Here we have the first major group of people to migrate, the Huguenots, or French Protestants, though they also came from Belgium. They departed, en masse, throughout the sixteenth, seventeeth and eighteenth centuries, under penalty of death, simply because of their religion, which remains one of the largest reasons for migration to this day. As they became established, they shared with us their skill at silk weaving, which was almost a forgotten trade over here, as well as their expertise in many different arts, from manufacturing and repairing decorative objects, to the architecture of our palaces and homes, and the way their interiors were dressed.
This card is described as "The Huguenot", but that is not the full title of the work, it ought to read "A Huguenot, on St. Bartholomew's Day, Refusing to Shield Himself from Danger by Wearing the Roman Catholic Badge".
It is also a painting with a dark secret, for it is not just a pair of young lovers, the girl is trying to beseech her boyfriend to wear the white armband that she has made him. The reason for the armband is that the Huguenots, French Protestants, were under attack, and a decree was made that on St. Bartholomew`s Day, August 24, 1572, all that were seen not wearing the white armband denoting that they were Catholics, would be killed. Approximately almost a quarter of a million were, when all parts of France were added together, but statistics then were not so well gathered, and in many areas, especially rural, we can only have but guesses.
Even more that than, this painting tells another story. For the fact that she is giving him an armband must mean that not only is she Catholic, and so breaking every rule by becoming his lover, but that the band is hers, but she would rather die herself than let him be killed.
The original painting is in colour, and it is part of a private collection. We do not know why Wills chose to depict it in brown, but at the time of issue a lot of other cards rendered great works into monotone, and Wills was no stranger to doing it - including their 1913-14 "Art Photogravures", which includes another of the works by this artist, John Everett Millais, namely "The Boyhood of Raleigh". However, in August 1930, that painting did appear at last in its natural hues, as part of the sectional series "A Famous Picture".
Reportedly the artist was working on a picture of two lovers and then went to see the opera "Les Huguenots" at Covent Garden, which recounts the fatal event from the viewpoint of two fictitious lovers. However the opera was at Covent Garden in 1836 and our painting was not done for at least ten years, not finished until 1851, and then exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1852.
As far as our set, this is first described in our original reference book (RB.16) to the issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills, part IV, (which is actually Parts 1-3 revised and Part 4), written and complied by Edward Wharton-Tigar, and published in 1950. The entry reads :
CELEBRATED PICTURES by British Artists. Large cards, size 80 x 62 m/m. Fronts printed by gravure in brown and white. Backs in brown with descriptive text. Home issues 1916.
165. 25. "A Series of 25 Subjects". Numbered 1-25. Two grades of board (a) white (b) cream. Colour of backs varies from light to dark brown and marked differences can be noted in size of lettering on some cards.
166. 25 ""2nd Series of 25 Subjects". Numbered 1-25.
Now when these books were long out of print, but still being requested, they were reprinted as a hardback volume containing all the parts, and, at the same time, two tables of issue dates were added, which had formerly appeared in the Wills Works Magazine. These reveal that the first series of our set was issued in February 1916, and the second series followed straight on in November 1916. However this second series had an extraordinarily short shelf life, as they were replaced the following month, December 1916, by the set of "Punch Cartoons". Now, oddly, there is only one date for that set, and yet there were two series - this probably means that they followed straight on and it was not thought worth recording the second section`s actual issue date, but yet they did record both parts of ours.
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the sets were recorded as simply :
CELEBRATED PICTURES. Lg. Brown Gravures. Nd. ... W62-73
1. "A Series of 25".
2. "2nd Series of 25".
However there were a few omissions here, which were rectified in our updated version of this volume, which catalogues them as :
CELEBRATED PICTURES. Lg. Brown Gravures. Nd. ... W675-106
1. "A Series of 25 Subjects" Backs in (a) dark brown (b) orange brown. Length of captions on front differs between the two printings, but not consistently.
2. "2nd Series of 25 Subjects".