This card refers to the fact that Fort Nelson, in Portsmouth, is actually the centre for the Royal Armouries national collection of artillery and historic cannon.
There are several reasons for this. When it was built, the intention was for it to fire cannons at invading French forces in the event that they were spotted attempting to gain access to Portsmouth Harbour, and to repel them. However it was never used for this purpose. It was only used as barracks in the First World War, and during the Second World War, though many shells and other ammunition was kept there, it was only for storage until it could be transported to the network of local anti-aircraft posts. You can read all about that courtesy of a pdf produced by the Royal Armouries for Fort Nelson.
One of the star attractions at this museum is a two hundred tonne railway howitzer. Our card is not that, but it does show a gun barrel on a railway carriage, being transported from a depot, and it is not hard to see how this would have suggested the idea of making a gun that ran along a railway line. In fact the first version was simply a naval gun like ours that had been mounted on a railway carriage, though this was of course a goods carriage and not a passenger one. Then they kept the naval gun but designed a better carriage that fitted around it more effectively, and disguised it with tarpaulins and ropes.
They did see service on the Western Front, but were not as effective as had been hoped, plus they soon proved to be a good target for aerial bombing and sabotage. Though they did resurface again in the Second World War, mainly by stationing them along the English coastline to fire across into France. And some of the original guns and carriages were even re-used.
There were actually two sets of “The Great War Series”, both of a hundred cards. We featured a card from the second series as our Card of the Day for the 5th of December, 2024.
Both appear, one after the other, in our original Gallaher reference book, RB.4, published in 1944, recorded as :
1915.THE GREAT WAR SERIES (titled series). Size 2 1/2" x 1 1/2". Numbered 1-100. Fronts, lithographed in full colour, black marginal lines, white margins, subjects titled. Backs, printed in grey, with descriptions and "Issued by Gallaher Ltd., Belfast & London".
1916. THE GREAT WAR SERIES (titled series). Inscribed "Second Series". Different subjects to the above, and numbered 101-200. Fronts, lithographed in full colour, black marginal lines, white margins, subjects titled. Backs, printed in grey, with descriptions and "Issued by Gallaher Ltd., Belfast & London".
Error card No.147. This shows the rifle on the wrong shoulder. A corrected card was issued.
The error card, No. 147, is entitled : “Dress worn by Troops at Tsing-Tau”. The error card is not that rare, and it should be quite possible to find one without too much trouble.
Now by the time our World Tobacco Issues Index was issued the description was much shorter, only :
THE GREAT WAR SERIES. Sm. Nd. (100) ... G12-19
1. Nos. 1/100 (100)
2, "Second Series ", Nd. 101/200 (100)
This text is identical in our updated version, save the code, and also the fact that both series have been squeezed on to the same line.