Rationing

By the beginning of 1918 severe food shortages were common, especially in butter and sugar. A queue of 3000 for a delivery of margarine was reported in south-east London in December 1917. Two thousand went away empty handed. Some angry customers began looting shops where they believed food was being kept back. The government took harsh measures against those found wasting food. One woman was fined £ 20 for feeding steak to her dog, at a time when a good weekly wage was £ 2. It seems, though, that even then the British fondness for animals was clear. A farmer who fed bread to his cows was imprisoned for three months.

By July 1918, rationing had been introduced across the country - yet another example of how the government was extending its control over people's lives. Meat, bread, sugar, butter, lard and margarine could only be bought with a ration card in fixed amounts. In some areas, tea, jam, and cheese were rationed as well.

It was a measure many people welcomed since it affected everybody equally and meant that the rich would also have to 'do their bit' for the war effort. The amount of food available depended on the job you did (night shift workers and manual workers got extra, as did teenage boys) and the type of food varied according to your religion. Income tax increased by 500 per cent and prices rose by 125 per cent during the course of the war. Some believed the government should have controlled prices as well.

Neil Demarco: Britain and the Great War; Oxford University Press, 1992/2000, page 37