Jamaica Street, Glasgow (1901)

[feanor607]

Enchanting, deeply moving. Like watching ghosts from our past! Mesmeric.

[tomsnowball]

the street at the end isn't jamaica street. it looks like a residential area, not the city centre.

[back2steel2]

no purple shellsuits or baseball caps .....bliss !

however the roads are just as bad and in fact they are worse now......

thanks BFI ........you really are the best restorers and archivists in the world , our heritage cannot be in better hands .........thank you.

[jimbojim68]

Man picking his nose at 1:45. Captured for eternity.

[laura20022004]

there is more men then women! and all those hats must be hat day

[Cosmic86x]

everybody dressed so nicely. really wonderful to watch those videos.

[8302967]

old ants,dead ants,living ants,thats all we are,ants who know existence

[yasmino91]

its hard to imagine this, compared to rolling out of subclub and into macdonalds at 4am on a sunday morning.

[NEMERITEANDSHUNI]

damn all this people are dead now...

[FaerieCrone]

@NEMERITEANDSHUNI Well if they ain't, they're bloody old! lol

[2000sidjames]

Cuddies no cars, but the congestion's the same.

[caz4777]

This being 1901, the group of employees in the parade at the end of the film could have just as easily been marching off to take part in the Boer War.

[Kilchattan7]

@TACarhart True colours indeed, this is where we were wandering yesterday as I told you.

Thanks for this, still looks like this and is the stuff of me.

xxx

[19smokey19]

no fat ppl then,no chavs or baseball hats and staffs..was better them days ppl had more respect... if you saw a fat person they were rich and lazy...

[ecurbsedlog]

My family was in Glasgow during Holy Week last year (2010). We stayed at Jurys Inn on Jamaica St. between Argyle and Clyde. Visited the mother of all pubs, The Crystal Palace a time or two, which is up the street from Jurys. There was a club or two on the block. Saw a couple of guys in mutual headlock. Don't know how that turned out.

[marc7388]

It looks likes the old corner of broomielaw and jamaica street where they intersect. With Paisleys old store at the corner of the footage. Am only 37 so am struggling with exact junction of jamaica street of this era.Can any1 clarify this? I bought the BFI DVD its amazing for any1 interested in social history! Peace from Cumbernauld Village Glasgow!!!

[rubysson57]

We've got a Jamaica Street in West London. In fact we got loads. And every year their participants take part in a cultural festival known as the 'Nottinghill Carnival,' It's kind of organised stab and punch up. Be careful though when they start playing at wild west cowboys. Cos flying bullets dont discriminate. And these people arent the best sharp shooters in the  world. Every August then. Dont forget to wrap yourself well. In fact a stap proof vest would be a deffo.

[irisferguson]

@rubysson57 What a mean spirited comment.

[VOXS2]

Could someone please confirm me if Jamaica Street, Glasgow still exsist and what does the street looks like today on the very same spot as this in 1901 to 2010 ? Would like to know whats been left out.. and like to know if these street light poles are still around there.. i am not from that country so i would like directions as i would like to google map it and fine out.

[denpunk666mitsos]

@VOXS2 Jamaica Street is alive and well and is just next to Glasgow Central railway station. Unfortunately the street lights have gone, and the horses and carts etc...but the streets of Glasgow are still full of well dressed people and we have the best shopping outside of London. Although we are mostly drunk...most of the time. Nice.

[VOXS2]

@denpunk666mitsos Yeah, I still think the street lights would of had been such a lovely luxury old times century if they where never to take it down..I just can't understand more and more they have taken it down not just here but london bridge and so on. I think if they left it how it was it would had left a peace of luxury of the 1800's history.. Know unless they took it down years ago to create a new wider footbath then i gues thats understanding. thanks ill have a tour google map the street

[nonconformalism]

@VOXS2 Unfortunately Jamaica Street is a bit rundown these days. There's an ugly multi-storey carpark and few gapsites where new buildings were planned (before the recession). There's still some great old buildings though. A lot of Glasgow's old architecture has survived. Its the biggest asset of the city.

