Newsletter - 2025-05-03

Saturday, 26th April 2025

... this was chosen because these items were issued with the magazine "Victor", though it does not say so anywhere on them, only on the sheets from which they were pressed or cut out, and in most cases those have long since been discarded. 

Here we have one of the more active cards from this set, some are simply footballers standing still.

Our man is Colin Addison, and he was born on the eighteenth of May, 1940, in Taunton, Somerset. However the fact that he signed for York City makes me think that his family had relocated to Taunton temporarily at the start of the Second World War, thinking York was a bigger target, or his father had been stationed down there and the family had got lodgings nearby. I will try to find out.

Anyway he was with York City for four years, from 1957, when he was seventeen, to 1961. He then moved about a bit, and in the next twelve years he had stints at Nottingham Forest, Arsenal. Sheffield United and Hereford United, who he also managed at the same time as playing. After he left them he went into managing solely, all around the globe. 

Now it was not until I was sent the missing link that I found the cards in our British Trade Index part two, because the line at the feet of Mr. Addison is not very thick. But now i have the missing link I can see that you insert the semi circle up the small line and you get a cross shape on which your footballer stands up on your desk etc (albeit very briefly, if you have a dog, or small child, or even a gust of wind).

Once I saw this I found the set quickly, and it is catalogued as :

• FOOTBALLERS - TO STAND UP (A). Issued in sheets, models about 90 x 100 m/m/ high when cut from sheet. Unnd. ... THO-208
  
  1. Issued January, 1965. Inscribed "The Victor". 3 sheets :-
  
         1. John Sjoberg, Cliff jones, Bobby Moore, Len Allchurch, Jim Baxter, Brian Miller, Fred Pickering, Colin Addison
         2. Denis Law, Johnny Haynes, Charlie Aitken, Alec Hamilton, Norbert Lawton, Mel Nurse, Ronnie Clayton, Terry Paine
        3. Gordon Milne, Jimmy McIlroy, Dave Holt, Jimmy Armfield.
  
  2. Issued October, 1965. Inscribed "Hotspur". 2 sheets :-
  
       1. Alan Suddick, Alan Sealey, Jacky McInally, Billy McNeil, Joe Kiernan
       2. Chris Lawler, Barry Bridges, Jackie Charlton, George Best, John Greig
  
  3. Issued February, 1968. Inscribed "The Victor". 2 sheets :-
  
       1. Clive Clark, George Mulhall, Mike England, Tony Hately, Nobby Stiles, John Giles, John Clark, Martin Peters, Peter Osgood
      2. George Eastham, Alan Ball, Joe Baker, Pat Stanton, George Cohen, David Ford, Willie Henderson, Terry Neill, Dave Gibson

This is unaltered until our British Trade Index part three, and that is only to adjust the size, simply reading :

• THO-208 (Footballers - To Stand Up). Correct size of models to 100 x 30 m/m

However in our updated British Trade Index the ones by "The Victor" and the ones by "Hotspur" are suddenly split, so this listing reads :

• FOOTBALLERS - TO STAND UP (A) (H)(V). Shaped, about 100 x 30. Issued in cardboard sheets. Unnd. See HT-44 ... THO-360
  
  1. (V) 1965, January. Unnd (3). 2. (H). 1965, October. Unnd (2). 3. (V) 1968. Unnd. (2)
   
• FOOTBALLERS - TO STAND UP (A) (VC). About 75-80 x 20-35. Unnd. (12) Press-outs to stand up. Issued as one sheet. See HT-45 ... THO-365

The problem with this is that the abbreviations are quoted in the header as (V) for "Vanguard", and (VC) being for "The Victor"

The HT codes are in the updated British Trade Index Handbook and that is not with me. I am at the bottom of the garden.

Sunday, 27th April 2025

Here we have the other word in the title of the stamps, "Valour". Now that means bravery, or courage, especially in the face of a foe at war, but it actually comes down from the Vikings, for in ancient Norse it means "the dead". It also means "a place where dead lie", though, most usually a battlefield, and from that it was slightly adjusted to mean the people who had fought with glory, but not survived. 

