Life In Rural Britain During World War 1

The outbreak of World War 1 changed the lives of British people throughout the country. In rural Britain, small tight communities could often be found. The indirectly led to the surge in young men volunteering to fight - after all, they didn't want to be seen as a Shirker.With men volunteering in their flocks, farms and local businesses were left without a huge amount of their workforce. This was to become more serious as it was left to farmers to feed the nation as U-boats sunk more and more ships carrying much needed supplies to Britain. 

Not only did farms loose they menfolk, they also lost their horse power with most horses become requisitioned by the War Office. Without this huge strength, it would take on average a minimum of 15 people to harvest a field full of crop. By 1915, the Women's Land Army was set up with women joining from all around the country to do something new and different to help the war effort. Although thousands volunteered for the Land Army, farmers were reluctant to allow women to farm their land as 'it wasn't there place' and they 'wouldn't be strong enough' to cope with the physical work. 

Farms now had the workers to cope with demand which is great as by 1917, the Cultivation Of Lands Order meant that the government could demand that farmers plough new land to increase food production. At vast amount of this land had never been ploughed before and so the work was strenuous and the hours long. As much as farmers hated to admit it, without the help of the Women's Land Army, they would have been hugely behind with their quoter. 

It wasn't just farms that the war effected, but family homes as well. People that had gardens were encouraged to start a vegetable garden which helped vastly when rationing was introduced. By growing their own vegetables they were able to add to their allotted amount. Women were encouraged not to waste food and could face a hefty fine if they were found to be wasting food. By living in the country, anything that would have normally been wasted could be given to local farms to use as pigs swill. 

Many neighbours in rural areas pulled together to help each other. Whether it was swapping food and other items to being there for someone when they receive the devastating news war can bring. Reports can be found post-war where firm friends and local groups had been formed through their experiences of the war. 

Join me next time when I explore what life was like for those that live in the City.     

The Great British High Street During The First World War

Over the last few years, we have seen the British high street change a lot in a short space of time. It led me to thinking about how the high street used to be, so I thought I would find out.

The early 1900s had been a time where there was a huge divide on the high street between those who had money and those who didn't. For those where money was never limited, they could spend there time and money browsing around department stores such as Selfridges or visiting their local tailor or dressmaker to have something bespoke made for them. People who had limited money had to resort to buying second hand from local market stalls where they could pick up a bargain. 

Another popular business on the high street was tearooms. For those that could afford it, they would be able to join friends or family whilst enjoying a nice cup of tea and a delicious fresh cake. It wasn't just the wealthy that used tearooms, as it has been noted that some poorer people would save up for a long time so that they could have a treat at the local tearoom, usually for a special occasion such as a birthday. 

It is the norm today to just pop out to the local supermarket and pick up everything you need in one place however back in pre-war Britain you would buy your meat from the butchers, food basics such as butter and fresh fruit and veg, sweets could be bought from the sweetshop and you would visit the ironmonger for various tools. Unlike supermarkets today, when visiting these types of shops, the produce would come in whole and the shopkeeper would weight out and cut the amount each individual needed. It saved a lot on packaging and wastage. For things like cotton, you could pick them up in the penny bazaar's where all manner of cheap but useful things were sold, all for just a penny. 

The high street itself was often a friend yet busy atmosphere. Everyone, mainly women were out of the house early to ensure they got the best products. The later in the day they went, the more likely they were to get fruit and veg on the turn or the meat that nobody else wanted. During the 1910s, lamps were still lit by hand each evening as electricity was yet to arrive on the high street. Newspapers could be bought on street corners rather than in shops and passers-by would be able to hear the seller shouting about the latest headlines. At a time when not everyone could read, this was how most people heard that Britain was at war with Germany. 

The outbreak of war saw recruitment offices pop up all over the country with most of them being located on the high street to attract more people. Reports described how queues of people could be seen on the high street all wanting to volunteer. 

As the war dragged on, the high street was hugely affected. Many roles were taken over by women for a start and at lot of these women now had money to spare. But with it getting harder to get supplies to Britain, the shops were having less and less for sale. Queues would form at the local shops in order to get some food. People were told to not buy things unnecessarily but the government knew they needed to do something more to restrict the amount people could buy. The answer - rationing which was brought into force in January 1918 with the restriction of sugar. This meant in theory that no matter how much money you had, you all were entitled to the same amount of restricted foods. 

By April, other items such as meat, cheese, butter and margarine were also rationed. The government was able to enforce rationing in a short space of time by issuing everybody with a ration card. In order to receive your weekly ration, you had to register with you local butcher and grocer and this was the only place you would be able to buy rationed products from. With the ration books came a lot of hard work and filling in forms for the shopkeepers which all took time. This meant that in some overpopulated places, you could expect to queue up for hours just to get your weeks ration. 