[carl77777]

It will look like this next year when the tories have finished cutting.

[DoSedna]

Czas zatrzymany w kadrze.To pokolenie już odeszło pozostawiając po sobie wiele dobrego.Czas i przemijanie pokolenie po pokoleniu.Nasze trwa w tym teraźniejszym czasie ale i ono przeminie. Więc i my pozostawmy po sobie mile wspomnienia.

[LokiV]

It must of been smelly back then with horse manure all over the place!.

[panchopuskas1]

Incredible piece of film. Not only is the quality excellent: it's as if you've gone back and you're actually there, but it's like cleanwax says, we're almost communicating with them.

[TumblingDice1972]

any film of 'THE BARRAZ'?

[rickydicky100]

great history and insight,and no doubt all the people in this film are dead

[LinnTractorNut]

Priceless treasure!

[taxidude]

I wonder if people will be watching us 100 years from now. If you could tell them what their new century was going to bring!

[daveni2]

human beings with busy schedules living in the present with many thought going through their heads. thinking about the weekend, having a few pints tonight. Before most of our dead Grand and great Grand Parents where even born. This is a look at ancient life as if being there.

[benisnowsober]

ghosts 

[ind347]

And none of them could have dreamt that 109 years later, we would be watching them via You Tube on computers!

Stunning insight into the past. Thanks so much.

[OOjiBoy]

It looks like easterhouse or shettleston today

[dickyhart]

amazing footage, the guy picking his nose made me laugh too!

[Pattieire]

I think the fact some of them are making eye contact with the camera makes it even more special. Mesmerising.

[BillDFC]

The same scene now would be neds in track suits!

[kennethj1956]

No one is fat, but they sure had traffic jambs.... It's good thing all these colorless people died off or there wouldn't be any room for you. Give thanks to wars, epidemics and old age or we would be too crowded. I sure like living in a time where we have color too.

[adc00002]

@kennethj1956 ur an idiot

[kennethj1956]

Which part of my comment makes me an idiot in your eyes?.. Or can you just not help yourself from making short little petty nasty comments attacking people?

[boy18inva]

With all those horses, there must have been a HUGE amount of horse manure in the streets. But the people seem unconcerned. I suppose they were just used to it.

[constanzavictrix]

v

v

...they don't have that good posture...they're nearly all walking briskly because they have business to attend to in town..... they had hardly any leisure time in those days..as for their clothes...well they look un-laundered and creased to me...and made of stinking tweed and wool...

[cannuckistan]

Have to say that people back then seemed to have good posture. When they walk, they don't really slouch all that much. There's something to be said for being well dressed when going out in public too.

[stemajad]

good time to be selling hats....what was it with hats/caps back then...no one is without one.

[SteffanLlwyd]

Wonderful.

I was thinking how many of these men would be killed pointlessly in World War One?

[kennethj1956]

If they didn't die in WWI they would be dead now. So it all came out good, as it should be and made room for you.

[iruleurworld11]

@SteffanLlwyd pointlessly? By considering their deaths as such you belittle what they fought for, and make it seem as though they were slaves, forced to fight. That is not true. While World War One should perhaps never have happened, that does not mean it meant nothing.

[SteffanLlwyd]

@iruleurworld11 I'm reading Max Arthur's 'Forgotten Voices of the Great War'. It is clear that soldiers went to war with enthusiasm and changed their minds quickly at the front. Ordinary Seaman Joe Murray described the decline of his friend due to dysentery at Kirithia, May 1915. They helped him to a latreen trench where he fell in head first. Too weak to free himself, he died in his own excrement. The battle was lost. Nothing was accomplished. What did it mean? 'Lions led by donkeys'

[mossfitz]

at The beginning, i think one can see that near the footpath the cobbles dissappear under a coating of what is presumably horse manure

[TellyDoofer]

Wonderful to see. TellyDoofers house is 'round the corner & would be recognisable to the persons in some ways.Awsome!

[Mattenlamb]

so many hats.....

[doox420]

AMAZING

[LokiV]

hat business was booming!