This is a very unusual medal, and yes, it was named after Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. It began in 1866, five years after his death, as a medal with a blue background, as we show here, simply because it was to be given for people who saved lives at sea. There were two classes, the first, in gold, and the second, in bronze. But most importantly it was not a medal for soldiers and sailors, it was an award for civilian gallantry. And the first recipient was a farmer, Samuel Popplestone, who helped rescue four men off a cargo ship which had been swept on to rocks in a massive gale.

In 1877 the medal was also made available with a red background for saving lives on the land, and that also came because of a single event, the Tynewydd colliery disaster. And it was first given to a physician. It also came in first and second class forms. 

In 1917 the name was slightly changed, to become the "Albert Medal in Gold" (the former first class), and the "Albert Medal" (the former second class). This remained through the Second World War up until 1949, when the  "Albert Medal in Gold" was removed from the medal roll and replaced by the George Cross, though the former second class "Albert Medal" was still given, posthumously. Then, in 1971, it gets even more confusing, because living recipients were given a chance to exchange their Albert Medals for George Crosses. I have also been unable to find how many were awarded during the Second World War but one day I will add that too.

This set is catalogued in our original British Trade Index part two, as :

• BRITISH ORDERS OF CHIVALRY & VALOUR. Sm. 60 x 31. Nd. (25). Back in (a) black (b) blue ... CLZ-2

And this remains virtually the same in our updated British Trade Index, as

• BRITISH ORDERS OF CHIVALRY & VALOUR. 1957. 60 x 31. Nd. (25). Back in (a) black (b) blue ... CLE-090

Monday, 28th April 2025

Our card today was selected simply for the time frame. World War Two, however it also represents the entire air force and the civilian workers, whose place of employment was not only a huge target, but they were often caught up in the chaos when a landing or take off went awry.  And most of all it celebrates two of those commemorated on the new stamp issue -

• Squadron Leader Mohinder Singh Pujji DFC, born on the 14th of August, 1918, in Simla, India, one of the first Sikhs to volunteer, who flew primarily Hurricanes but also Spitfires for the Royal Air Force and the Royal Indian Air Force between 1940 and 1946. However, before the war he was a pilot with Himalayan Airways. He died aged 92, in Kent. He is shown wearing his Sikh headwear, which he wore throughout his flying career, despite the fact that it prevented him wearing his oxygen mask, and that would later lead to lung damage. He died, of a stroke, aged ninety-two.
   
• Lilian Bader was born Lilian Bailey on the 18th of February 1918, in Toxteth, Liverpool, England. Her father was from Barbados, and he was a merchant seaman. Her mother was Irish. Their father died when she was just nine, and she was put in a convent. It is not clear whether she ever saw her two brothers again. She enlisted right at the start of the Second World War, but faced prejudice from the authorities, and was dismissed. It took her until 1941 to join up again, in the Women`s Auxiliary Air Force. Though they were not allowed to fly Spitfires, they were charged with maintaining them. They were also, oddly, allowed to train new pilots, before they went in the air. Miss Bailey was also trained in instrument repair, becoming a Leading Aircraftwoman, and then a Corporal. She also got married, in 1943, to Mr. Ramsay Bader, who was a tank driver in the Royal Artillery. She had her first child in February 1944. and two subsequently. She died at the age of ninety-seven.

This set, and all the Trucards issues, appear in our original British Trade Index volume III, and we do have a homepage for this issuer, with our Card of the Day for the 28th of June 2023 - where all the other sets are listed, with links out and in to see them.

The full listing of this set reads :

TRUCARDS, Thornton Heath, Surrey.
Cards Issued 1972

• World War II. 69 x 45. “Series No.5”. Nd. (30) ... TRWM-8

Now sadly this issuer does not appear in the updated British Trade Index, because the cards are commercial. That was one of the (sadly necessary) exclusions that was decided to keep the book small enough to handle. 

Tuesday, 29th April 2025

This is a readers card, who noticed the similarity between it and the card by Clevedon Confectionery that we featured on Sunday.

