The World of Playing Cards Logo

Draughts League Medals

Published September 21, 2013 Updated March 09, 2022

Arthur Charles Prince worked for De la Rue as a playing card cutter and later was promoted to supervisor of a small team of workers of same until his death aged 50.

United Kingdom De la Rue Ephemera
Bunhill Row early in the nineteenth century

De la Rue Draughts League Medals

Arthur Charles Prince worked for De la Rue from about the late 1880s until 1920. Arthur worked as a playing card cutter and later was promoted to supervisor of a small team of workers of same until his death aged 50. The medals below show that Arthur also enjoyed playing the game of draughts. Arthur Prince had lost his father when very young, and was living with his step-mother in Banner Street which formed a T-junction with Bunhill Row, where the offices were situated. He worked for the company all his life and was a very loyal employee. He was suffering from a bad cold and went back to work too soon and caught pneumonia and died.

2 draughts league medals awarded to Arthur Charles Prince, who worked for De la Rue

Above: 2 medals (front and back) awarded to Arthur Charles Prince, who worked for De la Rue from about the late 1880s until 1920 and participated in the draughts league. The square medal is gold with his initials ACP engraved on the front, and the inscription "S.T.T.T. Draughts Handicap won by A.C. Prince June 1900". The other is silver with the inscription "L.P.T. Draughts League Winners 1907-08 De la Rue A.C.Prince". Images kindly supplied by Jenny Symien (née Prince).

The above photographs were kindly sent by Arthur C. Prince's grand-daughter Jenny Symien who also tells the following story:

“Both Arthur's sons were educated, my own father went to grammar school on a scholarship, trained as an accountant and after Army Service worked as Company Secretary for the Jaeger Company. All my generation of grandchildren of Arthur have had good schooling and/or university education and have had interesting professions. I see it as a small success story of a step out of poverty. We have much to thank Thomas de la Rue for!”

“Sadly not one photo of my grandfather. His father Hugh Prince was a horse hair dresser and his mother Martha was a book folder. Both could read and write and both died when he was quite young. His step-mother, Jane, whom his father married after Arthur's mother's death, brought him up. She worked as a silk winder. They came from Bethnal Green. He had a brother who trained as a shoeblack at the Central Shoeblack Society, Saffron Hill, and another who followed his father as a horse hair dresser. Both his brothers died in poverty in workhouse infirmaries, but Arthur Charles Prince made a good life for himself, his wife and four children by working at De la Rue, which offered him the opportunity for promotion. He started as a card cutter and ended as a supervisor of a small team of men. The family moved to Wood Green, north London. I don't know if he continued to work at Bunhill Row and travel. I am not sure if de la Rue had a place in north London.”

De la Rue were making pocket draught boards and pieces about the time Arthur C. Prince was working there and probably it sparked his interest.

avatar
1,474 Articles

By Simon Wintle

Member since February 01, 1996

Founder and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.

Related Articles

2018 Cathedrals, Abbeys & Minsters playing cards

Cathedrals, Abbeys & Minsters playing cards

54 pictures of different famous cathedrals, abbeys and minsters in England and Wales.

2018 Christmas Carols

Christmas Carols

Christmas Carols playing cards illustrated by Stuart Dilks

1798 Pam is the Knave of Clubs

Pam is the Knave of Clubs

Playing cards as metaphors in 18th century art - from fate, chance and social hierarchy t...

1920 Question and Answer Games

Question and Answer Games

A card game called “Impertinent Questions and Pertinent Answers” was launched in the early 1920s by ...

1711 Dr Sacheverell

Dr Sacheverell

Dr. Henry Sacheverell's impeachment in 1710 sparked widespread public unrest and political upheaval,...

1990 Leadmill playing cards

Leadmill playing cards

Promotional pack for an arts centre in Sheffield with designs by Martin F. Bedford.

2024 Agatha Christie and card games

Agatha Christie and card games

Agatha Christie uses card-play as a primary focus of a story, and as a way of creating plots and mot...

2024 English Heritage

English Heritage

52 different colour photos of historic sites managed by English Heritage.

2022 The Malt Whiskies of Scotland

The Malt Whiskies of Scotland

Three packs featuring photographs by Duncan McEwan of malt whisky distilleries in Scotland.

2010 Typographic Playing Cards

Typographic Playing Cards

Typographic Playing Cards designed by Jim Sutherland, c.2010.

1812 76: Transitions: Hunt & Sons

76: Transitions: Hunt & Sons

Styles change and technology develops. This means that it's possible to see transition periods in th...

1920 Gibson’s History of England

Gibson’s History of England

History without tears for young and old, 1920s.

1953 Simpson (Piccadilly) playing cards

Simpson (Piccadilly) playing cards

Innovative advertising pack for Simpsons of Piccadilly designed by André François.

1998 Scruffy Mutts

Scruffy Mutts

‘Scruffy Mutts’ dog-themed playing cards, United Kingdom, c.1998.

1989 Hamlet Cigars

Hamlet Cigars

Advertising deck for “Hamlet mild cigars”, a Benson & Hedges product.

Heathen Divinities

Heathen Divinities

Handmade playing cards from the British Museum depicting classical Greek and Roman gods and goddesse...