THE LONDONDERRY SHIRT-MAKING INDUSTRY. il9 



all cut out in dozens, and require only ta be put together ; therefore the 

 same skill is not required in the rural districts as is required in the city. 



The following short account of some of the chief firms engaged in the 

 industry may be not uninteresting. Soon after 1850 two Scotch lads arrived 

 m Londonderry, and established themselves there, each starting a factory 

 for shirt-making, one of them being the present William Tillie, Esq., D.L., 

 the other the late Adam Hogg. How Mr. TilHe's business has increased 

 from small things may be seen by a look at his block of buildings at the 

 city end of the Carlisle Bridge, whilst the business of the late Adam Hogg 

 has also become very extensive ; one of his " branches," which extends from 

 Sackville-street to Great James's-street, is 126 feet long by 120 feet wide, 

 and is five stories high. The other branch is one of the largest factories in 

 the city, having a frontage of 309 feet, with a breadth of about 78 feet, 

 there being four flats. Ebrington Factory is situated on the eastern side 

 of the river. The newest establishment in Derry is the " Star Factory." In 

 the erecting of the " Star Factory," everything that money and brains could 

 do for tlie proper equipment of the building and the comfort of the workers 

 was done. Other prominent firms are those of A. B. Grant and Sons, 

 and Welch, Margetson and Co. 



So ably guided has been the shirt industry of Derry, that it is little 

 wonder that it has increased, as it has done, from five unpretentious factories 

 in the fifties till there are now (including laundries engaged in the shirt 

 trade), thirty- eight splendid ones, with 1 1 3 rural branches^ paying consider- 

 ably over ^300,000 per annum in wages alone. 



An important allied trade is the making of collars^ fronts and cuffs. 

 This industry is carried on in Belfast as well as in Derry, and in the two 

 towns over 60,000 dozen of collars, fronts, and cuffs are made each week, 

 representing an annual value of over ;^ 600,000. 



