MILITARUA CILLECTING
As the World War Two poster proclaimed, ‘Food is a munition of war’, and in that battle every Briton took part. Such was the nationwide scale of the effort, a wide variety of colourful and interesting collectable objects and ephemera were produced. Many of these items are still found today. Austin J Ruddy explains their background history, with a guide to their current worth.
BEING AN island has defensive benefits, but also drawbacks. In the First World War, Germany used its U-boats to blockade Britain, limiting the import of supplies. The nation was relatively late in dealing with the food crisis, the Ministry of Food only being created in 1916 and rationing introduced less than a year before the end of the conflict.
In the interwar years, Britain imported a massive 70% of its food. But as the war clouds again developed, the Government, having learned its lesson, began to plan rationing in 1936, printing and stockpiling ration books two years later. On 8 January 1940, bacon, butter and sugar were rationed. Meat, tea, jam, biscuits, cheese, egg, lard and milk rationing followed.
A typical weekly allowance for an adult was 50g of butter, 100g of bacon and ham, 100g of margarine, 225…
