The Encylopedia of British Football

Manchester United Cigarette Cards

In 1871 the American company of Allen and Ginter began inserting pieces of card to protect the cigarettes from being damaged. It was not long before tobacco companies had the idea of printing advertisements on these cards, or "stiffeners" as they were called in the trade. In about 1876 companies began producing a series of cards that the smoker could collect. It was believed that this would encourage the smoker to continue using that particular brand.

The first British company to issue cigarette cards was W.D. & H.O. Wills. The first card appeared in 1887 and were at first used to advertise its products. Ogdens, a company based in Liverpool, introduced the first series of cigarette cards in 1894. This series of photographic cards became known as "Guinea Golds".

As Gordon Howsden points out in his book, Collecting Cigarette and Trade Cards: "At a time when the average family could not afford books, and with the technique of reproducing photographs in newspapers still some years away, these cards could inform and amuse, and bring a little bit of colour into what were all too often very drab lives."

Arnold Bennett once remarked that "some boys will grow up with cigarette cards as their sole education". Another writer, Clifford Hough, pointed out that cigarette cards were dubbed "The Working Man's Encyclopedia" because "they brought pictures of famous faces and fascinating places to the attention" of the masses. Hough adds that on "the reverse side the captions contained many interesting facts and pieces of information that often sunk into a boy's mind to a greater extent than any dull textbook from schooldays."

Subjects were chosen to appeal to their male customers. In 1896 the first set with a sporting theme appeared. This was a series of 50 cricketers. The tobacco companies discovered that these sporting cards were a great way to obtain brand loyalty. Later that year the first football set appeared. Footballers & Club Colours was published by Marcus & Company, a small firm in Manchester. These cards are extremely rare and individual cards are valued at £170. This is true of all the early football sets that were issued at this time: Footballers & Club Colours (Kinner, 1898); Footballers (J. F. Bell, 1902); Footballers (F. J. Smith, 1902) and Footballers (Percy E. Cadle, 1904). The cost of individual cards of these sets vary from £40 to £160.

In 1902 W.D. & H.O. Wills published a set of 66 football cards. The photographs were of men playing in the First Division of the Football League.

In 1905 Singleton & Cole of Shrewsbury published a black and white series of photographs called "Footballers". These now sell for £120 a card but the series was reprinted in 2001 and can now be obtained for a reasonable price from dealers. This set included Billy Meredith, who was later to become a star at Manchester United.

In 1906 Ogdens produced an attractive set of Football Club Colours. These cards showed the club's star player in his full kit. This was one of the first sets of cards in full colour. The following year, Cohen Weenen published a similar series entitled Football Club Captains. This included captains in Division 1, Division 2 and the Southern League. Manchester United was represented by Charlie Roberts. These are valued at £13 each card. However, the reprinted set (1998) can be purchased for around £10.

One of the most prolific producers of football cards was Taddy & Company. In 1907 the company issued a set of 595 cards entitled "Prominent Footballers". The oval shaped images were in black and white. Further sets were followed in 1908 (403) and 1913 (406). Manchester United players featured included Moger, John Picken, Charlie Roberts, Alec Bell, Herbert Burgess, Dick Duckworth, Dick Holden, Jimmy Bannister, Billy Meredith, Sandy Turnbull, Jimmy Turnbull and George Wall.

The collecting of football cigarette cards was extremely popular in the 1920s.In 1925 Lacey's produced a series of 50 black and white photographs. Manchester United players featured in this series included Frank Barson and John Silcock.

After a period of black and white cards, Ogdens returned to using full colour for their "Captains of Association Football Clubs and Colours" set in 1926. The series includes a painting of Frank Barson. They are currently valued at £3.00 a card and £130 a set.

A series of caricatures by "Rip" (R. P. Hill) were published by John Player and Sons in August, 1926. This included Joe Spence. Another series, this time illustrated by "Mac" (Douglas Machin) appeared in September, 1927 and included the Manchester United player, Frank Barson.

In October 1928 John Player and Sons produced a series of 50 illustrated action cards. This series featured United's outstanding wing-half, Frank Mann.

In the 1930s several companies produced painted portraits of football players. In 1934 Carreras, produced a series of portraits that included United's English international, Ernie Hine. Original sets can be obtained for about £70 but a reprinted set in 1997 can be purchased for about £13.50.

Football cards continued to be popular and it was not uncommon for print-runs in the millions. To encourage the collecting of a particular series, the tobacco companies produced special albums that could be purchased from local tobacconists. The most impressive cards produced during the 1930s included painted portraits of football stars. These looked so realistic that they appeared to be painted photographs.

Carreras published a set of 48 cards entitled Popular Footballers in 1936. These painted portraits included William McKay of Manchester United.

W.D. & H.O. Wills produced a series of cards called Association Footballers in 1935 that contained an impressive portrait of George Mutch. Thousands of these sets were collected and as a result they can be obtained from dealers for around £60. However, they can be purchased via Ebay for about half this price.

In 1938 Churchman moved away from colour portraits by producing a set of action shots in black and white. The first series featured George Mutch, George Roughton and William McKay.

Churchman produced a second series in 1939. This series included Beaumont Asquith, Tom Manley and John Hanlon. The first series can be obtained for only £35. However, the second series was not produced in such large numbers and you will probably have to pay twice as much for that set.

In 1939 W.D. & H.O. Wills produced another series of Association Footballers. The set included an impressive portrait of George Vose.

The outbreak of the Second World War caused a severe shortage of paper and tobacco companies were forced to bring an end to the production of cigarette cards.