The text on today`s card and Sunday`s is almost identical, but parts have been excised. The top is entirely the same, word for word, right until you get down to "The Albert Medal in Gold and The Albert Medal". Then Sunday`s card just closes with "The former 1st class and the latter 2nd Class", whereas ours closes with "The former (Ist class) is worked in gold and bronze and the latter (2nd class) entirely in bronze. Any subsequent acts of gallantry may be recorded by bars, and recipients can use the letters A.M. after their name.".  So did Clevedon copy their words off the back of the older sets, and when they ran out of space (because they used a horizontal format) just condense what was left?

I was just going to add this scan as part of the listing for the Clevedon set, but when I started looking it up I found it to be a very tangled tale, as our version is branded for De Reszke, and that is a brand by Millhoff. However you will not find it under their name in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, because, as the listing for Millhoff in there tells us, "For brand issues inscribed "De Reszke Cigarettes" and cards inscribed with both Millhoff and Phillips names, see under Godfrey Phillips."

So I then returned to the library, and found our original Godfrey Phillips reference book, (RB.13, issued in 1949), where their version of this set is described as :

• 43. 25. BRITISH ORDERS OF CHIVALRY AND VALOUR. Small cards, size 67 x 37 m/m. Fronts printed by letterpress, order in colour on black background. Backs in sepia, with descriptive text. Issued in export brands , 1939. Similar series issued by United Kingdom Tobacco Co. 

Strangely, you may think, there is no mention of Millhoff. This is even stranger when you discover that in the 1950 London Cigarette Card Catalogue the set was not listed under Millhoff, instead it is under Godfrey Phillips, recorded as :

• 25. BRITISH ORDERS OF CHIVALRY AND VALOUR. (1939). Ha.599
        A. Back "Godfrey Phillips Ltd., and Associated Companies"
        B. Back "De Reszke Cigarettes" (no maker`s name)

No prices appear for either of these versions, which only means they had insufficient stock at that present time to allow for mass orders. They did, however, offer the United Kingdom Tobacco version, as :

• 25. BRITISH ORDERS OF CHIVALRY AND VALOUR. (Nov.1936) - "The Grey`s Cigarettes"   
        Ha.599                                         odds          sets 
                                        2d. *          4/6

The asterisk tells us that "Special offers of sets of these series appear in our Abridged Catalogue" (and I bought the 1939 one of those at the Convention this weekend....)

The entry Ha.599 takes us to the original London Cigarette Card Handbook, where the entry is : 

• Ha.599  BRITISH ORDERS OF CHIVALRY AND VALOUR. (titled series) Front in colour.     Numbered series of 25.
               Phillips -  A. Back "Godfrey Phillips Ltd., and Associated Companies"
                              B. Back "De Reszke Cigarettes" (no maker`s name)
               United Kingdom Tobacco Co. - Back "The Greys Cigarettes" without maker`s name.

Anyway, back to our original World Tobacco Issues Index, and to Godfrey Phillips, where their entry reads 

• BRITISH ORDERS OF CHIVALRY AND VALOUR. Sm. Nd. (25). See Ha.599 ... P50-98 

This text is repeated under the listing for United Kingdom Tobacco Co., where it is catalogued with the issues circulated with "The Greys" brand, the only difference is the card code, of U10-8. If you look at those cards, they are identical on the reverse, the same shield with the set title, and bugler on galloping horse, but at the bottom the inscription reads : "THE "GREYS" CIGARETTES"

Oddly, in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, these are listed under Millhoff, in section 1.C, for "The DeReszke brand issues. Cards inscribed "De Reszke Cigarettes", or "De Reszke Minors Cigarettes" without name of firm. Period 1934-39",  and catalogued as : 

• BRITISH ORDERS OF CHIVALRY AND VALOUR. Sm. Nd. (25). See RB.113/43 ...M699-420

The Phillips version reads the same as this, but the card code is P521-424. However, the United Kingdom version is altered, to read

• BRITISH ORDERS OF CHIVALRY AND VALOUR. Sm. Nd. (25). See RB.113/43 ... U450-520
  
  A. On creamish board, type-faces as Set P521-424, "A Series of 25" measuring 13 m/m.
  B. On brownish board, type-faces changed, "A Series of 25" measuring 12 m/m.

