Robert Paul is a largely forgotten name today, but he was a major pioneer of British cinema, and was quick to grasp the commercial potential of cinema in ways that better known pioneers such as William Friese-Greene were not. He was more of a mechanic than a filmmaker making, with Birt Acres, his own camera on which to shoot films in 1895, and also Britain's first projector, the Animatograph, with which to screen them in 1896. Early in the 20th century he had a custom-made studio built in Muswell Hill.This film is apparently a brief section of a 21 part film about army life made by Robert Paul with the support of the Commander-in-Chief. The film shows the King's mounted guard riding past the camera. In addition to financial reasons, it's possible that Paul was interested in filming these scenes because his brothers were serving in the Transvaal at the time.