These Bristol crowds seem at least as enthralled by Mitchell and Kenyon's camera as by the carriage bearing returning Boer War hero Lt Gen. Lord Methuen. Methuen's successes were balanced by failures, notably at Magersfontein in 1899, when his 1st Division artillery bombed the wrong enemy positions, exposing the Highland Brigade to heavy casualties. He was wounded, captured and released in 1902.

Despite his failures, Methuen was held in high regard by the military high command, and he eventually rose to the rank of Field Marshall in 1911. Mitchell and Kenyon's visit to Bristol for this film marked a rare venture to the South of England for the Lancashire-based partnership - at least on the evidence of their surviving films.