Frederick John Luke was born on the 29th of September, 1895, at Lockerley, a small village in Hampshire. er 1895, being registered as Frederick John Luke at birth. His father, William Luke, drove a van for a grain miller, and there were thirteen children in the small cottage.
When our man left school he went to work at another farm, as a labourer, and he may have always remained so, but, in January 1913, he joined the army. That made him one of the first to leave for France, on the 19th of August, 1914.
In France, he was a driver, not of cars, but the man who drove the teams of horses down to the front line with the guns. Just one week after he landed, one of his Captains, a man called Douglas Reynolds, was trying to bring back a couple of field guns which had been taken by the Germans, but left behind in the melee. Two drivers, our man, and a Job Henry Charles Drain, went to help, perhaps even with their horses, and they managed to get one of the guns back, under heavy fire, because the enemy were, at that time, still quite close.
All three of these men received the Victoria Cross, on the 25th of November, 1914. Douglas Reynolds, 37th Battery of the Royal Field Artillery, and billed as a Major, not a Captain, is card 21 of this very series. Whilst Driver J.H.C. Drain is card 7.
Frederick Luke was wounded on the 2nd May 1915, at the Second Battle of Ypres, and it was a "Blighty Wound", which meant he was sent home for treatment, though it also means his wounds were too serious to be treated in the field. He went to Yorkshire, but was then sent to Glasgow. And he did go back to France, in January 1918, still in the Field Artillery.
After the war, he got married, to a girl he had met at the Glasgow hospital. And he was one of the men to stand honour guard for the burial of the Unknown Warrior, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1920.
In peace, he became a clerk, and raised three children. He must have decided to stay in Glasgow, for he re-enlisted there in 1941, this time in the R.A.F. but he never seems to have flown, he was an instructor, and then went on the boats that would attempt to bring in downed pilots. His two sons were also in that war. And after the war he got a job at Weirs, in Glasgow, possibly a mechanic.
In 1962 he was surprised to learn he had been given the Freedom of the Town of Le Cateau, and this seems to have inspired in him a great fondness for attending military reunions and celebrations. one of which even took him to Buckingham Palace. He died, in Glasgow, on the 12th of March 1983, aged eighty-seven.
This set is a variant of a set that was issued several times, and you can see the `Scissors` branded version, issued in January 1915, as our Card of the Day for the 28th of December, 2025. You can also investigate the "Havelock" one, which is part of our newsletter for the 8th of November, 2025, where it was our Armistice Day card, on Tuesday, the 11th November.
This set was only ever issued overseas, and you will find it first described in one of our original Wills booklets, part three, where the text reads ;
- 109. 25. VICTORIA CROSS HEROES. Size 64 x 37 m/m. Fronts lithographed in colour ; backs with descriptive text.
AUSTRALIAN ISSUES :-
A. Red backs, with "Havelock" advertisement
B. Red-brown backs, with "Wills`s Specialities" advertisement
"SCISSORS" ISSUES :-
C. Red backs, with upright "Scissors" packet"
Varieties :- card No.21 is found (a) with front "Captain", back "Major" Reynolds (b) with front and back "Major" Reynolds.
"GENERAL OVERSEAS ISSUE :-
D. Blue backs, anonymous
I am struck by how our set, and the `Scissors` version both have small Victoria Crosses at the end of the chain beneath the title, whilst the `Havelock` and the anonymous one are totally different, managing to fit a huge Victoria Cross in between the words saying "Victoria Cross" and the line saying "Heroes". In fact we now know that the anonymous version was issued by Imperial Tobacco of Canada.
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, these sets have been dispersed, the `Scissors` branded Indian version , and the anonymous one being relocated. The two Australian ones do remain together, and are entered as :
- VICTORIA CROSS HEROES. Sm. 64 x 37. Nd. (25) See W/109 ... W62-247
A. `Havelock` back. Brand issue.
B. `Wills`s Specialities` back
In our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, the Australian versions are listed as
- 25. VICTORIA CROSS HEROES. Sm. 64 x 37. Nd. (25) See W/109 ... W675-379
A. `Havelock` back. Brand issue. B. `Wills`s Specialities` back