Taken from a 1925 English Newspaper.

During the course of his Budget speech, yesterday, Mr Churchill occasionally took a pinch of snuff to which he is addicted, and not infrequently refreshed himself from a glass of brandy and soda which was placed on the table in front of him.

…

This might be an appropriate story as I think today is Budget day in the UK. The press always give the alcoholic drink a mention as it is possibly the only occasion that anyone is allowed to drink in the House of Commons.   The MP’s don’t suffer much from not being allowed to drink on the job, I believe that they have seven bars throughout the building that do not follow traditional licensing hours. This is open for correction by any political guru that may be reading this.

Also another name for markstinson to add to his list of famous snuff takers.

I shall add a couple more newspaper clipping confirming Churchill as a snuff taker a little later.

1914

The First Lord of the Admiralty, reverting, no doubt, to the manners of his eighteenth century ancestry has become an ardent devotee to the  snuff-box.   In the course of a heated debate he has frequent recourse to the little black box which he still produces somewhat shyly from his vest pocket.  Mr. Churchill’s snuff does not come in the ordinary way from the tobacconist’s , it is blended for him by a veteran attendant, who enjoys a wide reputation among members of Parliament for the excellence of his mixture.

Printed in the UK newspapers1914.

Has Mr. Churchill Taken to Snuff?

But there was one incident I must not forget to mention. Mr.Churchill has apparently taken to snuff.

He took a pinch as he entered the House, and continued the old fashioned habit even in the sacred environment of  the Treasury Bench, for he had hardly taken his place beside the Prime Minister for a couple of minutes before he indulged in another pinch.    I wonder if the First Lord adopted this habit during his flying experiences;  one can’t smoke in an aeroplane.

Any aeronautical historians out there?

I have just been searching for pictures of passenger planes in 1914. Everyone that I found looked like the typical World War One, two seater, open cockpit,  fighter planes that we are all familiar with from the Hollywood films.

I was thinking about the last article, mentioning using snuff in a plane.

If Mr Churchill opened a tin of snuff in one of these whilst in flight,  I figure he would go through one tin full to get one pinch.  

 The rest going to the four winds.                     A bit like fitting an ashtray to a motor bike.

Did they have any comfortable, enclosed passenger planes in 1914?

If so please name the models so that I can find pictures of them on the web.

Thank you.

1911 Avro biplane http://chezpeps.free.fr/0/pre-1914/im/im-11-501-550/506-IMAGE\\_1263760677765.jpg 1912 Etrich limo https://i670.photobucket.com/albums/vv70/Airarticles/Etrich\\_Limousine\\_3pic.jpg

Thanks for that nicmiszer   the first one looks like the balsa wood and tissue paper models I made as a lad.

 It looks about as safe as my models were,      they didn’t last very long.

Would love to find out who was the “veteran attendant”.
Do you think an Evans family member? I don’t find any record of Fribourg & Treyer serving Mr. Churchill, but it is entirely possible.

R

Possible other candidate, G.H. Wilson’s Snuff, Frederick Tranter, G. Smith & Sons, Mullins & Westley. Those are the confirmed London Snuffmakers.