The war changed the high street like never before. It was never going to go back for the war had started to shape it into what we know today. The rationing of items didn't just finish with the end of the war. Britain struggled through more austerity as the years went by. After all, Britain had spent millions to win the war as a consequence was in debt. The number of men that had been killed or injured during the war had affected family life and so for a lot of poorer families, money was extremely tight. They couldn't afford a lot of the basics let alone any treats or luxuries. Of those who were lucky enough to return home after the war in okay form, many then had to fight the battle to survive the Spanish Flu epidemic that swept across Britain. A lot of Men were unable to work in the industries they had pre-war so the shops continued to look bare. With people having less and less money as the post-war years dragged on, people needed products as cheap as possible and this saw the end to many businesses on the high street. 

Poor Families Of The First World War

In part two I'm going to explore the effects of the First World War on the poorer families of Britain and see what their lives were like. 

Pre-war life was hard for the working class and many families across Britain were living in slums that were dirty, overcrowded and would be deemed not fit to live in by today's standard. Whole families could be found to be renting one or two rooms instead of a hold house and were expected to share the outside toilet with a dozen other large families. 

When war broke out, most of the men from the poorer areas went straight to the recruiting office to volunteer. many of these me were unemployed or were casual labour so the thought of having a job to do whilst seeing some of the war seemed like a big adventure to them. With the main breadwinner's away, the responsibility of surviving was left on the women's shoulders solely. Due to this we saw an increase in the amount of homes containing more than two generations as grandparents moved in with their families both to save money and to help out with running the home so that the mother could go to work. They would carry out the housework as well as looking after the children.

With more and more factories turning over to war work, jobs were easier to come by and came with relatively good wages, although they would still get less than a man for doing the same job. These new opportunities caused a lot of mothers to go out to work so that they could support their families. With many families having six or more children money would still be tight but they could at least afford to keep a roof over their head. 

With the war dragging on, food was becoming harder to come by and thus was becoming more and more expensive. Unlike the wealthy who had no limit to the cost of the food they ate, poorer families just couldn't afford much and so many were living on potatoes or bread and dripping to get them through each day.  

By the end of the war, the role of the individual family members had changed with many families getting used to coping with their menfolk being away, so much so that when the soldiers returned from war they often found it difficult to fit in and cope with how much had changed whilst they were away. For all their bravery and help fighting to win the war, they were often left unemployed and with little or no money. 

Unlike the rich, who as a consequence of the war had more wealth, the poor were left with nothing and would face a bitter struggle to survive each day. The workhouse would see more people arriving on its doorstep and the suicide rate increased. The war had changed everyone's lives and began to shape the life we know today.

Rich Families Of The First World War

When people think of the First World War, a lot of people think it was a 'we're all in this together' time, but was that really the case? I intend to find out by looking to see if there was a divide between the rich and the poor. In the first of two parts, I'm going to look at what life was like for those that were wealthy during wartime.

Whenever you read about the beginning of the First World War, there are stories of young men from all backgrounds volunteering for the army as soon as war broke out. However, for some of those that could afford to, they paid somebody, who usually was poor and needed the money, to pose as them to carry out their medical tests for the army. The men that were chosen to do this had medical problems that would mean they would fail the test and be exempt from active duty on the front line. This could range from bad sight or hearing to being flat-footed or found to have heart or breathing problems. Once a wealthy man had his exemption certificate, he could relax and stay at home. He may still have been expected to carry out war work but it would be far less dangerous that fighting in the trenches.

For those that wanted to fight the war, having money or status meant that a lot of them went straight into the army with the rank of Officer with very little training. This caused unrest for the private ranks because they felt many of the officer's didn't have a clue what they were doing or would just treat the privates like slaves. However, having said this, looking back at the war, those wealthy officers did have just as difficult and dangerous a time as the privates. After all they were the ones who had to lead their men, being the first to go over the top and usually being the main target. After all, without an officer to lead them, the enemy knew chaos would ensue and thus allow them to gain more land. They also had the job of keeping their men in line in accordance with the army even if they themselves also didn't want to. 

Pre-war, the wealthy were used to having vast houses with many boosting around twenty rooms and land as far as the eye could see. The families of houses like these could be found to have a large quantity of servants to carry out all manner of jobs from cook and gardener to lady's maid, footman and butler. However, at the outbreak of war this was to change and it would be change that would eventually see domestic service disappear almost entirely. With many of the servants being men, they ever volunteered or were later called up. This meant that the household was run by men that were either too young or too old or unfit to service the army and women. Yet with more and more factories springing up across Britain to turn out war goods, many women stood left the hard, long hours of working as a servant and instead chose to work in the dangerous conditions of munition factories which offered a much higher wage. 

