“Soldiers of the King” is a video montage compiled in 2014 from film footage shot nearly a century before. It is the second of four such montages comprising the video presentation Answering the Call, which screened as part of a Royal BC Museum travelling exhibit commemorating British Columbia’s role in the Great War. The presentation drew on almost an hour of rare film footage shot in BC during the First World War. This material shows troops in training at Victoria, Vancouver and Comox, before their departure for eastern Canada, England, and the battlefields of Europe.
Locations and units shown (where known) at points in the video:
Goose Spit (Comox) – 102nd (North British Columbians) Battalion: 0:20-0:31; 1:49-1:57
Fairview (Vancouver) – 196th (Western Universities) Battalion, Company “D”: 0:31-0:54; 2:49-3:04; 3:09-3:29
Macaulay Plains (Esquimalt): 0:55-1:42
Willows Fairgrounds (Oak Bay): 1:58-2:12
Sidney Camp: 2:13-2:39
The soundtrack for this montage is a 1915 recording of the 1893 song by British composer Leslie Stuart (1864-1928). The song is also known as “Soldiers of the Queen”, depending on who was the reigning monarch was at the time of performance.
Seriously Moving Images 
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