Sealed Tin Churchman's No 1 Special Cigarettes

A very rare Sealed Tin of 50 Churchman's No. 1 Special Cigarettes ( the fact that the tin is sealed means that the cigarette is as good as the day that it was made, check out the attached Youtube video )

The firm of W.A. and A.C. Churchman was founded in Ipswich by William Churchman in 1790, beginning as a small pipe tobacco manufacturer with a shop at Hyde Park Corner

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 British American Tobacco 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, WD & HO. Wills, John Player & Sons, Lambert & Butler.In 1901. Churchman joined the recently formed company 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.

IMPERIAL TOBACCO LTD (FORMERLY W A AND A C CHURCHMAN LTD), IPSWICH AND NORWICH