Lewis Davenport

From MagicPedia

Lewis Davenport (1883 - 1961) was a British performer and inventor. Established Davenports & Co. in 1898, now one of the oldest family run magic business in the world. As a performer his specialty was the lightning-fast manipulation of solid billiard balls and quick changes.

Lewis was a natural entrepreneur who started the company as a mail-order operation, writing out instructions by hand. He got a printing press around 1905 by putting an ad in the paper saying he was willing to swap a printing press for magic tricks.

Lewis created a very popular version of the mutilated parasol.

References

• http://www.davenportsmagic.co.uk/