Card of the Day - 2026-07-02

Smith Derby Winners
F. & J. SMITH [tobacco : UK - Glasgow] "Derby Winners" (July 1913) 4/50 - S548-150 : S84-6

I picked this card simply because of the fact that the reverse mentions this race as being "the only occasion of the great race being run during a snowstorm". 

And that turns out to be true, though the severity seems not to have been as bad as the papers reported. But we do know that on May the 22nd, 1867, Derby Day was run in a mixture of freezing winds, sleet, and heavy snow, and that the bad weather led to not only ten false starts, but by the race itself starting in earnest almost an hour later than had been intended. 

As for the characters on the front,

  • Mr. Chaplin - This was actually The Right Honourable The Viscount Henry Chaplin, a member of the Privy Council. Aged just twenty-one, he had inherited vast sums from his uncle, which led to him being considered one of England`s most eligible bachelors. Another on that list was Harry Hastings, his best friend, at least of the time, because they fell out, big time, over a woman. Her name was Lady Florence Paget, and though she was a little in love with both men, she had accepted our man`s proposal. It was to be the wedding of the year, until a month beforehand, when she went into Marshall and Snelgrove and exited by another door, straight into the waiting cab, and presumably arms, of Harry Hastings, for they were married that day, after which she wrote our man a letter saying they would never have been happy together. But the feud festered on; Harry Hastings was bidding on our horse Hermit when our man suddenly joined in to trump him, and at the Derby Harry Hastings put almost all his savings on Hermit losing, only to be the loser himself. This is also mentioned on our card, where it says "Heavy gambling was associated with this year`s Derby and a few large fortunes were won and lost". Harry Hastings died the following year, and his widow wrote to our man begging forgiveness (and maybe a second chance, for now she was not just a widow, she was a penniless one) but he never spoke to her again, nor answered any of the letters that she repeatedly sent. 
     
  • J Daley - John Daley was born in 1846 in Newmarket, and his father was a racehorse trainer, which is how he probably got drafted in. His major claim to fame is winning the Epsom Derby, our race on our horse, and also the Epsom Oaks, on Hippia, both in the same year, However he grew too tall and heavy and was forced to retire in 1870, after winning the Two Thousand Guineas race, for which he was actually overweight. He died twenty years later. 
     
  • Hermit was by Newminster, (the 1851 winner of the St. Leger) out of Seclusion, and he was foaled in 1864. He was bred by William Blenkiron, probably the most famous breeder of the age, and put up for auction in 1865. He was sold, for a thousand guineas, to Captain James Octavius Machell, who was, or who was in the process of becoming, racing manager for a man called Henry Chaplin. Hermit first ran in April 1866. He was thought to be an interesting prospect for the Derby but had some kind of incident in training shortly before it which led to his form being downgraded. This was his only Derby win but he did win the St. James Palace Stakes in the same year, though it was to be his last one at racing, for he suffered badly after running three times in three days at Doncaster, coming in more than once with a bleeding nose and mouth and being completely exhausted. After that, he retired to stud, where he had an even more illustrious career, and would go on to be the leading sire, and the leading broodmare sire, in Great Britain and Ireland, several times. Now the decision to send him out to stud seemed odd to me, because it is very often the case that this form of nasal bleeding, which is also taking place on the inside too, is genetic, and after searching the archives I did indeed find that both his mother and his father had been reported as suffering it, so it almost certainly popped up later in more than a few of his children. And guess what, the "incident in training" also turns out to be severe bleeding from the nose. And he lives on, though he died on the 29th of April 1890 - for his skeleton is at the Royal Veterinary College in London, and has been used to train generations of students. And it seems likely that this picture of the him comes from a painting, by Harry Hall, done in the 1870s. 

The cataloguing of this set actually begins in Cartophilic World, which was the official Cartophilic Society publication between March 1943 and November/December 1964. It may have continued, but in 1965 we took the Cameric Cigarette Card Club beneath our wings, and began again with volume one, number one of "The Cartophilic Notes and News", a title which combined our “Cartophilic World”, with their “Cameric Notes and News”. That entry is right at the back of volume 3, number 33, in the edition dated for November 1945, and it reads as follows : 

                                                  F. & J. SMITH (continued)

                                        "DERBY WINNERS" - series of fifty.
Another "duplex" series consisting of pictures of Derby winners from 1864 to 1912 with photo of owner and trainer inset. Date of issue approximately July, 1913. 

                                         ADVERTISEMENTS ON CARD BACKS

  1.  "Squaw" Thick Black Tobacco 
  2.  "Pinewood" Cigarettes
  3.   Glasgow Mixture, Mild, Medium, and Full
  4.  "Orchestra" Cigarettes
  5.   Auld Brig Flake
  6.  "Studio" Cigarettes
  7.  "Studio" Cigarettes
  8.   Wild Geranium Cigarettes
  9.  "Pinewood" Cigarettes
  10.  "Albion" Gold Flake Cigarettes
  11.  "Albion" Gold Flake Cigarettes
  12.   Glasgow Mixture, Mild, Medium, and Full
  13.  "Orchestra" Cigarettes
  14.   Goodwill Virginia
  15.  "Kashan" Cigarettes
  16.  "Pinewood" Cigarettes
  17.   Sun Cured Mixture
  18.   No. 1 Mixture
  19.  "Squaw" Thick Black Tobacco 
  20.  "Albion" Gold Flake Cigarettes
  21.  "Orchestra" Cigarettes
  22.  "Pinewood" Cigarettes
  23.   Auld Brig Flake
  24.  "Studio" Cigarettes
  25.  "Pinewood" Cigarettes
  26.  "Pinewood" Cigarettes
  27.   Sun Cured Mixture
  28.  "Orchestra" Cigarettes
  29.   Cut Golden Bar "Twilight" Brand
  30.   "Albion" Gold Flake Cigarettes
  31.   Glasgow Mixture, Mild, Medium, and Full
  32.   Goodwill Virginia
  33.   "Kashan" Cigarettes
  34.   Cut Golden Bar "Twilight" Brand
  35.   Glasgow Mixture, Mild, Medium, and Full
  36.  "Studio" Cigarettes
  37.  "Pinewood" Cigarettes
  38.   Wild Geranium Cigarettes
  39.  "Orchestra" Cigarettes
  40.   "Kashan" Cigarettes
  41.   Glasgow Mixture, Mild, Medium, and Full
  42.   Glasgow Mixture, Mild, Medium, and Full
  43.  "Studio" Cigarettes
  44.  "Pinewood" Cigarettes
  45.  "Pinewood" Cigarettes
  46.   "Albion" Gold Flake Cigarettes
  47.   No. 1 Mixture
  48.   No. 1 Mixture 
  49.   Glasgow Mixture, Mild, Medium, and Full
  50.  "Pinewood" Cigarettes

By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index it is therefore recorded as :

  • DERBY WINNERS. Sm. Brown. Nd. (50). Vari-backed, 14 wordings - see C.W., page 264 ... S84-6

However, and sadly, because the chance of tracking down back issues of "The Cartophilic World" has grown ever smaller with the passing of time, the entry in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index is simply recorded as :

  • DERBY WINNERS. Sm. Brown. Nd. (50). Vari-backed, 14 wordings ... S548-150