George Joseph Thompson, of Northants was, as it says on this card, born on October the 27th, 1877, and he was probably the best cricketer in the entire county. He started with the County as a teenager, and was snapped up by the Marylebone Cricket Club in the mid to late 1890s, though they did not use him until 1897.
Strangely, he only started playing for his Country in 1909, and his final Test came less than a year later.
It does not appear so on this card, but he was a striking man, well over six feet tall, and over sixteen stone in weight. This was not as much an advantage as you may be thinking, because he was lumbersome, and could be slow to get moving - though he was good on the field, where his large hands proved adept at catching and holding.
I cannot find any record of his service in the First World War, nor of an injury which is said to have prevented him playing until 1921, after which he could only bat, not bowl. This actually caused his retirement, not long after, in 1922 - yet he did not die until the third of March, 1943.
As for Reeves, Ltd., of Glasgow, almost nothing remains. We know that they retailed both chocolate and cocoa, and made other confectionery maker, and that their premises was right on the corner of Barrowfield and Stamford Streets, in Bridgeton, Glasgow, from about 1900. Like many early chocolate makers, Frank Reeve was a Quaker - however if you look at the apostrophe on the card, it bills the company as "Reeves`" rather than "Reeve`s", so there must have been more than one family member involved in some way.
There seems some confusion at the start, because Reeves is thought to have been connected in some way with British Automatic; however we think that arose because Reeves bought the factory from another company called Sweetmeat Automatic Delivery, who had made vending machines for sweets, and whose head office was 14 Appold Street, London. They were registered in November 1887 but had been a private business for a while. However it seems plausible that Reeves might have branched out by using the same machinery and filling them with their own sweets.
After Reeves left, it was used by various bakeries, Welma, and Sunblest. But today all have gone.
This set is described in our original British Trade Index as :
REEVES` Ltd. Glasgow
Chocolate. Cards issued about 1912,
- CRICKETERS (A). Sm. 63 x 38. Nd. (25) ... REK-1