Sagar Mitchell

Sagar Jones Mitchell (28 October 1866 – 2 October 1952) was a pioneer of cinematography in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. The son of John and Eliza Mitchell, he was educated at a private academy and apprenticed as a cabinet maker. In 1887 Sagar and his father John founded the firm of S. & J. Mitchell, a photographic apparatus manufacturing and dealing business. Although associated in partnership with James Kenyon since 1897 little is known of their film production until 1899. The success of their early films encouraged Mitchell to give up his shop and in September 1901 Mitchell and Kenyon moved into premises in Clayton Street, Blackburn, to concentrate on film production. Mitchell and Kenyon used the trade name of Norden, the company became one of the largest film producers in the United Kingdom in the 1900s, producing a mixture of "topicals" (films of street scenes, sporting events, rides through towns on the top of trams, and ordinary life, which were extremely popular as people loved to see moving pictures of themselves), fiction, and fake war films. Many of these films were produced for travelling showmen. In May 1907 Sagar Mitchell resumed possession of his original business S. & J. Mitchell, at 40 Northgate, Blackburn. The volume of film production seems to have taile... ()