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Francis Leonard Lyndhurst (born Lindhurst Francis Schmitz; 2 March 1878 – 31 May 1952) was an English theatrical scenery painter, film producer and film director, who set up an early film studio at Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex.[1]
Lyndhurst was born in Kensington to Francis Schmitz, a clerk from Paris, and Annie Mower.[2] [3]
In 1916, during the First World War, he legally changed his surname from Schmitz to Lyndhurst because of anti-German sentiment. He unsuccessfully sued a man for libel for calling him "German," claiming it was the worst possible insult.[4]
Lyndhurst's first films, beginning with The Showman's Dream in 1914, were made at Shoreham Fort by his production company (called Sealite or Sunny South Film Company[5]). The next year, he set up the Glasshouse Studio in a nearby, glass-sided, building.[6] The business failed and Lyndhurst returned to his former occupation of scenery painting.
During World War II, the barn in which Lyndhurst stored his films was destroyed by bombing. No copies of any of his films are known to survive.
Lyndhurst had four sons; in order that they should avoid fighting in the Second World War, he bought a farm. Later, a portion of land was used to build chalets and set up a holiday camp. One of his four grandchildren is the actor Nicholas Lyndhurst.[7]
He died in 1952 in Birdham, Sussex.[8]