The cards in the various series are as follows. At the moment there are abbreviations, but only whilst I hunt through for the missing cards, namely

• (M) Millhoff
• (P)  Phillips
• (U)  United Kingdom
• (C)  Clevedon

1. Victoria Cross (M)(P)(U)
2. The Most Noble Order of the Garter (M)(P)(U)
3. The Most Noble and Most Ancient Order of the Thistle (M)(P)(U)
4. The Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick (M)(P)(U)
5. The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (M)(P)(U)
6. Order of Merit (M)(P)(U)
7. Most Exalted Order of the Star of India (M)(P)(U)
8. The Most Distinguished Order of St Michael & St George (M)(P)(U)
9. The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire (M)(P)(U)
10. The Royal Victorian Order (M)(P)(U)
11. Order of the British Empire (M)(P)(U)
12. The Order of the Companions of Honour (M)(P)(U)
13. Distinguished Service Order (M)(P)(U)
14. Imperial Service Order (M)(P)(U)
15. The Order of St John of Jerusalem in England (M)(P)(U)
16. The Albert Medal (M)(P)(U)
17. Distinguished Service Cross (M)(P)(U)
18. Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (M)(P)(U)
19. Distinguished Service Medal (M)(P)(U)
20. Military Cross (M)(P)(U)
21. Distinguished Conduct Medal (M)(P)(U)
22.  Military Medal (M)(P)(U)
23. Distinguished Flying Cross (M)(P)(U)
24. Air Force Cross (M)(P)(U)
25. Distinguished Flying Medal (M)(P)(U)

Wednesday, 30th April 2025

This card celebrates George Arthur Roberts, BEM, MSM, who was a firefighter, and is commemorated on one of the new first class stamps.

He was born in Trinidad in August 1891, and so was forty-seven when the Second World War broke out. He had already served in the First World War, starting in the Trinidad Army, and working his way across from there to England, where he joined the Middlesex Regiment, as a rifleman. He was wounded several times, including at the Battle of the Somme, but gained a reputation for accurate bombing, being able to throw grenades right back into the enemy lines. 

When the Second World War arrived, he was classed as too old, the government only accepted men aged between eighteen and forty-one. However, they soon realised that this exempted many men and women with military training, and so these were re-interviewed to form the Home Guard and other quasi-military posts. One of these branches was the fire brigade, which gained a new sub-group called AFS, or the Auxiliary Fire Service. Mr. Roberts was sent to New Cross Fire Station, where he was an invaluable member of the squad, so much so that he was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1944, "for general duties at New Cross Fire Station, and for his part as a founder and pioneer of the discussion and education groups of the Fire Service."

After the war he was a passionate advocate for inclusion, and also founded a branch of the British Legion near where he lived. 

He died on the 8th of January, 1970, and is commemorated by a pair of plaques, a blue one in Camberwell, and a red one on New Cross Fire Station, as well, now, as this stamp.

This set is one of my favourites, and it has a large blog, "A for Air Raid Precautions" devoted to all its permutations, four issuers and nine printings.

The earliest listing of this version of the set comes from our original Wills Reference Book RB.16, part four, issued in 1950, where it is described as : 

• 123. AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive texts. Issued 1938. 
  
  A. Series of 50, adhesive backs. Home issue. Special album announcement at top of back.
  
  B. Series of 50, adhesive backs. Channel Islands Issue. No Album or I.T.C. Clauses
  
  C. Series of 40, non-adhesive backs. Irish issue. Inscribed at top of back, "Albums for Wills`s Picture Cards can be obtained from tobacconists." Subjects selected from 50 in A. and B.
  
  Similar series issued by Churchman (medium) and Hignett, Mitchell, Ogden (small)

Thanks to a list of printing dates which was provided us by W.D. & H.O. Wills, we know the export version of this set, "B" above, was issued first, in July 1938, with the Home version, "A" following in August 1938. There is, however, no mention of the Irish version "C", which seems to suggest that this was printed in Ireland. Some collectors also believe that this is why that version only has forty cards, for it would have only taken that one change to the artwork, "fifty" swopped for "forty", and the last ten cards not printed, or printed and discarded. 

