François-Henri Lavanchy-Clarke was a Swiss cinematographer, philanthropist and entrepreneur. He is credited with having been the first cinematographer of Switzerland.

Early life and education

He was born on 4 January 1848 in

Morges Morges (; , Plurale tantum, plural, probably Ablative (Latin), ablative, else dative; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud and the seat of the Morges District, distri ...

into a family of winemakers from the

Lavaux Lavaux () is a region in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, in the district of Lavaux-Oron. Lavaux consists of 830 hectares of terraced vineyards that stretch for about 30 km along the south-facing northern shores of Lake Geneva. Although ...

and was raised in

Lutry Lutry () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, located in the Lavaux-Oron District, Lavaux-Oron, which includes the Lavaux region, a UNESCO World Heritage site. History ...

and La Villette in the

Canton of Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms bears the motto "Liberté et patrie" on a white-green bicolou ...

. After having studied law in Paris, he volunteered as a nurse and driver of an ambulance to the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...

(IKRK) when the

Franco-German War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Jan ...

broke out in 1870. He was deployed during the evacuation of Strasbourg and

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and Also in 1870 he began to train as a Christian missionary at the St.Chrischona in

Bettingen Bettingen (Swiss German: ''Bettige'') is a municipality in the canton of Basel-Stadt in Switzerland. History Bettingen is first mentioned in 777 as ''Bettingen''. Geography Bettingen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 34.1% is used for a ...

. After a short stay in Southern France in the early 1870s he traveled by ship to Egypt where he, settled in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. In Egypt he became involved in the welfare of the blind and in 1873 took part as the Egyptian delegate in the first international congress for teachers of the blind in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

Professional career

In 1878 he organized an International Conference for the Welfare of the Blind and the

Deaf-mute Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was either deaf and used sign language or both hearing impairment, deaf and muteness, could not speak. The term continues to be used to refer to deaf people who cannot speak ...

. His service to the blind led him to several countries across Europe and in 1881 he established a training center for the blind in Paris. To finance the center, he organized evening parties in the Palais Trocadéro with singers like

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...

Christine Nilsson Christina Nilsson, Countess de Casa Miranda, also called Christine Nilsson (20 August 1843 – 22 November 1921) was a Swedish operatic dramatic coloratura soprano. Possessed of a pure and brilliant voice (B3-F6), first three then two and a h ...

. With Nilsson he bought the chocolate company L.Marquis using the profit to further finance initiatives for the wellbeing of the blind. He invested in coin-operated chocolate

vending machines A vending machine is an automated machine that dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or payment is otherwise m ...

which he installed initially in France, and later in Swiss railway stations. To protect his machines against fraud, he invented a special mechanism.

Soap business

In 1888, he compelled

William Lever William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (; 19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Educated at a small private school until the age of nine, then at church schools, he joined his f ...

, one of his donors to the welfare for the blind, to open a branch of

Sunlight soap Sunlight is a brand of laundry soap, laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent manufactured and marketed around the world by Unilever, except in the United States and Canada, where it has been owned by Sun Products (now Henkel Corporati ...

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland, as the first on the

European mainland Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by so ...

. Sunlight soap was new as it was sold in small portions and not in large blocks as the competition did. He was an avid promotor and for or the brand's launch, he organized an international

laundress A washerwoman or laundress is a woman who takes in laundry. Both terms are now old-fashioned; equivalent work nowadays is done by a laundry worker in large commercial premises, or a laundrette (laundromat) attendant, who helps with handling wa ...

competition around

Lake Geneva Lake Geneva is a deep lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. Sixty percent () ...

Easter Monday Easter Monday is the second day of Eastertide and a public holiday in more than 50 predominantly Christian countries. In Western Christianity it marks the second day of the Octave of Easter; in Eastern Christianity it marks the second day of Br ...

1889. In the competition, 700 laundresses were supposed to wash with Sunlight soap. The media was also included in the campaign as the journalist who wrote the most innovative article would also receive a price. Further he founded the periodically distributed Sunlight Almanach, which counted with the picturesque background of the

Chillon Castle Chillon Castle (, ) is a medieval island castle located on Lake Geneva, south of Veytaux in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It is situated at the eastern end of the lake, on the narrow shore between Montreux and Villeneuve, which gives access to the ...

for the front page. Later he also produced a promotional film for the Sunlight soap with the members of his family as the actors. In 1898, the first continental Sunlight soap factory was opened in

Olten Olten (; High Alemannic: ''Oute'') is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name. Olten grew into a town during the Middle Ages at the location of a bridge over the Aare. After a period of de ...

, of which Lavanchy-Clarke was its first director. In 1900, he quit as he could not manage to multitask his several fields of interest. Later he settled in France and was the president of the board of the French branch of the

Lever brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and su ...

until 1920.

Photography and film

He financially supported the

chronophotographer Chronophotography is a photographic technique from the Victorian era which captures a number of phases of movements. The best known chronophotography works were mostly intended for the scientific study of locomotion, to discover practical infor ...

Georges Demenÿ Georges Demenÿ (12 June 1850 in Douai – 26 October 1917 in Paris) was a French inventor, chronophotographer, filmmaker, gymnast and physical fitness Physical fitness is a state of health and well-being and, more specifically, the abilit ...

who had developed a machine that was able to project short films. In 1892, Lavanchy-Clarke, his father-in-law, the German chocolate-manufacturer Ludwig Stollwerck, and Demenÿ launched the Société Française du Phonoscope with the aim to make the developments in chronophotography useful for the deaf. Lavanchy-Clarke claimed to also have developed a mechanism against fraud for the cinematographes of the

Lumière brothers Lumière is French for 'light'. Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to: Buildings * Lumière, a building used by the Bibliothèque publique d'information in Paris, France * Lumiere (skyscraper), a cancelled skyscraper development in Leeds, ...

and in exchange, he received a license to roll a film in Switzerland as the first non-French citizen. In 1896 he received three '' Cinématographes Lumière'' with which he filmed movies at the Swiss National Exhibition in Geneva the same year. Later he toured Switzerland in an apparent soap cinematographic cooperation in which he screened the movies for free to children which produced a guarantee mark of the Sunlight soap. A publicity film of the Sunlight soap with his wife and sister-in-law as actresses was watched by 70,000 spectators in Geneva. In 1897 he filmed the procession of the

Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and also the visit of

King Rama V Chulalongkorn (20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910), posthumously honoured as King Chulalongkorn the Great, was the fifth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama V. Chulalongkorn's reign from 1868 until his death in 1910 was cha ...

Siam Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. Around 1900, he appeared to have quit publicly screening movies. Grand-Jas tomb1

Personal life

During the International Conference for the Welfare of the Blind and the Deaf-mute he made the acquaintance of his future wife Jenny Elisabeth Clarke. The two married in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

in 1879 and from then on, he used the

double-barrelled name A double-barrelled name is a type of compound surname, typically featuring two words (occasionally more), often joined by a hyphen. Notable people with double-barrelled names include Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Beyonc ...

Lavanchy-Clarke. Their children and his wife appeared in several of the movies he produced. His son Marmaduke died after he had contracted tuberculosis while being trained at

Port Sunlight Port Sunlight is a model village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in ...

. Lavanchy-Clarke died on 11 May 1922 in

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

and was buried in the Cimetière du Grand Jas.

References

{{Commons Category People from Morges Swiss cinematographers Swiss business executives 1848 births 1922 deaths