James Kenyon (26 May 1850 – 6 February 1925) was a businessman and pioneer of

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to foc ...

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The son of Thomas and Margaret Kenyon, little is known of his upbringing. He married Elizabeth Fell, and by 1878 he was listed in a local trade directory as a fancy goods dealer. In 1880 he succeeded to the furniture dealing and cabinet making business of his wife's uncle in King Street,

. This business also occupied premises at the rear at 22 Clayton Street. According to his obituary Kenyon retired from his house furnishing business in 1906. Kenyon had also built a business with the travelling showmen supplying "penny in the slot machines". Although associated in partnership with Sagar Mitchell since 1897 little is known of their film production until 1899. The success of their early films encouraged Mitchell to give up his shop and in September 1901

Mitchell and Kenyon The Mitchell & Kenyon film company was a pioneer of early commercial motion pictures based in Blackburn in Lancashire, England, at the start of the 20th century. They were originally best known for minor contributions to early fictional narrative ...

moved into the premises in Clayton Street,

, to concentrate on film production. Mitchell and Kenyon used the trade name of ''Norden'', and the company became one of the largest film producers in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in the 1900s, producing a mixture of "topicals" (films of street scenes, sporting events, rides through towns on the top of trams, and ordinary life, which were extremely popular as people loved to see moving pictures of themselves), fiction, and fake war films. Many of these films were produced for travelling showmen. In May 1907 Mitchell resumed possession of his original business S. & J. Mitchell, at 40 Northgate, Blackburn. The volume of film production seems to have tailed off from this date, and from 1909 was increasingly restricted to local events. The last surviving film dates from 1913. His partnership with Mitchell was formally dissolved around 1922 and Kenyon died in 1925. Mitchell carefully stored the film negatives away in the basement of his Northgate shop. He died on 2 October 1952 and his son John continued to run the business until 1960. Over the years film historians had traditionally regarded Mitchell and Kenyon as minor contributors to film history, known principally for the fake

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

films that had survived. Then in 1994, during building alteration work at the premises in Northgate, three large sealed steel drums were discovered in the basement. On examination, the drums were discovered to contain the original nitrate negatives of 800 Mitchell and Kenyon films in a remarkably good state of preservation. These eventually found their way in 2000 to the

National Film and Television Archive The BFI National Archive is a department of the British Film Institute, and one of the largest film archives in the world. It was founded as the National Film Library in 1935; its first curator was Ernest Lindgren. In 1955, its name became the N ...

, where they extended the holdings of films of the 1900-1913 period by 20%, giving a new and fresh view of

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

England and an important resource for historians. A further 65 fiction films are preserved in The Cinema Museum, London. The survival of these films has allowed Mitchell and Kenyon's place in English film history to be reappraised. In 2014, ''The Life and Times of Mitchell and Kenyon'' was produced at The Dukes, Lancaster and the

Oldham Coliseum Oldham Coliseum Theatre is a theatre in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. Found on Fairbottom Street in the town centre, Oldham's Coliseum is a repertory theatre which celebrated its centenary in 1987. Its interior makes it a great period ...

, with video elements by imitating the dog.

References

External links

BFI: The Mitchell and Kenyon Collection

bfi Video: The Lost World of Mitchell & Kenyon (DVD)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenyon, James English businesspeople British cinematographers 1850 births 1925 deaths People from Blackburn Cinema pioneers

See also

References

External links