Charles Urban Trading Company

View of the Grand Canal in Venice from a boat believed to have been made in either 1901 or 1904 and as part of the series "Through Italy with the Bioscope" by George Albert Smith and Charles Urban.

Automobile rally mounted as part of the wedding festivities of the Spanish King Alfonso and Princess Eva.

Powerboat racing was a brand-new sport in 1904. Selwyn Edge initially won the race off Cowes (Isle of Wight) in the British-made Napier Minor as a substitute for the Napier II, but was later disqualified. Clearly the filmmakers thought at the time that they were filming the victor.

Purely, Surrey orphanage fundraising event with children performing choreographed military-style drills, believed to be filmed somewhere between 1904 and 1912.

Lomas, a talented photographer specializing in wildlife and hunting subjects, turned his hand to filming for Charles Urban, making several trips to the Far East, including Borneo. Here he is in Ceylon, showing mahouts bathing their elephants.

Austrian animal trainer Ernst Perzina puts his educated rhesus monkeys through their paces.

Scenes from a series filmed for Charles Urban by mountain expert Frank Ormiston-Smith, including The Battle of the Snow, Ski Jumping in the Alps, and Outing of the Ski Club.

Originally it was called White City because when it opened, all the buildings were painted white. It was a fairgrounds, intended to celebrate the 1904 Entente Cordiale between France and Great Britain, that would, a decade later, leading to the unbreakable web of alliances that would cause the First World War.

The Tommy Burns vs James 'Gunner' Moir boxing match.

It's the view out of a railroad car near the engine as it navigates among a choice of tracks and takes off through the countryside.

Early 20th century film footage of Japan.

t's one of those pageants from history, in which Roman centurions fight caveman with halberds, Queen Elizabeth arrives in a carriage, and another queen gets her head chopped off while maidens in long, white gowns and crowns of daisies dance o'er the greensward. It looks, in short, like a Society for Creative Anachronism event, with someone footing the bill so all the Tower Warders' uniforms look the same.

It's one on those thingies you see at amusement parks. You get into a small gondola, the machine starts whirling about, and centrifugal force lifts the gondolas up in the air.

After leaving the town of Margate, we are taken upon a trip along the coast, visiting Ramsgate Harbor and its splendid beach crowded with pleasure seekers, and then re-embarking, past the famous,. Dover Cliffs which are still such a terror to mariners.

The Great Western Railway-sponsored tour of Cornwall, visiting Saltash, Looe, Polperro, Newquay, Truro, Falmouth, The Lizard, Penzance and St Ives, provides an amazing visual record of a long-gone era.

These extraordinary views of life and landscape in Beijing were filmed during the last years of China's Qing dynasty, before the 1911 Xinhai Revolution overthrew imperial rule. The focus is on everyday life, and the views of hawkers, laborers, traders, and artisans reveal the city’s vibrant street culture. Especially striking is the shot of a barber preening his client’s 'Manchu queue' hairstyle.

Showing the progress of the natives from barbarism to industrial development. This unique and beautiful series contains the best photographic results of two expeditions through British North Borneo. The expeditions penetrated 127 miles into the interior, some parts of which had never previously been trodden by white men, and the journey bristled with difficulties. The series illustrates not only the commercial enterprise of the British North Borneo Company, but also the quaint manners and strange customs of the natives.

Part of BFI collection "Tales From the Shipyard".