How unknown Frenchman in Leeds may be inventor of 'the motion picture'

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Engineer Louis Le Prince patented a one-lens camera in the early 1880s
Filmed Leeds Bridge from a British Waterways building using the device
Planned to show the footage in New York after visiting his family in France
Disappeared mysteriously after getting on train to Paris in September 1890

By Lydia Willgress for MailOnline

Published: 09:35 EST, 19 July 2015 | Updated: 12:27 EST, 19 July 2015

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The creation of the motion picture has long been credited to Thomas Edison and the Lumiere brothers.

But a new documentary will reveal a lesser-known Frenchman might actually be the one to thank.

Louis Le Prince, an engineer, was working in Leeds in the 1880s when he patented a one-lens camera.

The creation of the motion picture has long been credited to Thomas Edison (left) and the Lumiere brothers but a new documentary will reveal lesser-known Louis Le Prince (right) might actually have been first

He is thought to have filmed Leeds Bridge from a British Waterways building and was planning on showing it in New York.

But on September 16, 1890, the talented director mysteriously disappeared after boarding an express train to Paris to visit family. He was never seen again.

A documentary has now been created charting Le Prince's life in a bid to show he would have been first.

David Wilkinson, a film-maker who has been researching Le Prince for 30 years, told Jonathan Vigliotti from CBS News: 'In 1888, he patented a one-lens camera with which he filmed Leeds Bridge from this British Waterways building.

Edison, along with Louis and Auguste Lumiere (pictured together above), have been dubbed the pioneers of film after the Edison company premiered The Blacksmith Scene in New York in 1894

'These were probably the world's first successful moving pictures. He beat all the others.'

The researcher used the death of Sara Whitely, who appeared in one of Le Prince's films and died on October 24, 1988, to show he would have been earlier.

Edison, along with Louis and Auguste Lumiere, have been dubbed the pioneers of film after the Edison company premiered The Blacksmith Scene in New York in 1894.

Le Prince had, at that point, not been seen for four years.

Mr Wilkinson is now planning to show his documentary in Harlem on the 125th anniversary of Le Prince's proposed New York screening.

THE KINETOSCOPE AND THE CINEMATOGRAPHE: TWO INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

Thomas Edison invented the Kinetoscope in 1891, which created the effect of a motion picture.

It worked by playing sequential images in a loop along with a high-speed shutter.

The Lumière brothers were inspired by Edison's invention and sought to make something cheaper and smaller.

By 1895, they had innovated the Cinématographe, which combined photography, print and projection.

The brother's invention, which was portable and hand-cranked, thread film intermittently and could be viewed by whole audiences instead of through a peep hole.

Around 450 were made in total.