanked by armed police officers that protect the area nowadays
Elias Burton Holmes documented many of his journeys abroad – later holding lectures and screening films to paying audiences.
In 2004 hundreds of reels of his footage previously thought lost forever were uncovered in an abandoned storage unit.
Holmes – who coined the phrase ‘travelogue’ – even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work.
His stunning silent film – titled ‘Seeing London’ also features landmarks including St. Paul’s Cathedral, Big Ben and Downing Street.
The video, which dates from 1918, was taken just months before the end of World War One by American traveller Elias Burton Holmes
Holmes documented many of his journeys abroad – later holding lectures and screening films to paying audiences
Part of the clip shows a bus travelling through the streets of London – but apart from that there is barely any traffic
The film was captured by Elias Burton Holmes in 1918. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work
Holmes documented many of his journeys abroad – later holding lectures and screening films to paying audiences.
At the time the famous political road was unprotected – in stark comparison to the big black gates flanked by armed police officers that protect the area nowadays.
The class gulf of London is also shown in the footage with working class people recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of one of the city’s many markets.
Meanwhile later in the film a small group of well-groomed and finely dressed Eton schoolboys are seen larking around outside the famed college which is 20 miles outside of the capital.
Tower Bridge is also shown in the archive footage – but with horse-drawn carriages rather than cars on the road
Working class people are recorded amidst the hustle and bustle of one of the city’s many markets
The year saw 20,000 policemen in London go on strike over pay, while over 2,000 people died in the city due to Spanish flu in the latter part of 1918
The video ends with a packed-out stadium at Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea Football Club, watching what was then the unfamiliar game of baseball between members of the US army and US navy.
Among the attendees seen on camera at the event were King George V and Sir Thomas Lipton – who founded the Lipton tea.
But things weren’t as rosy in London in 1918 as they perhaps appear in the video.
The video ends with a packed-out stadium at Stamford Bridge – the home of Chelsea Football Club
Tower Bridge is seen in the archive footage – it looks much the same today as it did nearly 100 years ago
Another familiar sight is the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Bridge
With the war still ongoing, the capital was subject to bombings during the early part of the year.
In addition, the year also saw 20,000 policemen in London go on strike over pay, while over 2,000 people died in the city due to Spanish flu in the latter part of 1918.