Francis Lyndhurst
Occupation	Painter, film producer, film director

Francis Leonard Lyndhurst (born Lindhurst Francis Schmitz; 2 March 1878 – 31 May 1952) was an English theatrical scenery painter, film producer and film director, who set up an early film studio at Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex.^[1]

Lyndhurst was born in Kensington to Francis Schmitz, a clerk from Paris, and Annie Mower.^[2][3]

In 1916, during the First World War, he legally changed his surname from Schmitz to Lyndhurst because of anti-German sentiment. He unsuccessfully sued a man for libel for calling him "German," claiming it was the worst possible insult.^[4]

Lyndhurst's first films, beginning with The Showman's Dream in 1914, were made at Shoreham Fort by his production company (called Sealite^[1] or Sunny South Film Company^[5]). The next year, he set up the Glasshouse Studio in a nearby, glass-sided, building.^[6] The business failed and Lyndhurst returned to his former occupation of scenery painting.^[5][6]

During World War II, the barn in which Lyndhurst stored his films was destroyed by bombing. No copies of any of his films are known to survive.^[6]

Lyndhurst had four sons; in order that they should avoid fighting in the Second World War, he bought a farm.^{[clarification needed]} Later, a portion of land was used to build chalets and set up a holiday camp. One of his four grandchildren is the actor Nicholas Lyndhurst.^[1][7]

He died in 1952 in Birdham, Sussex.^[8]

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