Cigar Box, Dolly Varden

Credit LineGift of Dr. J. M. Waters, 1992

Object number1992.002.044

Label TextThis is a William Ward company cigar box. William Ward established his cigar manufacturing firm in 1875. In the early 20th century, this business and its many competitors made London the second largest producer of cigars in Canada after Montreal. As with other local industries, Ward benefited from London’s rail links. The railway brought in raw materials and carried away finished goods to markets. Unlike its many competitors, Ward & Sons survived beyond the early 20th century. Weathering both the First World War (1914-1918) and Prohibition (1916-1927), it wound up operations in 1952. In the late 19th century, London had dozens of cigar factories whose buildings still stand in the city's downtown. The city's cigar-making industry took off after Prime Minister John A. Macdonald introduced the National Policy in 1879. This placed duties on manufactured products, like German cigars, but not on unprocessed materials like Cuban and American tobacco. Homegrown business could produce good quality, affordable products, including cigars. The city's cigar industry began to decline during the First World War (1914-1918). With the introduction of Prohibition in 1916, the cigar industry suffered because the treating system ended. In that system, men in taverns would buy each other drinks, and those who didn't drink would receive a cigar. Another blow to cigars was the popularity of cigarettes. Men who smoked cigarettes during the First World War kept up the habit when they returned home. William Ward named his “Dolly Varden” cigars after a Charles Dickens in the 1841 novel "Barnaby Rudge." Perhaps Ward wished to evoke qualities associated with Dickens’ character: goodness and purity. Perhaps he was copying a fad. Everything from a dress to a dry goods store to a fish species was named after Dolly Varden.

NameBox, Cigar