Churchman's (originally W.A. & A.C. Churchman) was a British

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

manufacturer based in Ipswich,

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. The company was a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of John Player & Sons of Imperial Tobacco Co. Churchman was notable for producing one million cigarettes a day.Days Gone By - Churchman’s made one million cigarettes a day in Ipswich
at the Ipswich Star, 23 Nov 2016 The company also released (like many other tobacco manufacturers at that time) a line of collectible cards about diverse topics, but mainly focused on sports.

History

Churchman's was founded by William Churchman in 1790. The original shop, which sold pipe tobacco, was located at Hyde Park Corner in Ipswich. In 1888 William Alfred (later Sir William) and Arthur Charles Churchman (later Lord Woodbridge and a director of the

British American Tobacco British American Tobacco plc (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, England. As of 2019, it is the large ...

from 1904 to 1923), grandsons of the founder, succeeded their father, Henry, in the business. By 1890 the company also produced "white cigarettes", and six years later produced 20,000 cigarettes an hour. To counter the aggressive American invasion to the British cigarette market (started when W. Duke Sons & Co., and four of the largest American manufacturers merged to form the American Tobacco Company in 1890), W.D. & H.O. Wills, John Player & Sons,

Lambert & Butler Lambert & Butler is a former English tobacco manufacturing company, established in 1834 in Clerkenwell, Central London, that operated as a private business until 1901 when it merged with other UK manufacturers to form the Imperial Tobacco Company ...

, Hignett Brothers (with their associated firms) and Stephen Mitchell & Son, with six other firms, joined forces to found the Imperial Tobacco Company, Ltd., in 1901. Churchman joined the recently formed company the following year. As the company expanded with increased sales, it opened a new facility at the junction of Portman Road and Princes Street. This factory would be extended during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1961 Churchman merged with

and Edwards, Ringer & Bigg, to become first "Churchman, Lambert & Ringer", then renamed simply "Churchman's" in 1965. By that year, manufacturing of cigars concentrated the factory's production, with more than 1 million cigars per day and 1,000 employees working at Churchman's. In 1972, the cigar business was integrated with John Player & Sons, with Churchman's becoming a

of it. Twenty years later, JP&S moved its operations to Bristol and Churchman closed.

Cigarette cards

Churchman produced several sets of

cigarette card Cigarette cards are trading cards issued by tobacco industry, tobacco manufacturers to stiffen cigarette packaging and nicotine marketing, advertise cigarette brands. Between 1875 and the 1940s, cigarette companies often included collectible ca ...

s to advertise its products, beginning in the first years of 20th century, most of them related with sports, mostly association football sets. The first football set included rugby union players and appeared in 1909, featuring illustrated ''footballers'' of both codes in their clubs' shirts. Other football sets were released in 1914, 1938 and 1939 but only related to association football.The History of Football Cigarette Cards
by John Simkin, on Spartacus Educational, September 1997 Other sports series released included athletics,

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, golf, and tennis. Churchman also released a railway series in 1935, and an athletes series (featuring photographs of sportsmen of diverse disciplines) in 1939.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Churchman, W.A. and A.C. Tobacco companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1790 British companies disestablished in 1992