============ *16 Early 1850: Reilly organization TEXT ============

*16 Reilly in the early 1850's: Company organization

Some business anthologies and gun history sites from this period claim that J.C. Reilly made guns, E.M. Reilly air guns, and that the company had split into two entities.*16a,*16b But, both worked from the same building used the same case labels, etc. This distinction has been made too much of. They essentially operated as one company. 1850's Reilly advertisements confirm this conclusion.*16c. (However, per the above speculation on the origin of the December 1847 label, it appears that E.M. was increasingly the doiminate force in the company.)

The 1851 census recorded Joseph Charles Reilly as living with a servant at 502 New Oxford Street. The rest of the family is not mentioned and may have gone on with their lives. It appears that Martha, J.C.’s wife had left him and was very much alive though he claimed he was a widower.*16d

There is no way to determine the size of the Reilly workforce in 1850. The 1851 census did not inquire about the number of men an employer engaged. However, there may be data for this enquiry somewhere. London: A Social History commented that London’s industries were small; “out of 24,323 employers only 80 employed over 100.” “Small workshops predominated.”*16e This data had to come from someplace and it apparently was sourced to that 1851 census though no such information is included in the questions asked. Was there a separate census of business owners?

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Last edited by Argo44; 06/04/22 11:04 PM.
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