[msf60khz]

All those poor horses.

[IronMan360]

Strange that were coming to a time where video has been around long enough that everyone in it is dead. Quite eerie.

[bigchappy1970]

film you moron

[IronMan360]

Sorry for offending you.... fucking prat.

[bigchappy1970]

Thats quite alright....kiddyfiddler

[IronMan360]

So this is how you spend you mondays. Going on youtube and harassing people. Do you have a job? You seem like a very angry person. This could be due to a shitty childhood/life. Or it could be something to do with your boyfriend never letting you having a turn to fuck him in the ass.

[bigchappy1970]

you missed your vocation. you should have been a comedian instead of a peado

[IronMan360]

I'll take that to heart thanks.

[constansavictrix]

..most of those carts are going by empty...?? most of those people look dirty

[marc7388]

great footage ,I stay in cumbernauld village near glasgow and this is fascinating as i am into social history,it,s not very often u come across live footage,

[clivetemple]

Can anyone tell me why these clips seem so natural compared to a lot of later film? A lot of WW1 film looks like life was lived in double time. Has this film been digitally enhanced and set at a constant speed?

[caley956]

Clive, silent film frequently looks speeded up on TV etc because they were copied at sound speed whereas the originals are hand cranked and vary from 8 to 20 frames a second. The BFI people who restored these films carefully varied the copy speed to make 'em look good. Google "BFI Mitchell & Kenyon restoration" or similar to find out more....

[clivetemple]

Thanks. I figured it had been improved.

[fidochap]

Wonderful images. You can almost hear the noise - and the smell that must have gone with street scenes like this.

[RuudJH]

Dawn of film.

Great to watch this.

[dmactds]

I've watched this several times and have yet to see any fat people; they all look fairly healthy and vibrant; any video shot today with equivalent crowd scenes would have tons of fatties.

[ExtacyLove1985]

its like time travel in a way

[sakera23]

why people make a close of head

[Fronika]

What tiny waists the women have.

[faddy24]

Something very humbling about watching this. Hard to express in words. Another time & another place...

[wwwNooBcom]

The guy on the cart at 29 seconds, wonder what he was doing on that day

[daveni2]

delivering some shelving then having a few loggers and lime I would imagine

i wonder where he is buried

[pmorley15]

did they have buckfast back then?

[wwwNooBcom]

That is amazing, just think back then that you where walking down the street and seen a camera filliming, you would have never have thought that over 100 years later people would be looking back on it in amazment, ever person there had a story to tell, wonder what on that day they where doing?

[daveni2]

that is so true

I love this comment i believe i made a similar one a while back

what amazes me how ancient these people are even the very young.

I'm almost 50 and my great grand father would have been a very young man at this time.

The age of this film just amazes me and looking at all the people just living like it's present day. i can almost feel the warmth from the sun on their faces.

[rudster]

incredible

[blade0954]

those were the days,amazing old film,and not a pole to be seen

[electrototty]

haha imagine coming out the sub club to that!?

[lndac02]

All these people were going about their important busy little lives just over a hundred years ago. what have they all got in common now that they didnt then? they are all dead! 100 years from now no matter what our views here on youtube, thats what we will all have in common. This little snippet of the recent past made me realise how much things have changed but how quickly we live our lives and a new generation takes over. thanks for posting.

[buitenzorg3]

We are all immortal.

[MehefinHeulog]

maybe not in Glasgow

[buitenzorg3]

Glaswegians have been around for ever, but not necessarily always in Glasgow. Java Man has some resemblance to Easterhouse Man.

[MehefinHeulog]

haha I can believe that

[marvy1118]

Many of these people must have died in the flu pandemic and WW1 a few years later.

[suprablue]

The traffic was a problem even then!

[DavidandI2]

I had no idea there were films of this quality in 1901, i think the oldest i had seen before was about 1907

amazing!

[jamierourketen]

was it a law that you had to wear a hat and grow a moustache! lol.

[RoryBhoy1957]

It was the fashion then Jamie, just as not combing your hair and looking a mess is the fashion of today!

