Sir Edward Wilshaw Family Films

Sir Edward Wilshaw Family Films

Sir Edward Wilshaw (1879-1968) was an eminent British businessman and was the Chairman for Cable & Wireless from 1936 to 1947, beginning his career as an apprentice for the Eastern Telegraph Company in 1894.

PK Porthcurno gifted Sir Edward Wilshaw’s family movies

Last year PK Porthcurno was gifted a collection of digitised films, the majority of which have been filmed by Sir Edward. The films capture interesting social history events, including the coronation of Queen Elizabeth Il, and date from between the 1930’s to the 1950’s. The films provide a snapshot of where Sir Edward went and what he saw, including trips to the West Indies, Egypt, and South Africa, as well as family life at home in England. They provide a more personal perspective of him, rather than the more corporate view currently held in the Archive at PK Porthcurno.

Students at Exeter University research and catalogue the film content

Working with the University of Exeter – Penryn Campus, two Public History Undergraduates took part in a project to research and catalogue the 27 films, the longest being 15 minutes in length. There was little information to go on, with only a few words written on the labels attached to the film canisters. The students therefore had to carry out a lot of detective work to identify where he was and what he was filming.

Once this work was completed, the students created a short film highlighting some of the events and places captured by Sir Edward. This film can be viewed here.

The full descriptions of these films will be available to view when the online collections is launched in December this year.

Thanks go to Jessica Relph and Anya Dhesi for their excellent work on this project.

Sir Edward Wilshaw Family Films
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