Still of Mabel Lilian Basham c.1928 via East Anglian Film Archive
1924-1932
Female
Mabel Lilian Basham resided in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, and shot a series of 9.5mm films throughout the late-1920s and early-1930s, documenting daily life and key events in and around the region, the activities of the local Women’s Institute, and expeditions abroad with friends and relatives.
Basham’s family home at Swiss Cottage in Aldeburgh, was situated close to the Suffolk coastline where her father worked as a merchant fisherman. Her brother Kenneth features in several of Basham’s films which offer insight to the family’s civic pride and prominent status within the town, attending many society functions, fundraisers, and other key events.
Kathleen Fisher Toulmin, a close friend and companion of Mabel Basham, appears in several of the films and, on occasion, operated the camera. Along with Basham’s brother Kenneth, Kathleen and Mabel were both involved in the local amateur dramatics society, evidence of which survives in a sequence contained within one of Basham’s 9.5mm films entitled ‘Two Ladies and Gallant.’
These local films include a well-shot and edited document of the 1928 Aldeburgh carnival and members of the local Women’s Institute participating in a series of games and races, followed by a fancy dress competition.
Between 1924 and 1928, Basham and Toulmin travelled to Europe on three separate occasions, with one of these trips extending to China and India. Three of the reels in the Basham collection document what is likely to have been the latter of these trips, and features footage of Germany and the Swiss alps.
University of East Anglia (2023). 'Mabel Lilian Basham.' Accessed 24 January 2023. https://www.uea.ac.uk/web/groups-and-centres/projects/women-in-focus
Amateur Cinema