Joseph WALLIS is perhaps best known for joining forces with Carlo Tommaso GIORGI (1856–1953) to produce the Giorgi flute under patent in England. There’s much more to his story though – from the rise to the sad demise of the business he founded.

Early life and career

Our Joseph Wallis was born 19 April 1825 in the parish of Lambeth, Surrey. He was one of at least ten children to father James Wallis and his wife Maria Wallis (nee Jones). His father was a cabinet maker and at the age of 15, Joseph was a print colourer. A print colourer was a person trained to colour print from engraved plates. Perhaps he was involved in music publishing then.

In 1846, he married Frances Mary Warren (1824-1900) and founded his business with a music store in 1848. Where he learnt to make flutes is a mystery. In the 1851 census, his profession is clearly ‘flutemaker’. Joseph and Frances had several children, including Maria Wallis (1851-1925) and their eldest son was called James, born in 1855. By 1871, the census lists Joseph as a musical instrument maker and both Maria and James as ‘assisting’ in the business.

Joseph is later described in the trade directories as flute maker, manufacturer and importer of every description of musical instruments.

Business expansion

In the 1881 census, we read that Joseph is a musical instrument maker ‘employing 12 men and 4 boys’ – just showing how large the business had grown. This was probably why the business address changed over the years. Through expansion and the need for more space, it went from Providence Street and Union Street, until it finally located to 133-135 Euston Road. The business became Joseph Wallis & Son, Limited with James’s full participation.

On 31 July 1883, Joseph Wallis died, aged 58, in Ryde on the Isle of White. He left his estate, which was a considerable sum, to his widow Francis Mary Wallis with James in charge of the company.

Around that time in England, the Merchandise Marks Act 1887 had been passed.  The act was aimed at stopping foreign manufacturers from falsely claiming that their goods were British-made and selling them in Britain and across Europe as such. It involved new labelling, with the name of the country of origin. But rather than helping businesses, it was having the opposite effect.

James Wallis

James Wallis was the President and Treasurer of the Musical Instrument Trades Protection Association, Member of the London Chamber of Commerce and the Merchandise Marks Act Committee.  He claimed that through the new labelling, the Act forced his company and others to reveal the source of their products. This meant that it was possible for customers to buy direct, rather than through his business. This Act led to the ‘Made in Germany’ stamp, which rather than stopping German imports, increased them as German products were regarded to be of the highest-quality.

On a personal level, James had married Annie Helen Robinson and had children. One was George James Wallis, born in 1887. James Wallis died in 1902. His son and successor, George Wallis was still so young that the company was run by a certain Henry E. H. Standish as managing director. George married in 1910 and took over the reins of the company in around 1915. The company had factories in Holloway and Stoke Newington. By then the First World War had broken out. George was enlisted in 1917, was injured but made it home to his wife and children.

J.W.S.L. closes its doors

What finally brought Joseph Wallis & Son Ltd (or J.W.S.L. as it was known) to an end were the ‘McKenna duties’. In 1915, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Reginald McKenna (1863-1943), introduced a 33⅓% levy on luxury imports in order to fund the war effort. These imports were foreign automobiles, films, motorcycles, clocks and, sadly for J.W.S.L, musical instruments.

At first, commercial vehicles, which were needed for war transportation, were excluded until 1926. The tax was supposed to be temporary but, despite a brief waiver between August 1924 and June 1926, it lasted a total of 41 years. It was axed in 1956.  But that was too late, Joseph Wallis & Son Ltd, had closed its doors for the last time in 1928.

George Wallis separated from his wife and was last known to be a ‘traveller’ living in Convent Garden. Where and when he died is not known.

Joseph Wallis & Son – ‘Makers of beautiful instruments’