ABSTRACT
It is probable that Wills began to export manufactured tobacco to Ireland in the late eighteenth century. Small quantities of Bristol-made tobaccos and snuff – as distinct from the large trade in tobacco leaf – might have found their way to Ireland through the hands of local Bristol merchants. Indeed, it is worth remembering that H. O. Wills I's largest creditor and closest business associate was Stephen Prust, a merchant engaged actively in the Irish trade. Nevertheless, the first available records of the Firm's exports of manufactured tobacco to Southern Ireland – for the 1850s – suggest that, if they existed, these early sales must have been very small. Wills' first recorded agent in Ireland, to whom reference has already been made, was given exclusive trading rights in the Southern Counties in 1854. It is evident from the letter of agreement, however, that an agency had been arranged for Dublin a few years before.
