Gift of Newstead Abbey and Grounds to the Nottingham Corporation

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Summary

The presentation of Newstead Abbey, former home of the poet Lord Byron, its grounds and contents to the Corporation of Nottingham by Sir Julian Cahn and Mr Charles Ian Fraser on Thursday 16th July 1931.

Year:

1931

Duration:

0:10:15

Film type:

Black & White / Silent

Genre:

Promotional

Master format:

Betacam SP

Description

We see a civic procession leaving the Council House including the Lord Mayor (Alderman Pollard), the Sheriff (Councillor Ashworth) and the Town Clerk (Mr William Board). We then see Mr Venizelos (the Prime Minister of Greece) being introduced to his receprtion committee and the procession returnign to the Council House watched by the assembled crowd.
We then see the same dignatories arriving at Newstead Abbey and shots of the waiting crowd infront of the Abbey itself.
We next see the Lord Mayor (Alderman Arthur Pollard) opening the ceremony from a platform next to the house and further shots of the crowd (which the intertitle informs us show ""Byron lovers of all nationalities assembled to pay homage to the memory of the Poet").
We then see Sir Julian Cahn making his speech inviting the Prime Minister of Greece to hand over the Deed of Gift for the Abbey, gardens and lakes and further shots of the Mayor making his acceptance speech on behalf of the Corporation.
This is followed by shots of Mr Venizelos, making his speech and handing over the Deed to the Lord Mayor.
We then see more shots of the Mayor and of Mr Charles Ian Fraser inviting the Prime Minister to handover the Deed of Gift for the ""Byron furniture and relics contained in the Abbey".
We then see Mr. Venizelos making his speech in praise of Lord Byron and thanking Sir Julian and Mr Fraser for their noble idea ""to consecrate Newstead Abbey as a memorial to the poet".
We then see a wide angle shot of the house, the crowd and the platform with the two countries' flags flying and the crowd applauding the Prime Minister's speech. The national anthems are then played and the crowd stand.
The final shots are of the exterior of the Abbey concluding with a shot of the ruined West Front.


Credits

No credits specified


Notes

The lines quoted at the end of the film

"Haply thy sun, emerging yet may shine,
Thee to irradiate with meridian ray
Hours splendid as the past may still be thine,
And bless the future as thy former day".

are from Byron's Elegy on Newstead Abbey from Hours of Idleness, published 1807

Eleutherios Venizelos was Greek Prime Minister from 1910-15, 1917-20, 1924, 1928-32, 1933. His name is spelt Veniselos throughout the film's intertitles.

The sequence showing the presentation of Newstead Abbey in The Crowded Years Part 2 is an edited version of this film. May have been shot by Harold Sherwin.