I was doing some census searches for someone else entirely and found the young Henry Willis I in Factory Row, Marylebone in 1841. The senior organ builder was William Richardson, aged 45, and the other organ builders included Willis, James Miller, both aged 20 and Thomas Matthews aged 25.
According to Boeringer Richardson was ‘a London and Lancashire organ builder established 1845’, but I have found that Boeringer is not always accurate with his dates. Matthews and Miller are not mentioned in Boeringer but apparently there was a BIOS article in January 1979 about ‘Matthews (Thomas): of London: unknown organ-builder’. Subsequent census searches for Richardson, Matthews and Miller have not been successful; too many people and not enough information.
I had always thought Henry Willis I was with Grey and Davison. Frederick Davison was in Marylebone in 1841 , but I suspect this was his private address.
Was Willis a journeyman with Richardson, or was Richardson an outpost of Gray and Davison? And when did Henry Willis I set up on his own account?
The 1891 census is a lesson not to have total trust in census returns. In 1891 Vincent Willis is listed with the HWI family in London and described as 'single'. 1901 sees the Vincent Willis family in London with five children, the eldest, Esther then aged 12. Also in the household was his brother in law James Arthur who is described as an 'organ maker'. Did Arthur work with Vincent in Liverpool? I can only assume that there was a slip by the enumerator in 1891 as Vincent had married Hannah Arthur in West Derby in 1887 and had had at least two children by 1891 .