James Illingworth Ltd, was based at Ayling Mills in Kendal, and were founded in 1867.
They first started making cigarettes in 1895, and in that year they issued a set of cigarette cards called “Views of The English Lakes”. These say they were "issued by J. T. Illingworth & Sons", and are black and white views of the local area. However, just two cards are known, and one of those, "Derwentwater and Newlands" was only discovered just before the publication of the original World Tobacco Index.
Then there was quite a long break, almost a quarter of a century, before cards again appeared in 1924. These four sets were issued under the name of James Illingworth Ltd, and they were :
- Cavalry
- `Comicartoons` of Sport
- Motor Car Bonnets
- Old Hostels
Our set today is described in the original World Tobacco Index as :
CAVALRY (A) Sm. 68 x 43. Nd. (25)
Two things need to be mentioned here. The first is that (A) means that the set is not actually titled, so it was given a title for classification purposes. And the second is that most collectors tend to class this set as medium, rather than small.
The company was bought out by E. Robinson of Stockport in 1931 and the next time the Illingworth name appears on cards was in 1938, as "Illingworth`s No.10 Cigarettes". These are totally different to the rest, being medium sized black and white photographs, measuring 77 x 52 m/m, the same as were issued by Pattrieouex with "Senior Service" and "Junior Member"
After that it became part of Gallaher.