Horsham on the big screen 100 years ago

Horsham Museum are now showing the Edwardian film, which includes Horsham’s ‘quintessentially’ English Cricket festival.

The Pathé Company were visiting the old market town to film the events and show them in the local cinema, the Central Picture Hall at Horsham, where it was shown repeatedly on the Saturday and all the following week.

There were two fixtures arranged by Sussex Cricket Club to play at Horsham’s picturesque cricket ground.

On Monday to Wednesday Sussex played Northamptonshire and on Thursday, the day of the carnival, they would start another three day match against Lancashire.

The film shows Horsham decked out in celebratory mood with flags and bunting across the streets. Starting off at the Causeway, the film goes on to show the ground and the players, thence to West Street and the Carfax followed by views of the carnival floats.

The film was discovered thirty years ago by the Horsham Society who passed the delicate film on to the British Film Institute. They transferred it into a format which means that Horsham Museum can now show it to a wider audience.

For cricketing fans the Lancashire fixture was seen as the match of the season. Sussex’s first innings were feeble, but forced to follow on they scored 322 and then dismissed the visitors for 112, winning the match by 55 runs. Albert Relf took six wickets for 56 and five for 32 runs. As for the Northants match, twelve players were out lbw.

The film is a must see for those lovers of Edwardian England and for those that are enchanted by old film. For lovers of cricket, or rather cricketing history and Horsham, you won’t want to miss this opportunity. And after watching the film, why not make the opportunity to see the stunning exhibition ‘Japanese Treasures: Cloisonné enamels from the V&A’ at the same time.

Horsham District Council’s Horsham Museum is open 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday. The film will be showing daily until the end of August.