London Trafalgar Square (1890) FULL VIDEO

 

Release Date: 1890

Country of Origin: UK

Directed by: Wordsworth Donisthorpe, William Carr Crofts

London's Trafalgar Square is an 1890 British short silent actuality film, shot by inventors and film pioneers Wordsworth Donisthorpe and William Carr Crofts at approximately 10 frames per second with an oval or circular frame on celluloid film using their 'kinesigraph' camera, showing traffic at Trafalgar Square in London. The surviving ten frames of film are the earliest known motion picture of the city.

Shot by inventors Wordsworth Donisthorpe and William Carr Crofts using their "kinesigraph" camera, the film consists of approximately 10 surviving frames showing traffic in London. 

The pioneering achievement of the 1890 film London's Trafalgar Square is that it constitutes the earliest known surviving motion picture of London. 

Technological Innovation: The film was captured using their patented Kinesigraph camera, which used then-new celluloid film. The camera’s unique mechanism was inspired by wool-combing machines designed by the inventors' fathers.

Surviving Footage: Only 10 frames of the original footage survive today, providing a roughly three-second glimpse of horse-drawn traffic in the square.

Filming Location: The footage was recorded from a vacant office at 1 Northumberland Avenue, overlooking the square.

First of its Kind: Beyond being the first film of London, it is often cited as the first motion picture ever taken of any capital city. 

Because it was a pioneering technical experiment, it likely did not have a public premiere on a specific day in 1890.