Dates

• Existence: 3 October 1869 - 28 March 1943

Biography

Robert William Paul was born on 3 October 1869 in London and became a pioneer film maker, and acclaimed scientific instrument maker.

Robert learnt instrument-making skills at the Elliott Brothers in London and the Bell Telephone Company in Antwerp.

In 1891, he established an instrument-making company, Robert W. Paul Instrument Company in London and while working on this sector he started to experiment with making replicas of the Edison Kinetoscope three years later. Although the machines were successful, all available Edison films in Britain were illegal copies as the Edison camera was protected by a patent, which prevented others from making original films. Thus, by 1895 Robert had started to look into building his own camera. Around this time, he met Birt Acres, a professional photographer, inventor and film maker with whom he had a brief partnership out of which came the first camera made in England for use with Edison’s 35mm film format. Robert and Birt also made a few films together before going their separate way that same year.

At the end of 1895, Robert started to operate a kinetoscope at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre and in 1896, he pioneered a system of projecting film onto a screen. In 1898 Robert built Britain's first film studio in Muswell Hill, north London and in 1901 he made the first adaptation of Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol. Robert continued making films and giving shows until 1910 when he left the film industry to concentrate once again on his scientific instruments company.

Robert enjoyed great success as a scientific instrument maker, his most successful invention was the Unipivot galvanometer, which gained him international acclaim. He won gold medals for his inventions at the St Louis Exposition in 1904 and the Brussels Exhibition in 1910, among others. At the outbreak of World War I, he started to make warfare equipment including wireless telegraphy sets and instruments for submarine warfare. In 1919 his company was acquired by the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company.

Robert died 28 March 1943.

Found in 1 Collection or Record: