Films by rural insurer showing British life in 1930s and long thought lost discovered in attic of Yorkshire house

Mark Casci Agricultural Correspondent

FOR more than 60 years they have lain covered in dust and forgotten about in the attic of a York house, thought to have been lost before the Second World War.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However a recent discovery of a series of black and white films is to give the general public a fascinating insight into the British countryside in the 1930s.

The combination of documentaries and dramas show people in plus fours and hats and frequently smoking.

The films were made by rural insurer NFU Mutual and thought to have been lost forever until their discovery in Yorkshire.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

They were shot by a member of NFU Mutual’s staff, Sydney Carter, an experienced broadcaster.

Ahead of his time, Mr Carter persuaded the insurer’s board of directors to invest in state-of-the-art black and white cameras and a projector, screen and generator to enable films advertising the firm to be shown to rural audience.

Screenings were held at NFU meetings, agricultural shows and rural gatherings across the entire UK. Records show that when the film unit showed in Orkney, 614 of the island’s 615 population turned out for the occasion – one old lady was bedridden and unable to attend.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Copies of some of the films held within the company’s archives were long ago found to have deteriorated beyond use and the discovery of this set of films unearthed from the loft in York represents the last remaining copies.

Tim Price of NFU Mutual told the Yorkshire Post: “The footage was found in a loft of a house thought to belonged at one stage to a former employee in York.

“These films would go all around the country at a time when people did not get to see films very much.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“They would set up in village halls and places like that and project them there.

“They were almost like adverts in some respects.”

Amongst the footage are images of the 1935 Royal Show held in Newcastle, with other reels depicting the visit of a general manager to the York branch office.

The screenings of NFU Mutual footage were held regularly around the country until the outbreak of the war, when blackout regulations and petrol rationing curtailed its activities.

Over a dozen films were made, of which seven survive.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The films were in a poor state when discovered and have been carefully restored by the North West Film Archive, and are due to be shown again as part of NFU Mutual’s centenary celebrations.

One of the films depicts an anxious farmer’s telegram arriving at the NFU Mutual office with an inspector being urgently dispatched to his holding to put in place measures to prevent a fire.

A salutary sequence ends the film by showing the ashes of a burnt out rick where the farmer had not brought in the company’s services.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Another, titled If, tells the story of a young farming couple starting married life. The man dreams he is shot in an accident forcing his young widow to sell up and live in poverty. On waking he calls in NFU Mutual and takes out life insurance.

Another reel, Friday the Thirteenth, depicts a disastrous day on a farm when cattle escape, damaging a car, crops and a garden.

Disaster follows disaster but the message is that all these eventualities could be covered by NFU Mutual insurance.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Price said that while the days of paper being moved around offices in wicker baskets and constant smoking may have gone, the way the company operates in terms of agents working with clients remains unchanged – something depicted in the films.