Royal Gifts to British Troops During WWI

[briarfriar]

The UK's Express ran a story on Tuesday about the multitude of Christmas gifts sent to British troops in 1914 by Princess Mary, daughter of George V and Queen Mary. Officers received silver boxes and enlisted men received brass boxes containing some of the comforts of home, from candies to cigarettes. Also included were pipes and tobaccos! No details on what kinds, unfortunately.

Read all about it and see the photos here.

 

[greeneyes]

Sending pipes and tobacco to the lads at the front was a fairly common expression of solidarity and appreciation.

Bacon Brothers (Cambridge) was well documented to have done it [1] as was Ben Wade & Tetley & Sons[2].

[1] https://image.isu.pub/121102142914-49427d13c9494e5b90c514fbafc97af6/jpg/page_14.jpg
[2] Leeds Pals - https://books.google.com/books?id=XargAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=%22leeds+pals%22+%22ben+wade%22

 

[mso489]

It seems the civilian population was to some degree protected from the gruesomeness of the war, though the numbers of dead and returning wounded slowly made the realities dawn on the home folks. The kindnesses extended were probably seen as both the intended morale boost and a hint of the disparity between the published ideas of the war and its realities. For years, an advance was a suicide mission from both sides, and these were done with regularity and alarming efficiency. Pipes feature in photos of the troops in the trenches and staging areas. My wife's dad was a teenage dough boy in the U.S. Army during World War I, and spent the rest of his life contending with disabilities from poison gas attacks. He married late, and had a child late, hence the generational discrepancy. I associate WWI more with my grandfather's generation or one between him and my father's WWII cohort.

 

[condorlover1]

I have comment on this several times on here over the years and even recently regarding various relatives. The Christmas 1914 boxes do show up on Ebay although the ones with unopened tobacco and cigarettes are getting pretty rare and very expensive.

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

In this documentary from the BBC they discuss smoking and The First World War.
Apparently the British army placed a single order (which is still the record even today) for 7 million Cuban cigars. 7 MILLION!
I'd have loved to have seen the humidor they needed to store that little lot in

 

[jguss]

Those were for Winston Churchill. During his time at the front in the first half of 1916 he smoked about a million cigars each month.

 

[chopper]

Those were for Winston Churchill. During his time at the front in the first half of 1916 he smoked about a million cigars each month.

There's 720 hours in one month.
Do the math. One million?

Even the most committed cigar smoker could not smoke 1,000,000 in an entire lifetime.

 

[bullet08]

back when i was before 10, my grandfather owned a building in seoul, korea. on certain holidays, rok military will parade through front of the building. i remember my father throwing packs of cigarettes to the soldiers. boxes and boxes of them. they were very happy soldiers.

 

[condorlover1]

I have seen boxes given WW1 troops who were wounded and then evacuated which contained cigarettes, tobacco and a smallish pipe and a cord friction lighter. My Auntie Mary was something of a hoarder and we found loads of stuff like that after she passed away in the early 1980s. I assume her brother used to bring the stuff home when on leave as they must have been given out if they had spares or somehow he picked it up from a friend. When I am next in the U.K I'll have to take a picture of a trench lighter designed to be stuck it to trench wall made from a cut down Krupps shell.

 

[magicpiper]

Those tins do pop up on eBay occasionally but for a pretty penny. On youtube, Vlad the Inhaler did a video showing his. Was I very good shape. I’d love to have one but their prices are usually pretty steep by the time they make it to the States.

 

[Lyon0oq]

I have comment on this several times on here over the years and even recently regarding various relatives. The Christmas 1914 boxes do show up on Ebay although the ones with unopened tobacco and cigarettes are getting pretty rare and very expensive.

Do you have a photo of one, curious to see what they looked like.

 

[condorlover1]

Here you go: