John Arthur Roebuck Rudge - New Bond Street Place - Bath, Somerset - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

A plaque commemorating John Arthur Roebuck Rudge, the first Englishman to produce moving pictures by means of photographs, near to the place he lived, worked, and died. And of William Friese-Greene who also lived nearby.

"John Arthur Roebuck Rudge (26 July 1837 – 3 January 1903) was a British instrument maker and inventor, noted for his contributions to cinematography. He collaborated with William Friese-Greene and in 1875, he invented the Rudge Projector, known as the Biophantic Lantern, further developed and enhanced as the Biophantascope, or Phantascope (not to be confused with the Fantoscope of Robertson, or the Phantoscope of Jenkins)."

SOURCE - (visit link)

"William Friese-Greene (born William Edward Green, 7 September 1855 – 5 May 1921) was an English portrait photographer and prolific inventor. He is principally known as a pioneer in the field of motion pictures, though not the inventor of cinematography; his work post-dates that of Louis Le Prince, who successfully shot the world's first moving pictures in Leeds in 1888."

SOURCE - (visit link)

"Rudge was a maker of a number of instruments but had begun to specialise in the creation of magic lanterns. He had recently developed the 'Biophantic Lantern'. The lantern was unique in that it could display seven slides in rapid succession, and produce an effective illusion of movement. Friese-Greene was fascinated by the machine and in 1886 he began work with Rudge on enhancing it in order to project photographic plates. They called the device a 'Biophantascope'. Friese-Greene realised that glass plates would never be a practical medium for true moving pictures and in 1885 he began to experiment with oiled paper and by 1887 was experimenting with celluloid as a medium for motion picture cameras.

Movie camera -

On 21 June 1889, Friese-Greene was issued patent no. 10131 for his 'chronophotographic' camera. It was apparently capable of taking up to ten photographs per second using perforated celluloid film. A report on the camera was published in the British Photographic News on 28 February 1890. On 18 March, Friese-Greene sent a clipping of the story to Thomas Edison, whose laboratory had been developing a motion picture system known as the Kinetoscope. The report was reprinted in Scientific American on 19 April. Friese-Greene gave a public demonstration in 1890 but the low frame rate combined with the device's apparent unreliability made an unfavourable impression. In the early 1890s he experimented with cameras to create stereoscopic moving images but met with limited success. Friese-Greene’s experiments in the field of motion pictures were at the expense of his other business interests and in 1891 he was declared bankrupt. To cover his debts he sold the rights to the 'chronophotographic' camera patent for £500. The renewal fee was never paid and the patent eventually lapsed.

Chromatic film -

Friese-Greene's later exploits were in the field of colour in motion pictures. Working in Brighton, he experimented with a system known as Biocolour. This process produced the illusion of true colour by exposing each alternate frame of ordinary black and white film stock through two different coloured filters. Each alternate frame of the monochrome print was then stained red or green. Although the projection of Biocolour prints did provide a tolerable illusion of true colour, it suffered from noticeable flickering and red and green fringing when the subject was in rapid motion.

In 1911, George Albert Smith and Charles Urban filed a lawsuit against William, claiming that the Biocolour process infringed upon Smith's Kinemacolor patents. William won the first round, but in 1914 the court of the House of Lords reversed the previous decision in favour of Smith and Urban. This meant that William Friese-Greene was unable to exploit the Biocolour system to its full potential. However, in 1915, the House of Lords reversed itself again, and ruled against Kinemacolor. His son Claude Friese-Greene continued to develop the system during the 1920s."

SOURCE - (visit link)

The plaque reads:
To perpetuate
the name
and memory of
John Arthur Roebuck Rudge
who lived for many years
in the adjoining house and
after numerous experiments
conducted in the basement
was the first Englishman to
produce moving pictures
by means of photographs
mounted on a revolving drum.

And also of his friend

William Friese-Greene
who had his studio at No. 9 The
Corridor nearby, the inventor
of commercial kinematography
being the first man to apply
celluloid ribbon for this
purpose.

Kinematography can thus be
attributed to the labours of
these two citizens of Bath
where this wonderful invention
undoubtedly received its birth.

Very nearby is a second plaque (visit link)

Type of Historic Marker: Plaque Give your Rating: Historical Marker Issuing Authority: Not listed Age/Event Date: Not listed Related Website: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please submit your visiting log with a picture of the object and include some interesting information about your visit.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.