Alfred John West F.R.G.S. (1857–1937) was a British award-winning marine photographer in the Gosport firm of G. West and Son from 1881 (for an early reference see Exhibition Catalogue of the Photographic Society of Great Britain) and from 1897 at the age of 40, a pioneer cinematographer. He was then active in both roles until 1913 when he sold his copyright in negative plates of yachting studies to Beken of Cowes, and his stock of positive moving film in 1916 to a distributor, James Joseph Bennell, proprietor of: B. B. Film Hiring Service, 81, Dunlop Street, in Glasgow (see 'The Bioscope' - Thursday 7 September 1916 p 944 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/titles/the-bioscope) On the closure of the business, the film stock was then sold onwards to the 'Argosy Film Co. Ltd' in 1917 a company also registered at 81 Dunlop Street on 2 August 1917 (See 'The Bioscope' - Thursday 20 September 1917 page 6) which was in film business through the 1920s but was liquidated in 1930, the business passing to 'Audible Filmcraft' which was itself wound up in 1931. It is believed that the positive film stock was transferred from West to B.B. Hiring without completing the purchase.
West confirms in his unpublished autobiography Sea Salts and Celluloid (1936) that he sold the film hire business to a Glasgow distributor to be paid for over several years but that he "kept the negatives". However he was never paid and the bulk of the film stock cannot now be traced. A few tantalising clips remain as does a full descriptive catalogue in the British Library of all the moving film he created under the 'Our Navy' brand. Some potential clips have been located in the British Film Institute's online collection and those found so far are listed on the Our Navy website. The stock of A. J. West's negative plates was sold to Beken of Cowes in 1913 and is now (2020) being prepared for sale as a complete archive of yachting prints by the Brett Gallery Midhurst Hampshire. West's plates are said to be numbered from 500 to 10250 in the Beken/Brett archive. Alfred West died in 1937 and is buried at Highland Road Cemetery Portsmouth in Hampshire (E Plot, Row 19, Grave 14). An extensive collection of newspaper references relating to West's work has been created from 2020 to date (latest edit is shown in the document).
Business
From c. 1880 Alfred John West worked alongside his brothers and sisters in his father George West's photographic business 'G West and Son' at 97 High Street in Gosport Hants and later at 72 and 84 Palmerston Road Southsea. He became a nationally and internationally famous marine photographer, winning many national and international medals for his studies of yachts in full sail. His portrait of the Mohawk winning at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club Regatta in 1888 was awarded the gold medal at the St. Louis Convention USA for which 9 other countries competed.
In 1897 he converted to the newly developed 'moving' film and by 1898, his personal cinematographic business 'Our Navy' based in an annexe called 'The Anchorage' at his home 'Rozel' 7 Villiers Road Southsea, had a full-time staff of 50. In 1902 he formally registered the name 'Our Navy' under Limited Company number 72532 (National Archives Kew – Piece details BT 31/9737/72532).
Alfred West's cinematographic activity from 1897 was in exhibiting films related to Naval, and later Military, Empire and Yachting subjects under the general title of 'Our Navy'. The shows were presented in halls and later in purpose-built cinemas across the UK and the British Empire.
The London home of 'Our Navy' was the Regent Street Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster), which still houses one of London's first purpose-built cinema halls, the Regent Street Cinema. The Lumiere Brothers gave the first ever public film show of moving pictures in the United Kingdom on 21 February 1896 in the hall. (A programme of restoration has been carried out which has revived the cinema and revealed a few of its late 19th-century features). 'Our Navy' also exhibited at The Crystal Palace and the People's Palace in the Mile End Road.
Photographic methods
Alfred J. West invented his own shutter and stabilising devices and mounted his heavy dry plate camera in the well of a sailing yawl. This was manoeuvred by his boatman under the lee of large racing yachts to obtain the best shots of these heavily-canvassed vessels at full speed.
In 1898, during the early period of cinematographic technical development, his employee James Adams was granted a patent for "Improvements in and relating to cameras and projecting Apparatus for Kinematograph Pictures" (No. 9738 of AD 1898) by the UK Patent Office.