Player's advertising poster

[Horace Bachelor]

Does anyone know the identity of the sailor in the Player's Cigarettes advertising poster? Not the well known "Hero" one detailed below but the later "Excellent" one shown in the attached image. Family legend has it that this was a Great uncle of mine, Harry (Henry) Eyles who was a gunnery instructor for many years before and during the Great War. I don't know whether this is significant, given the Excellent cap tally.

Cheers

Rich.

NAVY CUT CIGARETTES

1893

The term 'Navy Cut' refers to how 19th century sailors in the Royal Navy would wind string or rope around rolls of compressed tobacco leaves, allow the leaves to mature, and then thinly slice off the end. This shredded tobacco could then be smoked in their pipes. The 1893 magazine ad pictured below, was published just two years after the final version of the famous 'Hero' trademark had been registered by John Player & Sons, Limited of Nottingham. Author Chris Mullen in his classic book Cigarette Pack Art, states that English legend tells us that the sailor was Thomas Huntley Wood, a crewmember of HMS Edinburgh in the 1880's. The two men-of-war in the background are reputed to be HMS Britannia, and HMS Dreadnought.