A silver cigarette box, hallmarked Birmingham 1921, the hinged lid inscribed ENGLISH CUP FINAL, WITH COMPLIMENTS FROM WILL ONDA, TO R.T. WOODHOUSE, GU

A silver cigarette box, hallmarked Birmingham 1921, the hinged lid inscribed ENGLISH CUP FINAL, WITH COMPLIMENTS FROM WILL ONDA, TO R.T. WOODHOUSE, GUILD YEAR, 1922, cedar wood interior, the lining to the lid interior in need of attention, the lid not closing flush consequently, dents, inscription rubbed due to over polishing Roland Thomas Woodhouse was Preston North End's inside-right at the 1922 F.A. Cup final at Stamford Bridge. Preston were defeated 1-0 by Huddersfield Town. He was a local man born at Leyland in 1897 and played for PNE for 7 seasons from 1919 to 1925 making a total of 118 appearances. He went to Everton for one season, but only played 7 games, before moving on to Wrexham between 1927 and 1929. He finished his career with a season at Halifax and then in non-League football for Chorley. This cigarette box was presented to Woodhouse by Will Onda, the owner of the Prince's Theatre and cinemas in Preston. He commissioned various local films to show in his cinemas. One of his films, which is still preserved at the North West Film Archive at Manchester Metropolitan University, was titled Preston Guild 1922, and seems to link to the final part of the inscription on Woodhouse's box. Around 1922 Onda, whose real name was Hugh Rain, became a director of Preston North End and presumably the football team were honoured during the course of the Preston Guild's ceremonies. Onda remained a Director at Deepdale until about 1946.