Charles Chislett (28th June 1904 – 5th August 1990) was a bank manager from South Yorkshire with an abiding love for the medium of film and a passion for recording the lives of people and communities in his local area.  His collection of 101 films, mostly directly relating to Yorkshire, but including many travelogues from around the world, were donated to the Archive by his daughter, Rachel Williams, in 1993.  Together, they constitute one of the most significant collections held in our vaults.  

Covering a period from 1930 through to 1967, part of the collection documents industrial life in South Yorkshire, such as Men of Steel (1948) and Is Rotherham a Seaport Town? (1959).  Charles was a practising Christian with a social mission – he made many important films for the Church Pastoral Aid Society in the 1940s and 50s, highlighting the charity work they carried out for children from deprived areas and for the homeless, such as St George’s Crypt, Leeds (1949).  

Perhaps his most significant contributions, however, are the films of his family on holiday, such as Rachel Discovers the Sea (1939) and Dale Days (1942/7) which trace the Chislett family growing up before, during and after the Second World War.  They exquisitely capture childhood from a lost time, are outstanding in quality and their evocation of place.  

On 14th November 2024, Rotherham District Civic Society recognised and celebrated this exceptional filmmaker with the unveiling – by Charles’ daughter, Rachel – of a blue plaque at the building which bears his name: the Charles Chislett Centre, part of Kimberworth Park Community Partnership.

Archive Manager Graham Relton was honoured to represent YFA and NEFA at this auspicious occasion, screening an edited compilation of Charles’ films.  Graham said:

Over my 17 years at the Archive, on cold dark nights driving back from film shows that I have presented across the region, I have often thought of Charles.  Not just because I may have showed some of his films that evening, but because he did the same.  

Charles Chislett would drive out in all weathers to put on film shows, or lectures as they would have been called then, for many types of groups: at schools, charity organisations, the Chamber of Commerce and literary societies to name a few.  

It’s an honour to continue this tradition!