Gandolfi, Thomas 1890 - 1965

Thomas Gandolfi, camera-maker with Louis Gandolfi and Sons Ltd, was born in London in 1890.

As a young man, he joined his father's (Louis') family camera-making business with his two brothers Arthur and Frederick and two of his three sisters. Over the years, father, mother and five of their six children worked in the business. The work ethic was a necessity in their lives, which ultimately ensured their survival as England's oldest camera manufacturer, and to later fame but no fortune for Fred and his brother Arthur

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 was happy that his three sons could continue the family concern in his tradition and passed the family business onto the three sons after his death in 1932.

None of the Gandolfi brothers was called up in the Second World War. Tom was too old and Fred and Arthur were in a reserved occupation supplying portrait cameras and tripods to the Admiralty, Air Ministry and War Department. Ironically, the brothers were offered a government contract to supply 1,000 cameras, which they soon realised they could not fulfil. The contract went to a rival maker, Watson, who used outworkers. The Gandolfis spent much of the war repairing the results.

Post-war the market for prison 'mugshots' revived a 1935 product. No fewer than 38 prisons and police authorities in the UK alone were customers. There was also an export business to the colonies.

Always a supplier to educational and scientific bodies, the 5 x 4 in format 'Precision' camera was the cheapest of its kind, with the result that the burgeoning photographic colleges bought them by the dozen. This gave rise to a brand loyalty amongst the ex-students, who created a demand unknown before. Rather as with the Morgan sports car, waiting-lists grew from months to years in the early 1970s, which was a situation that the Gandolfis never exploited. Their cameras were fetching a premium on the open market, with the result that dealers' orders were no longer accepted and private customers were subject to some searching questions.

Tom Gandolfi died in 1965.