Our second clue card was again a set which was issued in April, of 1914. The second clue was a bit more fiendish as the first win for this jockey. William "Bill" Dollery, came in his first race, on Easter Monday, April the 14th, 1884, at Chandler`s Ford, a racecourse long gone, but which once saw much action, and many thundering hooves. It was, also, convenient to the railway station, which has also changed its name, to Valley Park. Actually our man was lucky, for its first race took place in 1883 and its last in 1885 - which makes my "much action" rather an overstatement. Our man was not young, either, having been born on January the 23rd, 1863, nor had he followed the traditional path to becoming a jockey, for he had been a shepherd. And thirty years later he would win the 1893 Grand National, another race traditionally held in April, by forty lengths, after only having been called up to hop aboard the horse, Cloister, when the intended jockey fell at Sandown and lost an eye.
Our man was luckier, his worst injury in his whole career being a broken collarbone. He left riding, and went into training, and he died on March the second, 1936, aged seventy-three.
This card is intriguing for it cites the owner as having been Ivor E. Hughes, and I cannot trace him at all. But maybe you know of him.
Now you might think we have used this set before, and we have, but in the Anonymous, plain backed, British American Tobacco version, when we featured Frederick James Archer in Lord Falmouth`s colours, as the five of diamonds. That was in our newsletter for the 11th of January 2025, as the diary date for Saturday the 11th of January, so not far to scroll down.
Our version is the Wills one, which is first recorded in our original Wills booklet, part four, as :
- 249. 53. JOCKEYS AND OWNERS COLOURS - with Playing Card inset. (adopted title). Unnumbered. Fronts lithographed in colour, with Playing Card inset.Series comprises complete pack of cards including Joker. Issued between 1905-1910.
A. "Scissors" issue. Back in red, with illustration of open "Scissors" packet, no other letterpress.
B. General Overseas Issue. Plain backs, anonymous issue
And that is not much altered in our World Tobacco Issues Index under section 4.G, covering Export issues distributed with their "Scissors" brand, where it appears as :
- "JOCKEYS AND OWNERS COLOURS (A). Sm. 63 x 38. Playing-cards inset. (53). See W/249.A. ...W62-363".
The only thing different to this in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index is a new card code, of W675-509