Wordsworth Donisthorpe(1847-1914)
- Director
- Cinematographer
Wordsworth Donisthorpe was an English barrister, individualist anarchist and inventor, pioneer of cinematography and chess enthusiast. He studied at Leeds Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1876 he filed a patent for a film camera which he named a "kinesigraph." In 1885, he was the co-founder of the British Chess Association and the British Chess Club. He was associated with the Liberty and Property Defence League until his split from the League in 1888. In 1890, together with his cousin William Carr Crofts, he produced a moving picture of London's Trafalgar Square (1890). The camera that produced this moving picture was patented in 1889 along with the projector necessary to show the motion frames. In 1893, he was one of the founding members and President of the children's rights and free love advocacy organisation the Legitimation League; he left the organization in 1897.