This is an historical film, not least because it brings together footage from several different newsreel makers – itself an unusual phenomena.  Local film maker, Ernest Symons, at the time based in York, on hearing of the bombardment made his way to Scarborough and filmed the damage. His films were a news service and he would have the film on show within a couple of days of the event.  But the greater historical significance lies in the film showing the damage caused by what is commonly seen...

This is an historical film, not least because it brings together footage from several different newsreel makers – itself an unusual phenomena.  Local film maker, Ernest Symons, at the time based in York, on hearing of the bombardment made his way to Scarborough and filmed the damage. His films were a news service and he would have the film on show within a couple of days of the event.  But the greater historical significance lies in the film showing the damage caused by what is commonly seen as the first example of ‘total war’, with civilian casualties, as Germany brought the war to Britain in December 1914. The raid was quickly followed by the shelling of Hartlepool and Whitby.  It seems that at least one of the targets was the naval wireless, so it isn’t certain whether civilians were deliberately targeted; but if it was intended to strike a blow against morale, it seriously backfired.

 

Admiral Hipper of the Imperial German Navy was trying to tempt the British grand fleet out to be attacked by the German High Seas fleet. He hoped a bombardment of the coastal towns of Whitby, Scarborough and Hartlepool would goad them into action. The German dreadnaught Von der Tann and the battle cruiser Derflinger began shelling Scarborough at 8 o’clock in the morning, and half an hour later 17 people were dead and many buildings in ruins.  In total 114 civilians and 16 military personnel were killed.  Among the places hit were the Grand Hotel, the Royal Hotel, the castle, the barracks, the coastguard station, the lighthouse and Gladstone Road School.   Fortunately, it was out of season and too early for school children or many others to be out and about, otherwise the casualties would have been much worse.

 

Among the eye-witnesses was novelist and journalist Winifred Holtby, author of the novel South Riding.  In 1914 she was a 16 year old school girl at St Margaret’s in Scarborough.  She wrote a long letter to her friend describing the day, which her mother had published as a pamphlet in aid of the Red Cross.  Here she describes the refugees fleeing from Scarborough:  “We paused at the foot of the hill that leads to Seamer to rest for a moment for shells had been bursting not far from the top.  So we stood and watched the living stream sweep past. I saw a rully laden with children pulled at an unsteady amble by an old horse driven by a young girl.... then a motor built for two with at least five in it .... then a country cart with old women and children driven at full gallop then with a warning honk a splendid car swept by at a terrific speed with one occupant alone.”  Many fled Scarborough fearing a land attack, and troops were sent to Scarborough, although they were completely ill-prepared to fend off any attack had one taken place.

 

A Yorkshire Television documentary made in 1977, The Day They Shelled Scarborough, presented by Austin Mitchell, giving a full account of the events leading up to, including, and after the shelling, and including eye witness accounts, will be available on the BFIplayer from the summer of 2015.

 

The damaged lighthouse became a lasting image of the bombardment, and Symons’ film became part of the start of the disaster tourism that sprung from it.  The terrible pictures and harrowing stories were also a godsend for war propaganda, helping  to bolster newspaper images of German aggression, thereby fuelling indignation and boosting the numbers joining up to fight.   Recruitment propaganda put out the following message: "Avenge Scarborough. Up and at em now. The wholesale murder of innocent women and children demands vengeance.”

 

References

 

Vera Britten, Testament of Friendship: The Story of Winifred Holtby, Virago, 2012.

The German bombardment of scarborough in the First World War in 1914