Churchman's

Last updated
W.A. & A.C. Churchman
Type Private (1790–1972)
Subsidiary (1972–1992)
Industry Tobacco
Founded1790
FounderWilliam Churchman
DefunctMay 1992;30 years ago (1992-05) [1]
FateJoined Imperial Tobacco in 1902
Headquarters,
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Arthur C. Churchman
Products Cigarettes, collectible cards
Owner Imperial Tobacco Co.
Number of employees
400 (1992) [1]
Parent John Player & Sons

Churchman's (originally W.A. & A.C. Churchman) was a British cigarette manufacturer based in Ipswich, Suffolk. The company was a subsidiary of John Player & Sons of Imperial Tobacco Co. Churchman was notable for producing one million cigarettes a day. [1]

Contents

The company also released (like many other tobacco manufacturers at that time) a line of collectible cards about diverse topics, but mainly focused on sports. [2]

History

Churchman's was founded by William Churchman in 1790. The original shop, which sold pipe tobacco, was located at Hyde Park Corner in Ipswich. [1]

Churchman's ndeg 1 tin Churchmans No1 Special cigarettes, foto8.JPG
Churchman's n° 1 tin

In 1888 William Alfred (later Sir William) and Arthur Charles Churchman (later Lord Woodbridge and a director of the British American Tobacco from 1904 to 1923), grandsons of the founder, succeeded their father, Henry, in the business. By 1890 the company also produced "white cigarettes", and six years later produced 20,000 cigarettes an hour. [3] To counter the aggressive American invasion to the British cigarette market (started when W. Duke Sons & Co., and four of the largest American manufacturers merged to form the American Tobacco Company in 1890), W.D. & H.O. Wills, John Player & Sons, Lambert & Butler, Hignett Brothers (with their associated firms) and Stephen Mitchell & Son, with six other firms, joined forces to found the Imperial Tobacco Company, Ltd., in 1901. Churchman joined the recently formed company the following year. [3]

As the company expanded with increased sales, it opened a new facility at the junction of Portman Road and Princes Street. This factory would be extended during the 1920s and 1930s. [1] In 1961 Churchman merged with Lambert & Butler and Edwards, Ringer & Bigg, to become first "Churchman, Lambert & Ringer", then renamed simply "Churchman's" in 1965. By that year, manufacturing of cigars concentrated the factory's production, with more than 1 million cigars per day and 1,000 employees working at Churchman's. [3] [1]

In 1972, the cigar business was integrated with John Player & Sons, with Churchman's becoming a subsidiary of it. Twenty years later, JP&S moved its operations to Bristol and Churchman closed. [1]

Cigarette cards

Churchman produced several sets of cigarette cards to advertise its products, beginning in the first years of 20th century, most of them related with sports, mostly association football sets. The first football set included rugby union players and appeared in 1909, featuring illustrated footballers of both codes in their clubs' shirts. Other football sets were released in 1914, 1938 and 1939 but only related to association football. [2] Other sports series released included athletics, cricket, golf, and tennis.

Churchman also released a railway series in 1935, and an athletes series (featuring photographs of sportsmen of diverse disciplines) in 1939.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cigarette card</span> Trading cards included in cigarette packaging

Cigarette cards are trading cards issued by tobacco manufacturers to stiffen cigarette packaging and advertise cigarette brands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trading card</span> Picture cards that are collectable

A trading card is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing and a short description of the picture, along with other text. There is a wide variation of different types of cards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baseball card</span> Type of trading card related to baseball

A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. In the 1950s they came with a stick of gum and a limited number of cards. These cards feature one or more baseball players, teams, stadiums, or celebrities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Tobacco Company</span> American tobacco company

The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896. The American Tobacco Company dominated the industry by acquiring the Lucky Strike Company and over 200 other rival firms. Antitrust action begun in 1907 broke the company into several major companies in 1911.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial Brands</span> British tobacco company

Imperial Brands plc, is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, and Japan Tobacco, and the world's largest producer of fine-cut tobacco and tobacco papers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W.D. & H.O. Wills</span> Former English tobacco company

W.D. & H.O. Wills was a British tobacco manufacturing company formed in Bristol, England. It was the first British company to mass-produce cigarettes, and one of the founding companies of Imperial Tobacco along with John Player & Sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allen & Ginter</span> American tobacco company

Allen & Ginter was a Richmond, Virginia, tobacco manufacturing company formed by John F. Allen and Lewis Ginter around 1880. The firm created and marketed the first cigarette cards for collecting and trading in the United States. Some of the notable cards in the series include baseball players Charles Comiskey, Cap Anson, and Jack Glasscock, as well as non-athletes like Buffalo Bill Cody.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Player & Sons</span> English manufacturer of tobacco products

John Player & Sons, most often known simply as Player's, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. In 1901, the company merged with other companies to form The Imperial Tobacco Company to face competition from US manufacturers. The company also released several series of association football trading cards in the 1930s under the Player's brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lambert & Butler</span>

