Lambert & Butler is a former English tobacco manufacturing company, established in 1834 in Clerkenwell, Central London, that operated as a private business until 1901 when it merged with other UK manufacturers to form the Imperial Tobacco Company. Apart from tobacco products L&B also released several cigarette card sets from the 1910s to the 1930s. They consisted of various topics including motor cars, locomotives, horsemanship, aviation, and association football. Nowadays L&B is a brand owned and commercialised by Imperial Brands. Lambert & Butler is mainly commercialised in the United Kingdom, having been exported to Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Spain and Egypt. As of 2019, L&B was is the leading cigarette brand in the United Kingdom. History Lambert & Butler cigarettes were launched in Clerkenwell in 1834 by Charles Edward Lambert (1814–1887) and Charles Butler (1813–1882), who were among the earliest British cigar manufacturers. They eventually started selling cigarettes which were being manufactured by John Wood & Son before Lambert & Butler started manufacturing it themselves in 1876 before merging with Imperial Tobacco in 1901. In the late-1800s, it accounted for 20% of total sales value and controlled a large piece of the market with an 1870 capital of £87,200 and 1887 total capital of £175,000, alongside major companies W.D. & H.O. Wills (now Imperial Tobacco) Cope Bros & Co, Hignett Tobacco, John Player & Sons and Stephen Mitchell & Son. In this time, the first largest company in the industry was Wills followed by Cope with Lambert & Butler a strong third and one of Lambert & Butler's most popular brands was Best Bird's Eye. In 1903, after merging with Imperial, an executive committee was formed with one of the members being Charles Lambert. Lambert & Butler also exported to Jamaica with brands Trumpeter and Needle Point. It established its own bonded warehouse in 1891 and was located on Bucknall Street near Long Acre in Westminster, London. Charles Lambert, who was called "the best judge of a Havana cigar" also ran a tobacco shop on Drury Lane. Lambert & Butler was also part of the "big six", with Wills, Taddy & Co, Cope Bros, Hignett Bros and John Player & Sons. Taking advantage of the rise in popularity of football cards in the 1920s and 1930s, Lambert & Butler released a set of association football trading cards in 1931. It consisted of a series of painted portraits that included