After Titanic sank, a charitable fund was created to raise money for the families of those lost in the tragedy. As part of the fund-raising effort, a song called ‘Be British’ was written and the sheet-music sold to the public. An early recording was also made and Bamforths, one of the UK’s most prolific lantern slide manufacturers, produced a set of slides to accompany the song. This video brings together Bamforths’ slide images and the original music. The song lyrics are a little uncomfortable to hear, one hundred years later, as they are far more patriotic than we are used to. They do, though, reflect a time when Britain ruled the waves and the British Empire was at its height.
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