Here we have a Pembroke, or, correctly, a Pembroke Hunting-Percival, said, on the card, to be a general purpose military transport aircraft.
In fact, the "Pembroke" part is the name of the aircraft, and it was a development of the Percival Prince, which was first flown in 1948, and ours was basically just given longer wings to compensate for the extra cargo. Its first flight was on the 21st of November, 1952, and they technically retired them all in 1958, though the Royal Air Force continued to keep them going for another thirty years, which only proves how skilful the R.A.F. are. Because our card mentions communications, I hazard a guess that it shows the C.1, or first version, which was a communications and transport aircraft built for the R.A.F., of which only forty-four were built
The "Hunting-Percival" is the maker, and a lot more interesting, as Hunting started out in 1874 as a veterinary surgeon, with a sideline in shipping. That branched out into tankers, and in 1936 they started to offer aircraft maintenance, but they did not have an actual aircraft company until they bought out another company called Percival, in 1944, which had been founded as the Percival Aircraft Company in 1933, by Mr. Edgar Percival. However the combination of "Hunting-Percival" was only used between 1954 and 1957, after which it just became Hunting Aircraft and the Percival part slipped away, and after that, in 1960, it became part of the British Aircraft Corporation, and then part of British Aerospace, or B.A.E.
Now Halpin`s turned out to be much more interesting than I knew as well. They were founded in 1886, by a man called Bill Mulqueen, and they lasted for almost a hundred years, but sadly they closed down in 1984, just two short of the century.
As for cards, they are listed first in our original British Trade Index part two, as :
HALPIN`S Willow Tea
Cards issued 1958-59, as singles or doubles.
- AIRCRAFT OF THE WORLD. Sm. 68 x 36. Nd. (25). See D.202 ... HAO-1
- NATURE STUDIES. Sm. 68 x 36. Nd. (25). See D.210 ... HAO-2
Now those "D" codes tell us both these sets were issued by other companies. And, as this is going to be the home page for E. & M. Halpin, here they are, for both sets - though the dates are my addition, for reference and information, they are not in the original book.
D.202. AIRCRAFT OF THE WORLD or HISTORY OF THE AIR. Nd. (25)
- Amalgamated Tobacco Corp (Mills) - Set A46-21 (Aircraft of the World - Tobacco issue) [1958]
- Barratt - Set BAR-79.3 (History of the Air) [1960]
- Halpin - Set HAO-1 (Aircraft of the World) [1958]
- Swettenham - Set SWE-6 (Aircraft of the World) [1959]
and
D.210. ANIMALS OF THE COUNTRYSIDE or NATURE STUDIES. Nd. (25)
- Amalgamated Tobacco Corp (Mills) - Set A46-22 (Animals of the Countryside - Tobacco issue) [1958]
- Armitage Bros. - Set ARB-1 (Animals of the Countryside) [1965]
- Candy Novelty Co. - Set CAR-1 (Animals of the Countryside) [1957]
- Halpin - Set HAO-2 (Nature Studies) [1957]
- Sweetule - Set SWA-1 (Animals of the Countryside) [1959]
- Swettenham - Set SWE-7 (Animals of the Countryside) [1958]
Now in our updated British Trade Index, there are slight changes to the listing, and that reads :
HALPIN`S
Willow Tea. Issued 1957-59, as singles or in pairs
- AIRCRAFT OF THE WORLD. 68 x 36. Nd. (25). See HX-180. Also issued in pairs, with mixed numbers, some appearing twice with different numbers ... HAL-120
- NATURE STUDIES. 1957. 68 x 36. Nd. (25). See HX-9 ... HAL-130
The "HX" codes just take you to a separate handbook, but add no new information