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| William Haggar 1851-1925 - Pioneer of the British Film Industry |
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| Vicki Haggar tell the story of her great grandfather, William Haggar |
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| Sue Howley plays the piano accompaniment to the silent movies |
It was full house at Pembroke
Town Hall on Friday March 20th
when the Pembroke & Monkton Local History Society held a ‘Night at the
Silent Movies’ in celebration of the life and work of William Haggar (1851-1925), a
pioneer of the film industry. Haggar’s
Night was a real trip into the past, to a time over a century ago when those
silent, moving pictures were an amazing new invention. It was Vicki Haggar, great granddaughter of
William Haggar, who introduced the event.
Between 1902 and 1909, Haggar
made between 40 to 60 films but only a few survive. Thanks to the Haggar family we are fortunate
to have copies of five, including the Maid
of Cefn Ydfa which, in its day, was a sensation and made Haggar’s fortune:
these have been deposited in Pembroke
Museum and form an important part
of our collection. During the course of
the evening the films were shown to live piano accompaniment by musician and
composer Sue Howley. We were fortunate
indeed to have Sue play for us – she is a brilliant pianist interpreting the
films in her music which breathed new life into them. This is how they were meant to be seen and
the experience was quite enthralling.
The evening ended to the stirring
notes of God Save the Queen (as was
once the custom). I think everyone
thoroughly enjoyed Haggar’s Night – certainly one of the most memorable events
we as a Society have staged.
