People active in the silent era and people who keep the silent era alive. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Photograph: Silent Era image collection.

James Williamson

Born 8 November 1855 in Pathhead, Kirkaldy, County Fife, Scotland.
Died 18 August 1933 in Richmond, Surrey, England.

Married Betsy Heaysman, 9 August 1881; daughter Janet Williamson, born 3 July 1882; daughter Florence Williamson, born 22 March 1884; son Alan Williamson, born 3 February 1886; son Colin Williamson, born 29 October 1887; daughter Lilian Williamson, born 29 August 1889; son Tom Williamson, born 30 April 1891; son Stuart Williamson, born 3 April 1893.

James Williamson was trained as a young man as a pharmacist in London and Eastry, England. In April 1881, Williamson purchased a pharmacy business in Eastry, and in 1886 he purchased another pharmacy in Hove and in 1898 he moved the shop to a better location in Hove. It was in this location that Williamson would establish his fledgling film studio. Having acquired an interest in photography, Williamson is thought to have added a photography department to his pharmacy in 1890. He conducted magic lantern presentations of his own photography around the Hove area and, when he encountered Edison and Lumière motion pictures, he sought to add films to his lantern presentations to generate extra interest.

After experimenting with a handmade motion picture camera in 1897, with poor results, Williamson began film production in earnest with a camera he designed and built along with a local machinist, and released his first films in the summer of 1898. Initially, the films were shot on a makeshift open-air stage located in the back garden of his pharmacy and featured his family as actors.

In 1902, Williamson moved production to a larger facility.

References: Sopocy-Williamson pp. 23, 25: Website-IMDb.