, founder
Henry O. Wills arrived in Bristol in 1786 from
Salisbury, and opened a tobacco shop on Castle Street with his partner Samuel Watkins. They named their firm
Wills, Watkins & Co. In 1826, H.O. Wills's sons
William Day Wills 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 joined the business, such as
Henry O. Wills III in 1846, and
William Henry Wills 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. 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 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
coupons. 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. In 1901, the Wills family organised a concerted response by British tobacco manufacturers to the aggressive entry into the UK market by the
American Tobacco Company. This initiative on the part of 13 companies resulted in the incorporation of the
Imperial Tobacco Company on 10 December 1901, and its consolidation as the predominant producer in the UK; seven of its directors were members of the Wills family. In 1902 the subsequent truce with American Tobacco saw the creation of the jointly owned
British American Tobacco; the new subsidiary, which was established with Wills's export factory, was allocated markets outside the US and the UK. Imperial Tobacco remained one of the world's largest tobacco companies until it was acquired by the
Hanson Trust in 1986. A decade later, in 1996, Hanson demerged its tobacco manufacturing assets to a new company floated on the Stock Exchange, the
Imperial Group. , Western Australia, pictured in 2018 Wills major factories and offices were in Bedminster,
Bristol, with other facilities in Holborn,
London,
Swindon,
Newcastle and
Glasgow. 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 visited Australia which led to the establishment of
W.D. & H.O. Wills (Australia) Ltd. in 1900. The largest cigarette factory in Europe was opened at
Hartcliffe, Bristol, designed in 1974 by
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 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. The façade 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. The Newcastle factory closed in 1986 and stood derelict for over a decade, before the front of the
Art Deco building – which was preserved by being
Grade II listed – reopened in 1998 as a block of luxury apartments. (See main article:
Wills Building) The factory in Glasgow has similarly been converted into offices. 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. 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. When
Princess Elizabeth visited the
Bedminster factory on 3 March 1950 she was given cigarette cards as a gift for her son, future
King Charles III.
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 and some of which can be seen on display at the
M Shed 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 were granted 10s per week by the factory. ==Archives==