TRADE PROFILE
EIGHTY YEARS AFTER STARTING OUT IN DUBLIN’S PLUMBING & HEATING TRADE, JIMMY HAMILTON STILL FOLLOWS INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS, WHILE HIS SONS PAUL AND THOMAS ARE KEEPING THE FAMILY TRADITION ALIVE WITH P&T HAMILTON ENGINEERING… ‘The guy who can solve all problems’
World War II had just ended when 14-year-old Jimmy Hamilton followed his father into the plumbing and heating trade. His father had worked for the Dublin Corporation and builder H&J Martin while Jimmy’s first job - alongside gaining his certificate of competence from the technical college on Bolton Street - was with ‘The Rusher’ O’Reilly. So called for a propensity to leap from his van when it was stopped at traffic lights, and use the opportunity to measure and cut pipe, The Rusher cut a striking figure around Dublin with his bowler hat, long coat and hobnail boots. Jimmy had an excellent teacher at the college in Johnny Bolton and regards The Rusher as equally instrumental in his early training. “I learned everything about the trade and that stood me in good stead all down the years,” says Jimmy. “I was always the man sent into meetings because if anyone had specialist questions to ask, I could answer them. Really everything I learned was from The Rusher O’Reilly and Tim Magill, who was a great trainer as well.” Jimmy went to work for Tim when The Rusher died in 1960. “I got a great training there, it was unbelievable,” says Jimmy. “Heating was in its infancy, and I took the opportunity to learn as much as I could.” It was while working for Tim that Jimmy became known as the guy who can solve all problems. Six plumbers had already failed to identify the issue in a domestic property where hot water was running out after five minutes. “I’d a plan in my mind about what I was going to do,” he says. “There was a long corridor from the hot press to the bathroom, and I lay
L-R: Third-generation Dublin plumber Paul Hamilton is pictured with his father Jimmy Hamilton, and an old image of his father with former business partner Desi Fay.
down on the floor and told the apprentice to turn the water on and off. I could hear where it was stopping, opened up the floor right there and was able to locate a bending spring in the pipe causing the problem. I was famous for that sort of stuff; I could pinpoint anything.” Hamilton & Fay In 1967, Jimmy started a company with his brother Sean Hamilton and business partner Desi Fay. Hamilton & Fay initially delivered small housing scheme contracts in partnership with Duggan Brothers and public sector projects with HA O’Neill. The company’s early years were not without mishap. Jimmy was once left perilously stranded when a student from the deaf school at the Dominican Convent in Cabra tied a donkey to the bottom of a 30-foot ladder he had climbed to clean gutters. “My apprentice said there was no way he was going near the donkey as I would be a goner if it moved,” says Jimmy. “Anyway,
it all ended well as the girl reappeared and untied the rope without incident, but it wasn’t very funny at the time.” In those days, the role of plumbers was more varied. Jimmy impressed an engineer over from England with his leadwork for the jockey’s weighing room at Leopardstown Racecourse, turning 16 separate pieces in one lead gutter. “I used to do all the flashings on chimneys and valley gutters, and Desi was great at lead welding,” he says. “We also worked with copper pipes. There are bending machines now but, in those days, we had to bend the pipe with sand.” Hamilton & Fay soon expanded into larger commercial contracts for big retail names such as McDonald’s, Dunnes Stores and Paddy Power. In partnership with Mannings, the business secured lucrative work at Penneys, Quinnsworth and subsequently Tesco, and its workforce swelled to 30 employees including sons Paul and Thomas and daughter Marie.
32 | PLUMBING & HEATING MAGAZINE
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