[marvy1118]

It must have also been illegal to wear anything othe than a suit and hat even on insufferably hot days. I don't know how they withstood it.

[UISTMAN59]

It's April. It's not too warn this April - why should this be any different? also some people are carrying umbrellas so there must have been a possibilty of rain. Most people today would rather get soaked than carry a brolly!

[marvy1118]

Whether spring or summer, everyone dressed in dark three-piece suits, leather shoes, and hats, except for the women who got to wear white blouses.

[UISTMAN59]

The carters obviously are not in "dark three-piece suits" (but not underessed either) and some others do not have three piece suits.

[marvy1118]

Some laborers were not in suits, truel but they were the exception. What I', trying to do is contrast the old days to today, where it's the reverse: only a minority wear suits, especially in the summer. And certainly not to a ball game. Look at the end of this video. Would they all be in suits today? No way.

[UISTMAN59]

Probably not. I think people had more style in those days . :-)

[spancalotti]

The last footage of the men marching looks as if its University Lane/ Byers Road.

[JOPAGalvin]

Thanks for posting.This was very interesting.

[BSNFabricating]

That guy driving the wagon loaded with lumber at 00:23...sitting right on the load. It sure was safety first back then, huh?

Thanks for posting these by the way! They're a great look into the way people lived back then. =)

[cyclist14]

That guy at 00:28 needs to stop tailgating!

[cmww71]

Look, there´s Elvis` Granpa drivin´a truck at 1:47 !

[TIBBSY]

1:20

[MehefinHeulog]

yes, quite a hat

[fishpreacher]

Sure is alot of white people...

[alphaerik]

yeah but thats a good thing though.

[sendtothefunnyfarm]

Since Scotland is a primarily white country thats not surprising.

[p65ls]

the guy got caught picking his nose @ 1:44 and then looked at the camera knowing he was caught!!!! lol

[oreospace]

Good observation.

Facial tissue was only available in 1924 and eventhough people could use their handkerchief, one can assume that nose picking was a common practice.

[cleanwax]

it's haunting how they look into the camera not knowing that we, at our computers, would be looking back at them over one hundered years later.

[thekino]

Haunting?

[1993MURDODUNLOP]

@cleanwax Exactly what I was thinking.

[robert16902008]

still a dump

[sendtothefunnyfarm]

ha ha ha

[shiloh6519]

Think about any younger males u see, many of them most likely died in world war one.

[NiallMS]

Why don't people wear hats nowadays?

[MehefinHeulog]

too fearful of the cameras, no doubt

[ELIMINATORRRR]

@NiallMS Yeah lol Everyone in the UK Should start doing that again, up their in Scotland, down here in england, Wales and even Ireland Should

[Hatrevivalist]

@NiallMS That's a very good question. I have a blog to start the trend Many Hatty Returns.

I always wear a hat every day

[ubreakinmepatlisa]

@NiallMS Hats are symbols of status, rank and relative power. When it became unfashionable (or unwise) to be seen actively lording it over another human being, hats also became unfashionable. Exceptions would be the armed forces, the police, to some degree, the clergy, and other institutions where ranks are maintained. An anachronism would be Ascot.

Where there is widespread hat or head dress-wearing, there is widespread classism. Everyone in the video had a place and knew it. Hats are evil.

[wetcanoedogs]

with my family there in 1901 i wonder what my 5 year old Grandmother would be doing at that moment--

[mamself12]

I don't think this is Jamaica St.

It looks like Glasgow X when there was a railway opening at the cross between High St-Argyle St. Great movie anyway and a credit to the people who made it,and those who preserved it. Wonderful

[lavverlylad]

Replace the transport, a few edifices and the fashions - and this could be 2001.

[Barnabybright]

This is actually two different views of the street. From the start it's on Jamaica Street, looking south with Howard Street turning to the left. From 1:34 it's shot from further down on the other side of the road and on the bridge, looking north with Clyde Street turning to the left under the railway bridge. That angle is still recognisable today.

[lorri789]

brilliant

[daviedood]

amazing video