Houses which were deemed large enough were converted to be used as a hospital or convalescence house for those soldiers returning from the front. Houses would be used like this for the duration of the war and families would be expected to either help or find somewhere else to live until the war was over. 

One thing that many families had in common rich and poor alike was the having to get used to their menfolk being away whilst fighting the war as well as the devastation of one of them being killed. Mother's, wives and children up and down the country were all waiting at home for news of their loved one whether rich or poor. One of the only thing that money couldn't buy was the knowledge of safety of a loved one, instead the people on the home front had to wait weeks, sometimes months for any news. 

By the end of the war, the rich had seemed to get richer and the rich poor divide became greater. Factory owners had grown their wealth through contracted given by the government to product war goods. However, for all of their wealth, servants were harder to come by. Many of the men had either been killed or were injured and unable to work. For the women, they had been able to have a life that was without restriction and many had some money behind them now. They no longer wanted to work long, tiring hours for little money. This meant that the war had changed the lives of the rich forever. 

Join me next time when I look at what life was like for the poor during the First World War. 

Christmas 1915

By December 1915, the realisation that the war was going to drag on for a long time yet started to hit home. As with today, people's thoughts turned towards Christmas and what they needed to buy. However, in wartime Britain this was easier said than done. Today we are used to an array of beautiful presents with something for every price range, yet in 1915, less and less could be found in the shops. Women were encouraged to only buy presents which was useful and those that could were encouraged to do without, in order to said the soldier's on the front line what they could. Useful gifts for the soldiers included items such as warm gloves, safety razors & cigarettes.

It was not only those on the home front whose thoughts turned to their loved ones at Christmas, for soldier's were also thinking of what to buy. The most popular item that was purchased was handmade cards from local villages near to the front line. These are more commonly known as world war one silks. They are so beautifully crafted and many came with their own personal message inside. For those of you who haven't been lucky enough to see one in the flesh, all I can say is the detail captured in these cards are truly amazing.

On the home front and the front line, people were remembering the Christmas Truce of the previous year. So were those of higher power who strongly discouraged any repeat of such an event. Soldier's were threatened that if they were caught to be in friendly company of the enemy, they would be court marshalled and the punishment would be severe. This meant that for the soldier's on the front line, it was a relatively quiet affair. With many of the soldier's fighting in Gallipoli throughout December, soldier's were battling with the bitter temperatures and fallen snow. Due to this, many soldier's in the area were suffering from frostbite and so not really in the Christmas mood. 

It wasn't just the army that were strict around Christmas, for the navy was too. Christmas Day for sailor's was highly regimented. For example, whether religious or not a sailor was first expected to attend a religious service. After the service, they would then go to the mess, where food adorned the tables as far as they eye could see. The ships Captain and officers would then sit at each of the tables and sample the food on offer. Only then would they have any free time, but they were always on high alert. 

Britain had seen some of its bloodiest battles in the war so far, and with this came a vast amount of injured soldier's, many of whom were to spend Christmas in hospital. To cheer their patients up, many of whom were suffering from horrific and life-changing injuries, nurses set about decorating the wards and organising entertainment such as concerts. 

For all of these people and many others, Christmas was celebrated in different ways. Yet they all had something in common and that was the hope that the war would be over soon, so that no more suffering came of the people of Britain. Unfortunately, this hope would not happen for another three years and there would be many who would never see the end of the war. So this Christmas take a moment to think of those people as well as those serving around the world today, of the sacrifices they paid and are still paying to keep us all safe. 

Lastly, I would just like to take this moment to thank you for your support and for reading my blog throughout the year. I would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and a prosperous and happy new year. 

Food & Drink Of The First World War

For the British people, food and drink, especially tea has always played an important part in our lives. So when the First World War broke out, how was everyone going to be able to cope, especially if the German's succeeded in cutting off our tiny island.

Before war broke out, the rich dinned at fancy restaurants and went to social events such as dinners whereas the poor tended to make so with what they could after, sometimes being only bread and dripping. Rationing wasn't to come into force until much later in the war so traditional favourites could still be enjoyed. These favourites included porridge, pies, stews, kippers and a takeaway of fish and chips if it could be afforded. 

