Cronje's Surrender to Lord Roberts | 1900 | Documentary, War, Short

Title: Cronje's Surrender to Lord Roberts | 1900 | Documentary, War, Short Studio: Paul’s Animatograph Works Starring: Frederick Sleigh Roberts Piet Cronjé Runtime: 1 Format: 35mm, black-and-white, silent, 59 ft Country: United Kingdom Language: Silent Genres: Documentary, Actuality, War --- Chapters: 00:00:00 Cavalry escort on the veld 00:00:15 Covered wagon with Cronjé 00:00:35 Column continues past camera 00:00:55 Escort departs across open ground --- Summary: This actuality records the aftermath of the Battle of Paardeberg during the Second Boer War, showing British cavalry escorting a covered wagon carrying Boer general Piet Cronjé following his capitulation. The camera observes the procession in a single viewpoint as the column moves past, emphasizing the military routine and sparse landscape of the veld. As a concise newsfilm, it presents a direct visual record rather than a dramatization, foregrounding the presence of Cronjé under guard and the scale of the mounted escort at a pivotal moment in the British campaign. --- Background: Produced by Paul’s Animatograph Works and photographed in South Africa during early 1900, the film belongs to the first wave of British Boer War actualities. Contemporary catalogues and later archival notes identify it as the only motion-picture record of Cronjé immediately after his surrender at Paardeberg on February 27, 1900, and it was later included in the BFI compilation R.W. Paul: The Collected Films 1895–1908. The footage aligns with reporting of the City Imperial Volunteers and other British units operating with Lord Roberts during the advance through the Orange Free State. --- Trivia: Earlier film catalogues and archives also circulated the film under the descriptive title Bringing a Captured Boer General Across the Veldt. The camerawork has been attributed in archival notes to Surgeon-Major Walter Calverley Beevor, one of Paul’s field operators in South Africa. The sequence has been described in period notes as showing Cronjé glancing from the passing wagon, a brief moment of recognition that added to the film’s notoriety in early screenings. A companion actuality from the same campaign, The Surrender of Kroonstad to Lord Roberts , was produced by a different company and is sometimes confused with this Paardeberg scene. The title references Lord Roberts, commander-in-chief in South Africa, whose Majuba Day communiqué announcing Cronjé’s surrender became a touchstone for British news coverage. --- Public Domain / Rights: Original Studio / Distributor: Paul’s Animatograph Works Copyright Status: Public Domain Renewal: No --- Hashtags: Cronje LordRoberts Paardeberg BoerWar SilentFilm Documentary PublicDomain BritishCinema RWPaul EarlyCinema This video was sourced from Internet Archive. Originally uploaded by jake@archive.org. https://archive.org/details/silent-cronjes-surrender-to-lord-roberts