This wistful image is from one of my favourite sets, especially these exterior shots. The Inns of Court are based in London, and they are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. Four Inns exist, Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, The Inner Temple and The Middle Temple. And wherever they practise the law in this land every barristers has to belong to one of these bodies.
There is a bit of a discrepancy here over the date of issue of this set. Our original Churchman reference book lists this as February 1932. But the London Cigarette Card Company Catalogue for 1950 quotes them as being issued in February 1922. I don`t think that can be right because the first major cigarette manufacturer to issue new cards was W.D. and H.O. Wills, with "Do You Know" later in that year. But I am happy to be corrected, By the way the London Cigarette Card Company Catalogue lists the cards at 9d. each for odds and 25/- for sets. And other sources give the date as 1924. This may be closer to the truth, as personally I think 1932 is a bit late, especially as there is another reason I like this card, for it uses a very interesting choice of words to describe the First World War, dare I say much more fitting ones, those being "the great catastrophe". There is a story there, I think, and almost certainly a sad one.
Would it still be as poignant, and lasting, and have rankled there, boiling away all the way to 1932?
I suppose if the love was a strong one, and the loss especially grievous, it may well have been.....
It was printed by Mardon, Son and Hall.
Do be aware that this set was reprinted by the Card Collectors Society in 2002