WYLLIE LECTURE - "Our Navy" - Alfred John West F.R.G.S. - Film Pioneer

Portsmouth's very own pioneer Marine Photographer and Cinematographer, Alfred J. West FRGS (1857-1937), developed a hugely successful film business with privileged access to the Royal Navy, from 1897 to 1913. He showed his films all over Britain, and also in New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Although the source film stock was destroyed, probably in the 1941 Southsea Blitz, enough archival material remains, (with a few rare film clips) for his Great Grandson, David Clover, to tell the fascinating story of the man described in his Hampshire Telegraph obituary of January 22 1937 as "The grandfather of the films".

Last updated 11:21pm on 20 April 2024