Gentlemen,
Sorry for the delayed response.
Angler was indeed a brand belonging to John Higgins & Co. I'm not sure exactly when it was introduced, but can tell you it appears in the 1921 Tobacco World Annual's directory of Fancy Goods Brands, and continues to be listed through the 1941 edition. For reasons I'll explain later, I suspect it went out of production not that long afterward.
John Higgins, founder of the eponymous company, was born in Hammersmith, London in 1823. His parents were John and Ann, and at the time of his birth uninvolved in the pipe or tobacco industries (his father was a dealer in cheese). In the early spring of 1850 John married Charlotte Letitia Augustus. At that point his father's profession is listed as a maker of silver spoons. An odd evolution from cheese, and I'd love to know the backstory. But the point I think is that the linnk between silversmiths and pipes is well known, and highly suggestive about John's entry into the trade. In the wedding register he is listed as a turner, demonstrating that he was already a worker with wood. In fact we know that by then John had been making and/or importing pipes for about two years: a company listing in 1906 claims 1848 as the year the business was established. Over the years references to the company's activities vary, however, and it is not entirely clear the degree to which he manufactured entire pipes, or just stems, or was essentially an importer. We do know that John sold many ancillary products and was what was then called a "sundriesman"; similarly, in most of the later censuses and business directories John and his company are generally listed as being an importer of fancy goods. During his lifetime the business had three successive locations, all in the greater London area; it started at 23 Wilderness Row, moved to 143 Aldersgate Street, and for about the last fifteen years before his death was at 10 Long Lane.
When John died in 1896 he left a sizable estate of 23,743 pounds (over $3 million in today's money). His wife Charlotte having predeceased him, John left two sons and three daughters still living in 1896. From what I can tell none of the children (or their spouses) went into the family business. What's clear is that about four months before he died John sold the company to Bob Reginald ("B. R.") Arkell.
The son of a miller, Arkell was a cigar dealer/tobacconist born in Abingdon, Berkshire in 1842. He appears to have been interested in growing his business through acquisition (what today might be called a roll-up play), and after acquiring John Higgins & Co announced that he would "amalgamate with it the business of Mr. Eduoard Wolf". Arkell's name appears in various other contemporary records as a principal in other wholesale and retail tobacco businesses, including something called "The Tobacconists' Supply Syndicate".
Arkell died in the fall of 1919, leaving his widow (second wife, Catherine Eleanor) a fortune of about 20,400 pounds. Bob and Catherine had two sons, Robert (1871-1949) and Thomas Reginald (1875-?). Robert went into the family business, while Thomas became a naval cadet. I haven't dug much deeper than this, and so the history becomes murky at this point. Robert married and had three sons, and it is possible that they were involved in the family business with their father. But apparently not for too long. John Higgins disappears from the London phone books during WW2; it's listed in 1941, but gone by 1943 (1942 is missing from the run I consulted). So either the company changed its name, although there's not sign of it that I could find, or it was an economic casualty of the war.
Banjo, hope this adds some color to and enjoyment of your pipe. Somewhere I have a picture of John Higgins looking distinguished in a very late-Victorian kind of way, and if you're interested I'll be glad to send you a copy; just pm me. Your pipe, though, almost certainly dates from the Arkell period of ownership. I'd be interested to see what it looks like if you care to post a picture.
Best regards,
Jon
