Eadweard Muybridge was born on 9 April 1830 the son of John and Susanna Muggeridge. Baptised as Edward James Muggeridge at All Saints Church, Kingston, he later changed his surname first to Muygridge, then to Muybridge and spelt his Christian name as Eadweard. The Anglo-Saxon Kings of England often spelt their names in this fashion and Muybridge may have seen the name written in the plinth of the coronation stone which had been inaugurated at Kingston in 1850.

Muybridge was a young man when he left Kingston for America. The exact year of his departure is uncertain, but by 1856 he was established as a bookseller and a publisher's agent in San Francisco, trading under the name EJ Muygridge. In 1860 he was injured in a stage coach crash whilst travelling overland from San Francisco to New York for a visit to Europe.

Muybridge returned to America in about 1866 to become a professional photographer. He had spent the last few years trying to get over the effects of his coach crash which had injured his head. He had not been idle, however and suceeded in inventing a special kind of plate-printing process and also a machine for washing clothes whilst he was in England.