At the outbreak of war such a vast number of men volunteered to fight, that the government had to work out how they were going to feed them all. It wasn't going to be as easy as popping to the local shops. The food had to travel across the channel, through the dangers that lurked beneath the sea, before then travelling to the trenches that needed it. The government therefore decided that there would be a restriction on how much food a soldier could have daily, thus ensuring that no matter how far down the trenches you were, you all got the same amount. The guidelines were: A pinch of both pepper and mustard, 8 ounces of fresh vegetables or a tenth of lime juice, 4 ounces of jam or 4 ounces of dried fruit, 4 ounces of butter or margerine, 3 ounces of cheese, 20 ounces of bread or 16 ounces of flour or 4 ounces of oatmeal. In terms of meat, soldiers could have 4 ounces of bacon, 1 1/4 pounds of meat or 1 pound of salt meat. Also allowed was up to half a gill of rum or 1 pint of porter per soldier. Due to the amount of time and effort it took to get the food to the soldiers, the government also stated that nothing was to be wasted. By the time bread got to the front line it was usually stale but this was not to be thrown away. Instead cooks were expected to put it in cold water and rebake for an hour to give it new life. Alternatively, slices of bread could also be put in milk and baked which turned them into rusks. Any food that was left over could be sold to local farmers to be used as swill, whilst left over dripping could be used in the manufacturing of explosives. To add flavour to their dishes, cooks was taught to look for nettles, sweet docks, wild mushrooms and marigold flowers, all of which could be used to season food. One of the most used recipes was that of the Maconochies Meat Stew, which was made up of fatty meat, sliced turnips, carrots and thin gravy. Although easy to make on a large scale, soldiers grumbled about it and said that when warm it was barely edible yet when cold it could kill. Hard biscuits, made from salt, flour and water was also widely available, however, soldiers soon realised that you needed to dunk them in a drink or loose your teeth!

Originally, the war was meant to be over by Christmas, yet as it dragged on food became scarce and things were harder to find in shops. The government distributed leaflets to homes across Britain with tips on how to use every piece of food, making sure nothing was left over. These leaflets also included how to use vegetables as a substitute for other ingredients such as potatoes to make pastry and cakes. Propaganda played a huge part on the homefront to ensure women was doing their bit for the war effort. Posters included one that stated: Women of Britain - our soldiers are beating the Germans on land, our sailors are beating them on the sea, You can beat them in the larder and the kitchen. For women, it gave them a role in the war, to ensure they used as little food as possible so that the soldiers and sailors could have the food they needed in order to fight the enemy. A book was released to help women achieve this in the form of the Win The War Cookbook, where women could find recipes with many substitute ingredients that they otherwise wouldn't have known about.  

By 1916 flour was almost non-exsistant in the trenches, so bread started being made from other ingredients such as dried potato, oats, barley and sometimes even pulverised straw. Some small French towns had opened up cafe's, often in the front room of their house, to accommodate the soldiers when they were on leave. Here a soldier would find foods they wouldn't normally eat in the daily trench life such as egg and chips. These business ventures proved popular, with many soldiers looking forward to visiting them on their next leave. With food supplies becoming more difficult to get through, soldiers were no longer getting the set amount that they had previously had in 1914 and by 1917, Bully Beef was restricted to 6 ounces a day. Although army ration packs were not introduced until after the war, each soldier did carry with them an emergency Iron Rations Kit in a tin. This was made up of various long life foods but could only be opened when told to do so by officers. Meat was also in short supply and was often substituted with horsemeat, whilst dishes such as potato pie and milk biscuit pudding became popular. 
Drink, especially water was also becoming more and more difficult to transfer to the front line, with some soldiers resorting to drinking from puddles. This as well as the poor diet, led to deficiencies in important vitamins and stomach upsets became increasingly common. The government came to the conclusion that more had to be done - An army did after all, march on its stomach. 

The answer was rationing which came into force in 1918. Everyone was issued with a ration card, even including the King and Queen and had to take it with them whenever they wanted to purchase anything on ration. Foods that were rationed included sugar, meat, flour, margarine, butter and milk. This, like on the front line, ensured that everybody was entitled to the same amount of food, rich and poor alike. 

The process of ensuring everybody had enough to eat took its time but got there towards the end. It meant that when the Second World War came along later, the government could look at the First World War techniques and make it quicker and more efficient. Rationing also brought with it new food technology that we still use today - having something dried from a packet and just adding water. By 1918 this was commonplace in custard and dried soup powder and again would have its day during the Second World War. 

Life AT War - Day By Day

23th November 1915

The battle of Ctesiphon between allied and Turkish forces has entered its second day of fighting. Soldiers have been fighting along the Tigris River in Mesopotamia for over 24 hours now.