Arthur William Kingston

Arthur Kingston was born in London, but after leaving school he went to live in Paris with his French mother. In 1907 he was apprenticed to an engineering firm which made and installed cinema equipment, and in about 1909 Kingston began working in the evenings as a projectionist in one of the Pathe cinemas equipped by his firm. In 1911 he returned to London and joined the Warwick Trading Company as ‘chief mechanic,' in time to construct a rotary printer on which to rush print the film of the Delhi Durbar. He may also have worked on the Warwick Bioscope Chronicle, for he afterwards transferred to Pathe to work as a newsreel cameraman on Pathe’s Animated Gazette. He then worked as a studio cameraman in two studios affiliated to Pathe, one of which may have been the Barker Motion Photography Studio at Ealing. He also worked for Britannia Films, and was cameraman on their film ‘The Three Mile Limit,' which was released in February 1914. In about July 1914 Pathe sent him to Liverpool to reopen the Pathe Gazette processing laboratory, so that it could be used to produce distribution prints.

In about February 1916 Kingston joined the photographic section of the Royal Flying Corps, where, as part of his work, he took film from a balloon using a Moy-Omnia camera. After 1918 he rejoined Pathe, later transferring to Famous Players-Lasky, for whom he filmed ‘The Great Day’ (1920). He was also cameraman on the Kinema Club film ‘The Crimson Circle’ (1922). He continued to be listed as a cameraman until 1926. In February 1953 Kingston, working as a freelance, supplied film of the storm damage in London for ‘THREE HUNDRED PERISH IN CYCLONE WEEKEND’ in British Paramount News No.2289, and in June 1953 he helped to film the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, stationed at St. George’s Hospital. Kingston provided rota footage, and seems to have been freelance. He was certainly recorded as ‘freelance’ when he helped Paramount film ‘TROOPING THE COLOUR’ for British Paramount News No.2326 of June 1953. In March 1956 Kingston was also credited with filming the finish for ‘CAMBRIDGE WIN BOAT RACE’ in British Paramount News No.2616, and in May 1956 he was also in the camera team for ‘TROOPING THE COLOUR 1956’ in No.2636.

Sources

Kine Year Book 1921, p.592, ‘Arthur W. Kingston’: BUFVC, British Paramount News files, Issue Number 2289 (Arthur Kingston dopesheet, 1/2/1953), Number 2323 (Kingston rota dopesheet, June 1953), Number 2326 ('Trooping the Colour,' 10/6/1953), Number 2616 (A. Kingston dopesheet, March 1956), Number 2636 (shotlist for ‘Trooping the Colour 1956,' 31/5/1956): A. Kingston ‘Early Work on Intermittent Devices,' British Kinematography Sound and Television, April 1969, pp.108-10: B. Honri, ‘Will G. Barker: His Studios and Techniques,' British Journal of Photography, 16/2/1973, p.154: B. Honri ‘Newsreel Nostalgia,' British Journal of Photography, 1/7/1977, p.550.