Joseph G. Skittrell

(b. Lambeth, London, **/**/1882 – d. Battersea, London, **/**/1949). British cinematographer and film laboratory manager. In 1910 the Publicity and Travel Department of the South African Railways & Harbours sponsored the production of From the Cape to the Zambesi, a so-called “scenic” that was shot by a number of cameramen, including Joseph George Skittrell and Tommy Crellin. There is a record of him coming out to South Africa in December 1910, but it is not known if he came out specifically for that, nor whether he shot any other films there. He subsequently became the owner/manager of the Olympic Kinematograph Laboratory in London and featured prominently in various professional bodies, including the Society of Motion Picture Engineers and the Incorporated Association of Kinematograph Manufacturers. Interesting, in 1904 he had married Beatrice Albrecht, the sister of South African film pioneer Joseph Albrecht. (FO)