Anyway at this point, as you can see, all three versions were together under that one single code. Then, suddenly, in our original World Tobacco Issues Index of 1956, and continuing in the follow up, the decision was made to split them into three sections.

Our Irish version is listed first, in section 2, for "issues with I.T.C. Clause" and sub section 2.B for "Issues 1922-39. Excluding cards with adhesive backs.". It appears in the original World Tobacco Issues Index as :  

• AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS. Sm. Nd. (40). Irish issue. See W/123.C ... W62-109

and in the updated World Tobacco Issues Index as :  

• AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS. Sm. Nd. (40). Irish issue. Special album issued. See W/123.C ... W675-142

Thursday, 1st May 2025

I was actually looking for the proper "Enigma" machine, but failed to find it on a card. Likewise, Bletchley Park does not appear to feature in any of the sets of country houses, though it was one, before it became the home of the Government Code and Cypher School in the Second World War.  But this card does reference the original "Enigma" machine, and so got the nod. 

The reason for this is that one of the first class stamps celebrates William Tutte, for "Codebreaking the Lorenz cipher machine at Bletchley Park". Now the Lorenz machines were not "Enigma"s, but they were used by the Germans, and made in that country by C. Lorenz AG, of Berlin. They were actually quite cunning, as they were devices which attached to a standard teleprinter, so you did not have to carry a machine, only this attachment. And more than that, if you found the attachment, without realising that it fitted to something else, it would have been impossible to make work. Because of this, the Germans felt safe at sending all their most important information by the codes they created, but once they were discovered, and the codes cracked, it gave immense power to the Allied forces. 

If you would like to read the full story, head over to Wikipedia/Lorenz Cipher

As for Cardsmiths, they are a new name to me, and probably to you. but their website reveals that they already have an impressive stable of issues, over fifty of them, including many sets related to "pop culture" and entertainment.

They also enjoy producing short run and limited editions of their sets  - this card, for example, is in "Crystal Sparkle" - but you can also find it in "iced foil", "rainbow holofoil", and a selection of what are known as "gemstone" cards. 

Friday, 2nd May 2025

Here we have a nurse and that links to the first class stamp of Mary Morris, whose inscription says "Nursing at home and on the Front Line". 

Her life was much more than that though. First of all, Morris was her husband`s name, she was born Mary Ellen Mulry in February 1921, in County Galway, Ireland. She left Ireland just before the start of the Second World War, aged eighteen, and came to England, where she worked at Guys Hospital. After she passed her exams, she was sent to Kent, and her first real job was to nurse the men who were coming back from Dunkirk. Kent was also the centre for the Battle of Britain, and she was involved with that too. However her passion seems to have been the care of children, and she trained as a fever nurse, something quite dangerous, as there was a very high risk of transmission from patient to nurse, and little knowledge of how to prevent it. It was in this capacity that she found herself transporting very sick children from their hospital beds down into the hopeful security of the nearest air raid shelter during the Blitz. 

That was not all, for she wanted more, and enlisted with Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserves, and was sent to Normandy, just twelve days after D-Day, to repair survivors and send the back to war. And she met her future husband there, though I do not know if he was one of her patients.

She also had a son, in 1947, but there the diary ends. All we know after that is that she died in about 1997, in Wales.

I have a partial checklist of these, which is : 

1. Dentelliere Flamande [lacemaker]
2. Perleuse [beadmaker]
3. Blanchisseuse [laundress]
4. Modiste [milliner]
5. Tissage en Tcheco-Slovaquie [weaving in Czechoslovakia]
6. Corsetiere [corset maker]
7. Tailleuse [female tailor]
8. Brodeuse Suisse [Swiss embroiderer] 
9. Coiffeuse [hairdresser]  
10. Repasseuse [ironer]
11. Infirmierie [nurse - or infirmary worker]
12. Fileuse [spinner]

I have to say that most of these are rather uninspiring jobs, with little variation day to day, and even the ones that sound a bit more exciting, like the corset maker and the beadmaker, would not be so easy on the eyes, requiring a lot of close work and probably in not much light. Their eyes would not thank them, when they grew old.