W.D. & H.O. Wills was a British

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

manufacturing company Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a range ...

formed in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was the first British company to mass-produce

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 ...

s, and one of the founding companies of

Imperial Tobacco Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Mor ...

along with

John Player & Sons John Player & Sons, most often known simply as Player's, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. In 1901, the company merged with other companies to form The Imperial Tobacco Company to face competition from US ma ...

. The company was founded in 1786, and went by various names before 1830 when it became "W.D. & H.O. Wills". Tobacco was processed and sold under several brand names, some of which were still used by Imperial Tobacco until the second half of the 20th century. The company pioneered the use of

cigarette cards Cigarette cards are trading cards issued by tobacco manufacturers to stiffen cigarette packaging and advertise cigarette brands. Between 1875 and the 1940s, cigarette companies often included collectible cards with their packages of cigarette ...

within their packaging. Many of the buildings in Bristol and other cities around the United Kingdom still exist with several being converted to residential use. The brand "Wills" was withdrawn by Imperial Tobacco in 1988 for the majority of its products.

History

Henry O. Wills arrived in Bristol in 1786 from

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, and opened a tobacco shop on Castle Street with his partner Samuel Watkins. They named their firm ''Wills, Watkins & Co.''.Till, R, Wills of Bristol, 1786-1901, Wills, 1950 When Watkins retired in 1789, the firm became ''Wills & Co.'' Next, the company was known from 1791 to 1793 as ''Lilly, Wills & Co'', when it merged with the firm of Peter Lilly, who owned a snuff mill on the

Land Yeo The Land Yeo is a small river which flows through North Somerset, England. It rises on Dundry Hill and supplies Barrow Gurney Reservoirs before flowing through various villages to Clevedon where it drains into the Bristol Channel. During the ...

Barrow Gurney Barrow Gurney is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in the unitary authority of North Somerset on the B3130, midway between the A38 and A370 near the Long Ashton bypass and Bristol Airport, south west of Bristol city ce ...

. The company then was known from 1793 up until Lilly's' retirement in 1803 as ''Lilly and Wills''. In 1826, H.O. Wills's sons

William Day Wills William Day Wills (6 June 1797 – 13 May 1865) of 2 Portland Square, Bristol, England, was a tobacco merchant who in 1830 together with his younger brother Henry Overton Wills II took over W.D. & H.O. Wills, a company which (building on the s ...

and Henry O. Wills II took over the company, which in 1830 became "W.D. & H.O. Wills". William Day Wills' middle name is from his mother Anne Day of Bristol. Both W.D. and H.O. Wills were non-smokers. Other members of the family entered to the business, such as Henry O. Wills III in 1846, and

William Henry Wills William Wills may refer to: * William Wills, 1st Baron Winterstoke (1830–1911), British businessman and peer * William Gorman Wills (1828–1891), Irish dramatist and painter * William Henry Wills (journalist) (1810–1880), journalist, newspap ...

in 1858. When William Day Wills died in May, 1865, two days after stepping in front of a horse drawn carriage, necessitating the amputation of his left leg, 2000 people attended his funeral at

Arnos Vale Cemetery Arnos Vale Cemetery () (also written Arno's Vale Cemetery), in Arnos Vale, Bristol, England, was established in 1837. Its first burial was in 1839. The cemetery followed a joint-stock model, funded by shareholders. It was laid out as an Arcadi ...

. During the 1860s, a new factory was built to replace the original Redcliffe Street premises, but the firm quickly outgrew it. The East Street factory of W.D. & H.O. Wills, in Bedminster, opened in 1886, with a high tea for the 900 employees in the Cigar Room. The new factory was expected to meet the needs of the company for the remainder of the century but, it was doubled in size within a decade and, early in the 1900s, a further Bristol factory was created in Raleigh Road, Southville. That growth was largely due to the success of cigarettes. The firm's first brand was "''Bristol''", made at the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

factory from 1871 to 1974. ''Three Castles'' and ''Gold Flake'' followed in 1878, but the greatest success was the machine-made ''Woodbine'' ten years later. ''Embassy'' was introduced in 1914 and relaunched in 1962 with

coupon In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be redeemed for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in r ...

s. Other popular brands included '' Capstan'' and ''Passing Clouds''. The company also made cigar brands such as ''Castella'' and ''Whiffs'', several pipe tobacco brands and ''Golden Virginia'' hand-rolling tobacco. Up until 1920, only women and girls were employed as cigar-makers. One clause in the women's contract stipulated:

She shall not contract Matrimony within the said Term, nor play at Card or Dice Tables, or any other unlawful Games.

In 1898

Henry Herbert Wills Henry Herbert 'Harry' Wills (20 March 1856 – 11 May 1922) was a businessman and philanthropist from Bristol, and a member of the Wills tobacco family. He was the son of Henry Overton Wills III and Alice Hopkinson and was born in Clifton, Bristol ...

visited Australia which led to the establishment of ''W.D. & H.O. Wills (Australia) Ltd.'' in 1900. When Princess Elizabeth visited on 3 March 1950 she was given cigarette cards as a gift for

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

. In 1901, thirteen British tobacco companies held discussions with the

American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of ...

about building a factory in the UK to bypass taxes. The

Imperial Tobacco Company Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Mor ...

was incorporated on 10 December 1901, with seven of the directors being members of the Wills family. Imperial remains one of the world's largest tobacco companies. The last member of the Wills family to serve the company was Christopher, the great great grandson of H.O. Wills I, who retired as sales research manager in 1969. WD and HO Wills Building

The company not only had factories and offices in Bristol, but also in

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. The largest cigarette factory in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

was opened at

Hartcliffe Hartcliffe is the name of both a council ward and an Outer Suburb of the city of Bristol in the United Kingdom which lies within that ward. The ward contains the areas of Hartcliffe and Headley Park, as well as small portions of Withywood and B ...

