Canada in a Box, Cigar Containers that Store Our Past 1883-1935 Canada in a Box, Cigar Containers that Store Our Past 1883-1935 Back Next
Canada in a Box, Cigar Containers that Store Our Past 1883-1935
 CANADA IN A BOX 
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Lords and Ministers

English politicians and members of the nobility appear without any explanation on Canadian cigar boxes


CHAMBERLAIN
CHAMBERLAIN
Hinged Tin box (25)
Factory 1 IRD 17
J. M. Fortier, Montreal, Que., ca.1910
CMC 2001.185.36 Tony Hyman Collection

Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914), British Colonial Secretary from 1895 to 1903, may have been best known to Canadians for having negotiated a fisheries dispute between Canada and the United States in 1887–88.
GLADSTONE
GLADSTONE
Trimmed nailed wood box (50)
Factory 13 IRD 17 Series of 1883
Smith, Fischel & Co., Montreal, Que.
CMC 2003.46.86

William Gladstone (1809–1898) was, along with Benjamin Disraeli, the best known of the Prime Ministers who served Queen Victoria. The Liberal Gladstone twice alternated in office with the Conservative Disraeli between 1868 and 1880.

Since this box bears a Series of 1883 tax label, it may be that Gladstone was in power (1880–1885, 1886, and 1892–94) when Smith, Fischel & Co. produced the cigar bearing his name.
LORD RUSSELL
LORD RUSSELL
Trimmed nailed wood box (50)
Factory 9 IRD 32 Series of 1915
Line, McDonald & Co., London
CMC 2001.185.31 Tony Hyman Collection

Lord Charles Russell (1832–1900), Lord Chief Justice of England from 1894 to 1900, was highly esteemed on both sides of the Atlantic.
LORD RAGLAN
LORD RAGLAN
Trimmed nailed wood box (50)
Factory 1 IRD 33 Series of 1897
Hamilton & Levett, Stratford, Ont.
CMC 2003.46.43

Not the first Baron Raglan, veteran of the campaigns at Waterloo and Sebastopol and hero of Victorian schoolboy literature. This is George Fitzroy Henry Somerset, third Baron Raglan (1857–1921), who was British Under-Secretary for War from 1900 to 1902 and thereafter, by appointment of Edward VII, Governor of the Isle of Man. Just what is signified by the trains and telegraph poles in the background of the portrait is a mystery.
BERESFORD
BERESFORD
Book-shaped wood box (10)
Factory 21 IRD 32 Series of 1897
Stirton & Dyer, London, Ont.
CMC 2005.139.12

Charles, Lord Beresford (1846 – 1919) rose through the ranks of the navy to become First Lord of the Admiralty. He also served as a Conservative MP. He has no apparent connection with Canada. He wrote to The Times defending the commander and crew of the Titanic after the disaster, and is said to be the author of a famous witticism: on being invited on short notice to dine with the Prince of Wales, he sent a telegram, "Very sorry can’t come. Lie follows by post."
ROSEBERY
ROSEBERY
Trimmed nailed wood box (50)
Factory 27 IRD 17 Series of 1897
Smith, Fischel & Co., Montreal, Que.
CMC 2005.139.9

The motto of the Earls of Rosebery, quoted on the cigar box label, means "Faith and Trust". Archibald Philip Primrose, fifth Earl of Rosebery (1847–1929), lived up to it. He was a favourite of Queen Victoria, a minister under Gladstone, and Prime Minister briefly after Gladstone retired. He later served as rector of the universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

This is a truncated version of a cigar label that shows the exterior of the English Parliament, and Rosebery speaking in the House of Commons.

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