J.L. Humphrey

J.L. Humphrey (**/**/1889 – 06/07/1948) was a cameraman.

Biography

Nathaniel James Moore Ledgerwood Humphrey was born in Southbridge, New Zealand in 1889, but spent much of his career as a cameraman in South Africa. He must have come to South Africa between 1910 and 1913 and seems to have started in the film business as an assistant to Edgar Lilienfeld, the founder of the first film-processing laboratory in South Africa. The first record of his work for the African Films Trust is a mention in the Rand Daily Mail of 27 October 1913, where he was said to have captured the ceremony around the funeral of King Dinizulu. Besides working as a cameraman on the two epics De Voortrekkers (Harold M. Shaw/1916) and The Symbol of Sacrifice (Dick Cruikshanks/1918), he also co-photographed The Adventures of Ranger Focus (1917) for Norman H. Lee, shot And Then... (1917) for Cruikshanks and Joseph Albrecht, as well as Albrecht’s With Edged Tools (1919). In addition he accompanied the South African troops serving in East Africa during World War I, resulting in an ongoing series entitled With Our Boys in German East. Early in 1919 Stage & Cinema reported that he would be shooting some “scenics” of Pietermaritzburg and surroundings. It is likely that he also filmed for African Mirror. There is no mention of his work after that, but he is known to have drowned in Duncan Docks in Cape Town on 6 July 1948. On his death certificate he was identified as a disability pensioner. There is no mention of relatives or descendants, but in 1917 he married Alice Adelaide Ferriera (born Herbert), who died in Hermanus in 1971 at the age of 84.

Sources

Stage & Cinema, 17 February 1917

Le Roux, André I. & Fourie, Lilla – Filmverlede: geskiedenis van die Suid-Afrikaanse speelfilm

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