Edmund Distin Maddick (1857–1939) was an English surgeon and pioneer of cinema. Born in Clerkenwell on 11 April 1857 and studying medicine at

St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS ...

, Maddick became a doctor and later a surgeon in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

. Although it is claimed he achieved the rank of Admiral (Surgeon) of the Fleet, having resigned after 11 months as a naval surgeon he in fact became an Honorary Surgeon to the London Brigade of Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers. He was also a surgeon to the Italian Hospital in London and was a Knight to the Crown of Italy. He married Violet Emily Caroline Byng, and their son Major Edmund Cecil Strafford Byng Maddick served in the First World War in the Royal Artillery. Abandoning medicine in his 40s, he took over and rebuilt the

Scala Theatre The Scala Theatre was a theatre in Charlotte Street, London, off Tottenham Court Road. The first theatre on the site opened in 1772, and the theatre was demolished in 1969, after being destroyed by fire. From 1865 to 1882, the theatre was ...

in 1905 and when it failed as a theatre, fitted it out in 1911 for a

Kinematograph Cinematograph or kinematograph is an early term for several types of motion picture film mechanisms. The name was used for movie cameras as well as film projectors, or for complete systems that also provided means to print films (such as the Ci ...

. During the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, it is claimed that he was the Intelligence Department's Director of Kinematography. In fact Sir William F Jury held the post. Maddick did indeed work for MI7 and liaised with the French Intelligence Bureau, promoted captain for this task. Maddick claimed to have ‘produced all the films up to and including the Battle of the Somme’, and to have been ‘on land and at sea under enemy fire; as well as in aeroplanes and airships’. Probably the most notable production was the film ''The Battle of the Somme'', released just a month after the first battle started in July 1916.Battle of the Somme
Brighton & Hove, film and cinema He was then 'loaned' to the Admiralty advising on film matters, and in 1918 was made an Equipment Officer in the RAF, producing training films. The Scala was used for showing films for censorship, and after the War he used the cinema to teach human anatomy. He was well-connected and well known in British and Italian Royal circles. The Tory Government offered him a baronetcy in 1925, but the

General Election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

intervened and Ramsay MacDonald's Labour Party reduced this offer to a knighthood. Insulted, Maddick turned this down and eventually accepted a CBE in 1927. He constructed an unusual mausoleum at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of ...

approximately ten years before he died. The building is nearly 40 ft high in white

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a buildi ...

surmounted by a marble figure of Christ and a child. He directed that the pin given him by King George V should be on his breast and that his jewellery be placed in a box given him by the Japanese Imperial household and buried with him.

References

External links

*Obituary, The Times, 8 July 1939
Friends of West Norwood Cemetery
Newsletter 35, Biography, Chris Byng-Maddick {{DEFAULTSORT:Maddick, Edmund Distin 1857 births 1939 deaths Burials at West Norwood Cemetery