Here we have Churchill at a mid point in his career, after his wars in Cuba, Malakand, Tirol, Egypt, and South Africa, where he was a war correspondent, as well as a spell as the First Lord of the Admiralty, which began on October the 25th, 1911. Gallipoli was his undoing, and he was removed from office and sent to the Duchy of Lancaster, a post that he did not enjoy, and from which he resigned in November 1915 - going off to join the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front.
Look at the bottom of the front, and you will see "Bassano" - this is Alexander Bassano, whose first studio was opened in 1850, in Regent Street, London. In 1876 he moved, to Old Bond Street. We can date this card quite well, because he retired in 1902, but the business was carried on as Bassano Ltd., advertising themselves for the first time as "Royal Photographers". There is no "Ltd." here, so it is pre that date.
I found the set first in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, where it is listed as :
BRITAIN`S DEFENDERS. Sm. 63 x 36. Nd. (50) ...ZB4-9
(a) Front in blue-grey. Back inscribed "This Series consists of 50 Subjects". See W/51.G
(b) Front in mauve. Back inscribed "A Series of 50". See W/51.H
Our updated version of this volume is virtually the same listing but is without the W/ mention, and is, of course, a different code.
This W/ code means that this set was also issued by W.D. & H.O. Wills,and that turns out to be in nine different formats - including ours - the others being Wills "Specialities" numbered, and unnumbered, Wills "Havelock", Wills "Scissors" red back, green back, and a version with blue-grey fronts rather than mauve, A Wills "Star and Circle" back, and two anonymous issues, one of which has just text on the back and no ornamentation, and one of which is our set.
Thanks to the listing in the Wills "Works Magazine", we know that the Australian and Indian versions were printed in London and were issued in December 1915.
The Wills set appears in Wills booklets parts three and four, the first being the main listing, part four only being a correction which does not concern us. The header, and listing of our set reads :
51. BRITAIN`S DEFENDERS. Size 64 x 37 m/m. Fronts printed by letterpress, unicoloured. Backs with descriptive text. Issued 1915-1916.
H. "A Series of 50". Fronts in mauve, with captions. Backs per Fig.40.H in green, no brand or maker`s name. Anonymous issue. There are two grades of board (a) glossy white (b) matt cream. Two titles are found for many numbers of the (a) grade of board, H.1 and H.2 in the summary, and the matt cream card is referred to as H.3.
These summary lists prove that our card is either H.1 or H.3, because in H.2 card number 3 is listed as "Birdwood".