This clue referred to the team, Plymouth Argyle, for though Francis Drake was born in Tavistock, Devon, he was sent young, to a relative, a William Hawkins, who was a sea captain, based in Plymouth. There are other links between our man and Plymouth too - in 1572, it was where he was playing bowls when told of the Spanish Armada. And he became its mayor in 1581.
This is Moses Russell, described as "The brilliant full-back and captain of Plymouth Argyle".
His full name was Moses Richard Russell, and he was actually Welsh, being born in Tredegar on the 20th of May 1888, so when this card was issued he was thirty-four years. He started out as a coal miner, but was spotted by someone from the Ton Pentre team whilst having a knockabout with the other miners.
The Trading Card Database/Moses Russell has him on six cards but does not include ours. They have his "Rookie" card as Cope Bros. "Clips" branded "Noted Footballers", which started to be issued in 1910, and he is listed on that card as being with Ton Pentre.
Plymouth Argyle was his team for most of his life, starting in the 1913-14 season (though Gallaher`s "Famous Footballers" (1925) says that he "was secured by Plymouth Argyle in 1911-12), though he did start out with a couple of Welsh teams and also played for Wales as an International. He is wearing one of his caps here in this picture, and actually without it he would have been quite bald, having lost his hair through rheumatic fever as a child.
During the First World War he was in the Army Service Corps, working with the Mechanised Transport Division. Because he was an ex-miner, it is likely that this was something to do with mechanics and the repairing of faulty vehicles. He also served in the Second World War, and on his Wikipedia page his biographical section closes with "after the war, he worked at the Royal Propellant Factory at Chepstow where he died in December 1946". I have not been able to track down how this happened, though I can add that this was actually at Caerwent, not Chepstow - and that it was where the munitions for the Royal Navy were made, involving cordite, sulphuric acid, and nitroglycerine.
This card is a bit confusing, too, because it is titled "Famous Football Captains", but it is actually part of a larger set which was called "Sportsmen" by early researchers. We featured a card from "Sporting Champions" in our newsletter for the 29th of September 2023, as the card for Sunday the 1st of October - and will try and get one of each of the others shown too as we progress.
The group is listed in our original British Trade Index part I as :
SPORTSMEN (A). Sm. 68-70 x 43-45. Black photos. Nd. Dated 22-1-22 to 28-4-23. (C). ... AMC-16.
1. "Sporting Champions" - Nd. 1/29 and 42
2. "Famous Football Captains" - Nd. 30/41 and 43/57
3. "Famous Footballers" - Nd. 58 and 60/62
4. "Billy Matthews" (Boxer - No.59) and "Famous British Record Holders" - Nd. 63/66
This information is added to in part III of the original British Trade Index, by a discovery, that being that
Two different subjects were issued at Nos. 3 to 5, clearly to cater for readers in Scotland and England, as follows -
No.3 ..... J. Rutherford (Arsenal/England) - J. Gilchrist (Celtic)
No.4 ..... Horace Barnes (Manchester City) - Alex Troup (Dundee)
No.5 ..... Jessie Pennington (West Bromwich Albion) - N. Harper (Hibernian)
As far as "The Champion", it was a newbie, being first published on the 28th January 1922. However that does not compute with the date of our first card given in the above listing, which says "22-1-22".
I have now had a chat to a collector, and he says that card number one was actually Georges Carpentier (Boxer). The reverse of this card says "Presented with "The Champion" No.1 Jan 28th 1922 - Sporting Champions - No.1. Georges Carpentier Lt H.W. Champion of the World. Next Week : Jimmy Wilde - Order In Advance".