This clue was also a bit cryptic, for the "Billy" should have made you think of a goat, as in goat-ee beard. And a goatee beard is one which only has hair under the bottom lip and the chin, though it can also be used to form part of other styles. This is supposed to look like the hanging hair of a goat`s beard, and I suppose it does, if you think that the goat`s face ends abruptly below the lip, there is not so much chin as on a human.
Here we have Billy Wells, and you will often find him using another title, of "Bombardier" Billy Wells, because, as several cards tell us, he was formerly a bombardier in the Army, during the First World War, serving with the Welch Regiment. Now that is quite a risky job, because he has to tend to the guns, loading them with ammunition, which he often had to prime first, then constantly make sure that the vents at the top of the breech stay open, and do not get blocked by gunpowder residue, or even by unexpended bullets and/or shell cases. Now somehow he seems to have not kept that job all through the war, as he later became a physical training instructor, still with the Welch Regiment in the First World War and ended up instructing troop physical training.
He also won The Lonsdale Belt, being the first heavyweight to win it. At that time it was made of solid gold, and it currently owned by the Royal Artillery, though it is no longer at their Barracks in Woolwich - and it is still with the Royal Artillery, though at another location.
The connection with the Royal Artillery is that he actually joined the Royal Artillery in 1906, as a gunner, and was sent to India. He had started boxing as a teenager, but once out in India became very successful, winning several championships. During this time he was promoted from a gunner to a bombardier, and then, in 1910, he bought himself out of the forces and returned to England to become a professional boxer. I am not sure why he did not rejoin the Royal Artillery. It could be that he regretted it and left them the belt, or he may never have thought about them again and they simply bought the belt at auction. I will try to find out.
I could try to write you a brief story of his life, or I could send you off to read The Story of Bombardier - and, amazingly, that site actually belongs to a beer company! For a more detailed one, head to Wikipedia/BillyWells and for his stats to BoxRec/Wells
This set is anonymous, but we know it was issued by Teofani and it was never listed at the back of the book with the other un-identified cards. It first appears in our World Tobacco Issues Index as :
FAMOUS BOXERS (A). Sm. 63 x 37. Chocolate brown. Brand issue. Back, "Issued with `The Favourite` Magnums ...." Nd. (25). See X1/Ha.579.D ... T18-4
That X1 code appears in our original handbook, which is sometimes separate and sometimes combined in one volume with the World Tobacco Issues Index. The text there reads :
X1/Ha.579. FAMOUS BOXERS. Also issued by Cohen Weenen, and with Anonymous back. The four backs are illustrated at Fig.X1/Ha.579, and the following are the printings known.
A. Cohen Weenen. Back 1.
Front in black & white, without caption or number,
(a) back in black
(b) back in green. In this printing No.17 is "Gunboat Smith". No.17 in the other printing is "The Dixie Kid"B. Anonymous, with letterpress on back. Back 2. Front as A
C. Hudden. Back 3. Front in brown, with caption and number.
D. Teofani. Back 4. Front as C. Brand issue, inscribed "The Favourite Magnums Cigarettes"
Now in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index the cataloguing is slightly different to in the original. That reads :
FAMOUS BOXERS (A). Sm. 63 x 37. Chocolate brown. Brand issue. Back, "Issued with `The Favourite` Magnums ...." Nd. (25). See H.579. ... T200-260
The only problem with this is that there is no H.579, it is actually H.721. But what must have happened was that the X1/Ha.579 linked to the original London Cigarette Card Company Handbook, and when the update was made it was not cross checked.