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© The Tobacco Factory |
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Roll Up! Roll Up! |
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The tobacco factory on Raleigh Road and the Wills Memorial Tower on Park Street in Bristol stand as reminders of the city's love affair with the tobacco trade.
Both buildings owe their existence to the Wills family, and each reflects a different aspect of the family's influence in the area. The factory testifies to the success of the tobacco company WD and HO Wills, the tower to the family's philanthropic efforts.
The Wills's tobacco empire
The origins of the tobacco trade in Bristol can be traced as far back as 1497, when John Cabot set sail aboard his ship the Matthew, from Bristol for North America. Cabot's venture led to Bristol becoming a major trader with the New World.
Over the centuries, ships from Bristol carried goods to settlers in the new colonies, returning to England with holds full of tobacco leaf, from which Bristol's cigarette production grew.
One family in particular became extremely influential in the city's tobacco production - the Wills. In 1786, Henry Overton Wills founded WD and HO Wills and began trading in tobacco shipped from the New World into Bristol.
From a modest beginning in a converted house, the Wills's tobacco empire expanded rapidly throughout Bristol and the rest of Britain. By the late 1890s, the company had factories in Belfast, Newcastle and Glasgow. The introduction of the Woodbine brand sealed the company's success.
The firm continued to grow in strength, eventually amalgamating with a number of other companies to form Imperial Tobacco. The Wills family still held sway over the trade, however, with Sir William Henry Wills, later Lord Winterstoke, becoming the first chairman of Imperial Tobacco.
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