Lambert & Butler is a former English tobacco manufacturing company, established in 1834 in Clerkenwell, Central London, that operated as a private business until 1901 when it merged with other UK manufacturers to form the Imperial Tobacco Company. Apart from tobacco products L&B also released several cigarette card sets from the 1910s to the 1930s. They consisted of various topics including motor cars, horsemanship, aviation, and association football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altadis</span>

Altadis is a Spanish-French multinational purveyor and manufacturer of cigarettes, tobacco and cigars. It was formed via a 1999 merger between Tabacalera, the former Spanish tobacco monopoly and SEITA, the former French tobacco monopoly. Through its international holdings, including ownership of the former Consolidated Cigar Holdings and half ownership of the Cuban state tobacco monopoly, Habanos S.A., Altadis was the largest producer of mass market and premium cigars in the world, as well as the fourth largest producer of tobacco products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reemtsma</span> Tobacco company

Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH is one of the biggest tobacco and cigarette manufacturing companies in Europe and a subsidiary of Imperial Brands. The company's headquarters is in Hamburg, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American football card</span>

An American football card is a type of collectible trading card typically printed on paper stock or card stock that features one or more American football players or other related sports figures. These cards are most often found in the United States and other countries where the sport is popular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carreras Tobacco Company</span>

The House of Carreras was a tobacco business that was established in London in the nineteenth century by a nobleman from Spain, Don José Carreras Ferrer. It continued as an independent company until November 1958, when it merged with Rothmans of Pall Mall. In 1972 the name was used as the vehicle for the merger of various European tobacco interests to form Rothmans International.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Godfrey Phillips India</span>

Godfrey Phillips India Ltd. (GPI) is a tobacco manufacturer headquartered in India. The firm was originally established in London in 1844. GPI was one of the first UK companies to mass-produce cigarettes, apart from being one of the founding companies of Imperial Tobacco along with John Player & Sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company</span>

The Kinney Tobacco Company was an American cigarette manufacturing firm that created the Sweet Caporal cigarette brand and promoted it with collectible trading cards. Being a leading cigarette manufacturer of the 1870-1880s, it merged in 1890 into the American Tobacco Company.

Prizes are promotional items—small toys, games, trading cards, collectables, and other small items of nominal value—found in packages of brand-name retail products that are included in the price of the product with the intent to boost sales, similar to toys in kid's meals. Collectable prizes produced in series are used extensively—as a loyalty marketing program—in food, drink, and other retail products to increase sales through repeat purchases from collectors. Prizes have been distributed through bread, candy, cereal, cheese, chips, crackers, laundry detergent, margarine, popcorn, and soft drinks. The types of prizes have included comics, fortunes, jokes, key rings, magic tricks, models, pin-back buttons, plastic mini-spoons, puzzles, riddles, stickers, temporary tattoos, tazos, trade cards, trading cards, and small toys. Prizes are sometimes referred to as "in-pack" premiums, although historically the word "premium" has been used to denote an item that is not packaged with the product and requires a proof of purchase and/or a small additional payment to cover shipping and/or handling charges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial Tobacco Canada</span>

Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited is a cigarette manufacturing company operating in Canada. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of British American Tobacco. It was created in 1908 and bought out the Canadian interests of the American Tobacco Company, which was a monopoly in the United States until it was reorganized in 1911. Imperial Tobacco Canada has had no relationship to Imperial Tobacco Group plc since 1980, though British American Tobacco was established as a joint venture between Imperial Tobacco Group and American Tobacco. Imasco sold their stake to BAT in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian rules football card</span>

An Australian rules football card is a type of trading card relating to Australian rules football, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. These cards feature one or more Australian rules football players. Cards are almost exclusively found in Australia as no top-level leagues are present outside the country. Prices for Australian rules football cards can be very high. This is illustrated for both vintage and modern cards such as an 1894 American Tobacco Company card featuring Essendon player Will Crebbin which sold for $10,110 in 2018 and a 2004 Select AFL Conquest Triple Brownlow Medallist signature card featuring Nathan Buckley, Adam Goodes and Mark Ricciuto which was valued at $3,000 in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Association football trading card</span>

An association football trading card is a type of trading card relating to association football, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. These cards feature one or more players, clubs, stadiums, or trophies. Football cards are most often found in Europe, Asia and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby card</span>

A Rugby card is a type of trading card relating to rugby football codes, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. These cards are most often found in the Australia, New Zealand and other countries where the sport is popular.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Days Gone By - Churchman’s made one million cigarettes a day in Ipswich at the Ipswich Star, 23 Nov 2016
  2. 1 2 The History of Football Cigarette Cards by John Simkin, on Spartacus Educational, September 1997
  3. 1 2 3 "IMPERIAL TOBACCO LTD (FORMERLY W A AND A C CHURCHMAN LTD), IPSWICH AND NORWICH". The National Archives. Retrieved 23 Aug 2020.