Paul was born on October 3rd, 1869 in Highbury, north
London. He graduated from Guilds Technical College in Finsbury under Professors
Ayrton and Perry. After working for Elliott Brothers, Lewisham, and the
Bell Telephone Company in Antwerp, he started his own instrument-making
business at 44 Hattons Garden, London, in 1891.
Paul maintained his association with Guilds and manufactured
instruments devised by Professors Ayrton, Perry, and Mather.
In 1894, he was approached by George
Trajedis and an associate, who were Greek entrepreneurs who wanted
him to make duplicate version’s of Edison’s Kinetoscope that
they had purchased and were operating. Realising that a mistake on Edison's
part meant there was no patent held on the Kinetoscope in England, Paul
seized the opportunity and agreed to make several machines for the Greek
gentlemen.
Paul successfully copied the Kinetoscope and made
several machines which, after fulfilling his order with the Greeks, he sold
to other showmen. Unfortuantely, Paul found his customers unable to show
Edison’s films on his machine as they were not licensed Kinetoscope
operators and Edison only provided films to those with a license.
Needing a camera to produce films for his Kinetoscope
copies, Paul turned to photographer Birt
Acres who was considered an expert in the area and in February 1895
Acres had provided Paul with provisional designs for a moving picture camera.
The following month the partnership of Paul and Acres had produced a working
camera which Acres used to make the first film in shot in Britain - Incident
at Clovelly Cottage and exhibited through Edison's Kinetoscope. Over
the next few weeks other films followed, including the Oxford and Cambridge
University Boat Race, Rough Sea at Dover and The Derby.
The camera Paul and Acres produced was based upon
Marey’s Chronophotographe and used 35mm sprocketted film which worked
with the Kinetoscope design. Even though they set up a ten year business
agreement, their partnership only lasted six weeks before the two partners
fell out. The reason given for their break-up was Acres had patented the
camera in his name only. The feud between Paul and Acres 
reportedly
continued for years.
Edison's Kinetoscope was basically a peepshow apparatus
and a single person could see the film at a time. Others in the industry
had also recognized the limitations and were trying to modify their cameras
to also be used as a projector. Seeing the problems, Paul started working
on a projector, instead of a modification of the camera to project the film
on a screen.
Paul developed a projector that he called the 
Theatrograph
and gave the first public demonstration on February 20th, 1896 at Guilds
Technical College in Finsbury. However, the showing was riddled with technical
problems and film breakage.
To overcome the stress of the film, Paul created an
extra loop of film about the same time that Latham did in the US. The principal
of this tension loop is still used today. Paul’s design proved successful
and he was soon giving regular showings such as the Egyptian Hall and the
Alhambra Theatre of Varieties in Leicester Square. Paul’s engagement
at the Alhambra was initally for two weeks but proved so successful that
he remained there for two years.
Among his early showing in 1896 was the film The
Soldiers Courtship, which is considered Britains first fiction film.
In June of 1896, Paul attended the Epson Derby and filmed the finish and
the Prince of Wales’ Horse “Persimmon” winning. He processed
the film overnight and screened it to an enthusiastic Alhambra audience
the next day - becoming one of the first news films ever produced
In 1898 Paul began construction on Britain’s
first film studios in Muswell
Hill, North London and during that summer produced over eighty short
dramatic films. Many of Paul's employees went on to become significant figures
in British cinema, such as Walter Booth, G. H Cricks, J. H. Martin and Jack
Smith. Every type of genre was produced from actualities, documentaries,
cartoons and even the early development of British 'trick' photography and
special effects.
Paul sent a cameraman to film the Anglo-Boar War in
South Africa and produced the propaganda series Army Life or How Soldiers
Are Made in 1900.
Always the engineer and inventor, Paul realized that
the projector needed a smoother way of pulling the film so he invented a
device known as the Maltese Cross. A pin attached to a cam engaged with
the little slots between the arms of the cross as it rotated, and each time
it did so the film was drawn forward one frame. He perfected it in 1905
and it remains in use for 35mm projection to this day.
Between 1907 and 1908, the film industry began to
change rapidly as distributors started 'renting' the films to exhibitors.
Frustrated with the direction of the industry, Paul lost interest.
In 1910, Paul closed down his studio and projector
production, destroyed all of his negatives and returned to the engineering
business.
Paul maintained his electrical business all of the
time that he was involved in film production. He opened factories in London
and New York, and in 1903 introduced the innovative Unipivot galvanometer
that was manufactured on a large scale by the Weston Electrical Instrument
Company of Newark, New Jersey. He also invented several other variations.
His instruments gained international recognition, winning gold medals at
the 1904 St Louis Exposition and the 1910 Brussels Exhibition.
In 1920, he sold his company to Cambridge Engineering
Company and retired. Paul died in Wandsworth, London, March 28th, 1943.
