This early nitrate film was made by Debenham & Co., at one time based in York, before later moving to Beverley. The company was established by Ernest Symmons, who together with his brother-in-law Leslie Holderness, had a photography business before moving to Beverley in 1911. Here they put on films at the Corn Exchange and began making films of their own.  However, given that this was filmed in the 1920s, and the title gives York as the address of Debenham, presumably they retained a...

This early nitrate film was made by Debenham & Co., at one time based in York, before later moving to Beverley. The company was established by Ernest Symmons, who together with his brother-in-law Leslie Holderness, had a photography business before moving to Beverley in 1911. Here they put on films at the Corn Exchange and began making films of their own.  However, given that this was filmed in the 1920s, and the title gives York as the address of Debenham, presumably they retained a presence in York.  Several of these films can also be viewed on YFA Online. For more information on Ernest Symmons and Debenham & Co. see the Context for a later film they made, King George And Queen Visit Hull (1941).   

 

This film shows, among other things, the wealthy inhabitants of Roundhay, and the kind of films that would be shown in the early cinemas. The evidence of wealth comes from the dress and manner of the participants, as well as the location.   Although the film dates from the 1920s, the dress (and the moustaches), for the most part, reflect more that of the recent Edwardian period. But the wealth is more evidenced from the fact that the wedding was filmed at all, and shown in a cinema. At that time cinemas were oftener converted from other usages, such as theatres, hence ‘Theatre’ in the title. In fact the first chain of cinemas, from 1909, was the Provincial Cinematograph Theatres (PCT), although these were usually called ‘Picture Houses’.  Those who pioneered the early cinemas would often put on local films alongside normal commercial films; which from film showings’ very earliest days would help to attract locals along (see Mellor, References). It isn’t known which particular cinema, or theatre, is being referred to in the title.

 

The film shows the wedding of Fred Groves and Alice Rothwell on the 20th October 1920. The Bride, Alice, who was 32 at the time, was given away by her Father John Rothwell Esq., a furniture dealer. The groom, Fred Groves, who was 33 at the time, was a civil servant, and his father, Hebdon Groves, was a farmer.  The minister was the Revd Sutcliffe Thomas and the witnesses were Norman Groves and Olive Gott.

 

Although there is evidence of human habitation in the area going back to the Neolithic Age of around 1000 BC, it wasn’t until after the Norman invasion that the name ‘Roundhay’ first crops up in 1153. Not surprisingly therefore, this seems to be a combination of the Old French word rond,meaning 'round', and the Old English word (ge)hæg, meaning an enclosure. Another Norman influence would be this area being a deer park for hunting in medieval times, when it belonged to the De Lacy family who would have had the sole right to hunt there.   David Weldrake notes that after the turnpike road came to Roundhay in 1810, “the township developed as an area in which the upper class could establish houses away from the industrialized centre of Leeds.” This development was typical of the time when wealthy textile merchants in particular, in ever bigger houses, settled just outside the urban areas in West Yorkshire. It wasn’t until trams started to go out to Roundhay in the 1890s that those from more working class areas could visit the Park – the first public electric tram service started on 11 November 1891.  This also encouraged the building of small villas and semi-detached houses.

 

Roundhay is in fact the site of the earliest surviving celluloid film, taken in a Roundhay garden in 1888 by Louis Le Prince using his own single-lens camera – for more on this see the Context for Leeds, Louis Le Prince (1888).  The films from this time, until the development of safety film in 1922, were made from highly inflammable nitrate. This led to many fires in cinemas – a list of some better known ones can be found in Smither. These films now have to be kept in special storage and are rarely used, but given the right conditions can sometimes be preserved for a very long time – again see Smither.

 

Roundhay and the surrounding area had acquired an Anglican church with St John's in 1826. But the growing population led to a second, St Edmund's Parish Church on Lidgett Park Lane.   After protracted building this fully opened and became legally constituted on the 13th October, 1910 – see the Parish website for a detailed history (References). One at least of the families of the bride and groom must have been local, a requirement of marrying in an Anglican Church. Perhaps one of our viewers will be able to say something more about these families.

 

(With special thanks to David Paton-Williams for providing the information about the wedding and the families)

 

References

 

Geoff Mellor, Picture Pioneers: the story of the Northern Cinema 1986-1971, Frank Graham, Newcastle, 1971.

Robert Preedy, Leeds Cinemas, Tempus Publishing Ltd, 2005

Roger Smither (editor), this film is Dangerous: a celebration of nitrate film, FIAF, 2002.

Gillian Symmons, Ernest Frederick Symmons: Cinema proprietor and film maker, unpublished manuscript, January 2009.

David Weldrake, Roundhay and Oakwood History

St Ed’s, the website of St Edmund's Parish Church

Old Leeds Cinemas