, Bristol, designed in 1974 by

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...

, but closed in 1990. It proved impossible to find a new use for the premises and the building was demolished in 1999. Its site is now the Imperial Park retail complex, but the associated offices became Lakeshore, residential apartments, created by

Urban Splash Urban Splash was founded in 1993 by Chairman Tom Bloxham MBE and Creative Director Jonathan Falkingham MBE; the company has spent more than two decades working with architects and designers to restore old buildings and create new, sustainable c ...

. The facade of the large factory in Bedminster, and the bonded warehouses at Cumberland Basin, remain prominent buildings in Bristol, although much of the existing land and buildings have been converted to other uses, such as The

Tobacco Factory Theatre Tobacco Factory Theatres is located on the first floor of the Tobacco Factory building on the corner of North Street and Raleigh Road, Southville, Bristol, Southville in Bristol, England. The theatre itself is a studio-style space, with a low ce ...

. The Newcastle factory closed in 1986 and stood derelict for over a decade, before the front of the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

building – which was preserved by being

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

– reopened in 1998 as a block of luxury apartments. (See main article: Wills Building) The factory in Glasgow has similarly been converted into offices. In 1988 Imperial Tobacco withdrew the ''Wills'' brand in the United Kingdom, except for the popular Woodbine and Capstan ''Full Strength'' brands, which still carry the name.

Benevolence

The company pioneered canteens for the workers, free medical care, sports facilities and paid holidays. Wills commissioned portraits of long-serving employees, several of which are held by

Bristol Museum and Art Gallery Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. The museum is situated in Clifton, about from the city centre. As part of Bristol Culture it is run by the Bristol City Council with no entrance fee. It holds ...

and some of which can be seen on display at the

M Shed M Shed is a museum in Bristol, England, located on Prince's Wharf beside the Floating Harbour in a dockside transit shed formerly occupied by Bristol Industrial Museum. The museum's name is derived from the way that the port identified each of i ...

museum. In 1893, the W.D. & H.O. Wills Ltd Association Football Team was established, and the company also held singing classes for the younger workers and women that year. In 1899, wives of Wills employees serving in the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

were granted 10 shillings per week by the factory.

Notable products

From the early 20th century to April 1951 "Pirate" was one of the most recognized cigarette brands in China. In Chinese it was commonly referred to as 'lao dao pai', meaning 'Old Knife Brand' in reference to the sword the pirate was carrying on the brand's key visual. The brand had a short revival in China under different ownership in 1994 but was eventually discontinued in 1997. In 1959 the company launched the short-lived

Strand Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * Strand Street ...

brand. This was accompanied by the memorable but disastrous, ''You're never alone with a Strand''

television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

. In India, the

Gold Flake Gold Flake is a classic Indian cigarette brand that has been in the market for over a century. Gold Flake is sold in a multitude of varieties, including Gold Flake Kings (84 mm), Gold Flake Kings Lights (84mm), Gold Flake and Gold Flake L ...

Classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

and

Wills Navy Cut Navy Cut is an Indian brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by ITC Limited. It was launched as Wills Filter, and was one of the first filtered Indian cigarettes. History Wills Navy Cut was originally manufactured by W.D. & H. ...

range of cigarettes, manufactured by ITC , formerly the ''Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited'', still has W.D. & H.O. Wills printed on the cigarettes and their packaging. These lines of cigarettes have a dominant market share.

Cigarette cards

In 1887, Wills were one of the first UK tobacco companies to include advertising cards in their packs of cigarettes, but it was not until 1895 that they produced their first general interest set of cards ('Ships and Sailors'). Other Wills sets include 'Aviation' (1910), 'Lucky Charms' (1923), 'British Butterflies' (1927), 'Famous Golfers' (1930), 'Garden Flowers' (1933) and 'Air Raid Precautions' (1938). Set of 50 cards in personal reference collection Wills also released several sports sets, such as the

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 ...

(1901, 1908, 1909, 1910),

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

(1902, 1935, 1939),

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

(1902, 1929) and

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

(1905) series.The History of Football Cigarette Cards
by John Simkin, on Spartacus Educational, September 1997

Gallery

File:Charles de Trafford - Wills cigarette card 1901.jpg, Charles de Trafford, 1901 File:Wills card roosevelt.jpg,

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

, 1902 File:Wills card doig 1902.jpg, J.E. Doig of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, 1902 File:James Sinclair Dickson, Port Adelaide, 1906.jpg, James Dickson of

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

, 1906 File:SJ Cagney Wills Card.jpg, S.J. Cagney of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, 1929 File:Wills card matthews.jpg,

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while stil ...

, 1939

Trivia

The factory in Hartcliffe, Bristol, was used for location filming for the UK television series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'', for the 1977 serial '

The Sun Makers ''The Sun Makers'' is the fourth serial of the 15th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 26 November to 17 December 1977. The serial is set on Pluto. ...

'. Filming at the Wills Factory spanned 13 to 15 June 1977. In addition to the roof and tunnels, scenes were also filmed in the lift and the roof vent.

References

External links

Imperial Brands
successor {{DEFAULTSORT:Wills Defunct companies based in Bristol Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Tobacco companies of the United Kingdom Companies established in 1786 Imperial Brands Tobacco companies of Australia Manufacturing companies of Australia British American Tobacco History of Bristol British companies established in 1786 ITC Limited