SCENES AT THE RIPON HIGHLAND SPORTS (1916) film no: 2
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This film was made for the Ripon Palladium Cinema where it was shown in May 1916. It captures a sports day for the people of Ripon and the regiments based at the Army Camp at Ripon during World War I. Shortly after this film was made, many of the regiments competing in this sports day were sent to the battlefields of the Somme.
The film opens at Ripon Racecourse where a day of sporting events has been organised. Crowds of local men, women and children, as well as the troops from various Scottish Regiments including Cameron Highlanders, pose for the camera.
The crowds of spectators, army and civilians, watch a series of events which include various races, a cross country run, army horse - men jumping fences, and bayonet charging competitions. Included are good close-ups of people in the crowd enjoying themselves and waving to the camera.
A bagpipe player takes the stage to perform. He is followed by a Highland sword dancer. A man, dressed as Charlie Chaplin, sprints across the racecourse as a group of horses charge by. The film closes with more shots of troops and civilians, and the ladies give a show of ankles and stockings as a closing shot.
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This film shows the events of a sports day held at Ripon Racecourse on Easter Monday 24th April 1916. The film was found in Ripon Town Hall without any additional information attached to it– other than it was made for the Ripon Palladium Cinema where it was shown in May 1916. The sports day included a military tournament, a highland display (the first of the kind ever held in England), and a cross-country race, organised by the Ripon Reserve Centre General Sports and Entertainment Committee. It rained heavily in the morning, hence the raincoats many are wearing. Yet clearly the day was a great success: according to the Ripon Gazette and Times, 27 April 1916, ‘a great crowd attended’. Apart from the events shown in the film there were many others, including: a pipe band competition (won, unsurprisingly, by the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders), wrestling on horseback, a potato race, musical chairs, bayonet assault and bomb throwing!
Prior to the outbreak of war in 1914, Ripon had an army base in tents to the south and west of the city, used for summer training camps. After the outbreak of war The City Council agreed to set up a permanent camp, approved by Lord Kitchener. This was to house two divisions totalling 30,000 troops and at a cost of £350,000. At the time this caused great consternation in Ripon, mainly because of the drunkenness of workmen – helped, no doubt, by the fact that the workman brought in were paid more than the locals – who were eventually excluded from pubs after 6 pm! The building involved 19 miles of main roads, 16 miles of secondary roads, a light railway from Littlethorpe, and 16 miles of sewers and drains. The troops swelled the population of Ripon four or fivefold, and the water required was way above what the local reservoir, Lumley Moor, could provide for.
The first troops to arrive in Ripon were from the Durham Light Infantry, in May 1915, and the 16th and 18th battalions of the West Yorkshire Regiment (from Bradford). They were soon joined by many others. Among the regiments represented in the sports day were: the Cameron Highlanders, the Highland Light Infantry, 3-4th Black Watch, the Sutherland Highlanders, West Riding Division, Northumbrian Division, Seaforth Highlanders and North Midland Division.
In late June 1915 the ‘Leeds Pals’ moved to the camp at Ripon along with the 1st and 2nd ‘Bradford Pals’ and the 18th DLI for Brigade training. From there they moved down to Fovant, overseas to Egypt and later to France and the Battle of the Somme. Of the 900 men who went to the Somme only 150 survived. Many of the regiments in the film ended up at the Somme – including: Seaforth Highlanders, the Northumbrian Division and the North Midland Division. Very many of the soldiers posing for the camera would have undoubtedly lost their lives shortly afterwards at the Somme, which started on 1st July. On that day alone 20,000 British soldiers were killed and a further 40,000 wounded. By the time it finished in mid-November, with the Allies having advanced a grand total of five miles, the British suffered around 360,000 casualties, with a further 64,000 in troops from across the Empire, the French nearly 200,000 and the Germans around 550,000.
References
Niall Ferguson, The Pity of War, Basic Books, 1999.
Ripon Gazette and Times, 27 April 1916
For more on those who lost their lives in WW1, and especially the Battle of the Somme a good place to start is the Somme at Channel 4:
This has a list of many other useful links.
For a full list of regiments that took part in the battle go to the Imperial War Museum
Duration:
13 mins 52 secs |
 35mm |
 Silent |
 Black & White |
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2 Comments
Have studied the footage from the Ripon Highland Games 1916 but unfortunately cannot see my great uncle, Ernest Victor Adams who was in the 1st/4th Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders and killed in 1917. A book has been written and is near to publication by Jacqueline Wadsworth of Bristol which is about letters home written by the soldiers and which my great uncle's last letter is featured. I have struggled to understand how he came to be a scoutmaster in Ripon when his home was in Leeds but looking at this film it is obvious that there was much interaction between the forces and the local population so your film has answered some questions for me. Thank you.
Dear Sandra
Thanks for your email. I am sorry you cannot spot your great uncle. The Seaforths were there, in fact it was the sheer number of Scottish regiments in the camp that resulted in the games being “highland” games rather than just a sports day. Ripon camp was huge, over 30,000 soldiers there at any one time. It was very much a camp that soldiers went through on their way to and from the front.
Some of them stayed only a short while, some were in the hospital, some training.
The links with the local population were strong, and many soldiers went to the town in the evening.
Best wishes,
Martin Watts
Filmed and Not Forgotten Curator
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