Gandolfi, Louis 1864 - 1903

Louis Gandolfi was born in 1864. In 1876 at the age of twelve Gandolfi started work as an apprentice cabinet maker. His apprenticeship lasted four years. He then embarked on a career as a camera maker at Lejeune Perkins and Company, of Hatton Garden, London, where he excelled for five years, to the point where his fellow workers complained that he worked too fast and too accurately, thereby earning too much money from the piecework system. He was forced to move on and in 1885 Louis Gandolfi established his own camera making business in Westminster, Louis Gandolfi and Sons Ltd. It was a family business, and initially he was only assisted by his wife Caroline, who learned the skills of French polishing and brasswork lacquering.

In 1890 his first son Thomas Joseph was born, followed by Frederick Louis in 1904, and Arthur Ernest in 1907. The Gandolfi's also had three girls but not much information was available on their births, however it was recorded that the Gandolfi's had six children and all the boys and two of the girls worked the family business.

By 1930 the Gandolfis were over the worst of the 1920s recessions. The eldest son, Tom (born 1890), having survived service in the Great War, devoted himself to cabinetmaking, whilst the middle son, Fred (born 1904), who could do most things, was showing business ability. 'Young' Arthur, having left the business during the 1920s to learn clerical work, returned to fill the job of assembly and finishing.

Louis Gandolfi died in 1932, aged 68. His business was passed onto his three sons, Frederick, Arthur and Thomas.