Return of the City Imperial Volunteer Soldiers to London

Black and white photograph depicting the arrival of the City Imperial Volunteer soldiers at Paddington Station following their return from the Anglo-Boer War. Believing the war was nearly over, the City Imperial Volunteers left South Africa in the autumn of 1900. Their return to London on 29 October was staged to feed patriotic fervour and belief in British imperial power. The soldiers, were welcomed as heroes and marched from Paddington through festooned and garlanded streets. Flanked by uniformed brigades and huge cheering crowds, the parade ended in the City, the financial heart of the British Empire and the workplace of many of the CIVs those who had volunteered to fight in South Africa.