Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England. The archive's collections of magic lantern slides, films, videos and associated materials capture the many varied aspects of life, work and creativity from the early days of screen history to the present day and serve as a rich and invaluable historical resource.
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Wedding in Shanghai Cathedral
Period fashions and cloche hats abound in this film showing a newly married expat couple and their guests in one of Shanghai's more leafy suburbs.
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Overview
It's William and Charlotte Simpson's wedding day in 1928. We first see them driving away from Shanghai's St Ignatius Cathedral, also known as Xujiahui Cathedral. Next we see the happy couple entering a leafy garden in one of Shanghai's suburbs though one could be forgiven for thinking one was in Surrey. Amid the cloche hats, bridesmaids, page boys and other morning-suited guests, a single Chinese servant accidentally intrudes into the scene.
William Simpson, who made this film, worked for the Bradford Dyers Association in Shanghai, at Number 1, The Bund. His wife Charlotte was born in China's Lushan mountains and she married William, who originally came from Bradford, in Shanghai's St Ignatius Roman Catholic Cathedral. The couple left Shanghai before the city was overrun by the Japanese Army and by 1938 had left China for good. St Ignatius' Cathedral has since been renamed Xujiahu Cathedral and is today the largest cathedral in the city. It was rebuilt in 1980 following its destruction during the Chinese Cultural Revolution which ended in 1976.
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