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Christmas during the Second World War in Great Britain was celebrated with gusto in 1939. The government suggested that the population should carry on as if nothing had happened – this might be the last time they could have a traditional British Christmas.
Rationing was introduced in the January of 1940 and by the end of the year there was little in the shops in the way of luxuries – that is unless you were rich enough to access the black market.
The Minister of Transport sent this Christmas message to the British public. 'I wish I could be a Santa Claus this Christmas and produce out of the bag hundreds of extra trains, miles of additional tracks and thousands of extra railway workers, so that you could travel where and as you wish – and in comfort.
Indeed, I have to curtail Christmas passenger trains and try to persuade you not to travel at all. You know this must be a stern Christmas-tide – one during which we must work for victory. The enemy won't wait while we take a Christmas holiday, and therefore railways must continue to devote all their energies to vital war transport.
There are no extra holidays for railway workers – for you no extra travelling facilities. Forgive no presents this year, but best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.'
The Post Office also made an appeal to the public, this time to post early. (No change there then.)
Posting should be completed by December 18, and the earlier the better. In normal times the Post Office has a difficult task of disposing of the heavy Christmas traffic, and the task can only be accomplished by engaging some 80,000 temporary workers throughout the country. This year the difficulties have been increased because of the release of 40,000 trained men for the Forces, the slowing up of road and rail transport because of the blackout, and the need for confining deliveries, and collections, as far as possible, to the short hours of daylight.
Home decorations became a do-it-yourself affair.
No doubt paper chains were made and hung about the place.
Those that live in rural areas obviously fared better than city dwellers but they were less likely to be bombed and had access to 'wild' food such as berries, mushrooms and rabbit. There was also more likelihood of them getting eggs and dairy products from local farms. If there was alcohol it would perhaps be home-made wine in the country, and beer at the pub for everyone else.
Everyone knows about famous truce in the trenches the first Christmas of World War I but did you know that Christmas of 1940 the German Embassy in Washington sent word to the British Government that Germany was prepared to suspend bombing missions against Britain over the Christmas period if the RAF did the same. No formal arrangement was made, but neither side launched any attacks between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. As the weather was overcast the lack of attacks was attributed to this.
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Interesting that the approach to suspend bombing was made, and that the overcast weather means we have doubt?
ReplyDeleteThat's what my research shows. Thanks for dropping by.
DeleteVery interesting to learn about the Christmas-time austerities people had to put up with during the Second World War. Funny though – making your own decorations these days seems to be regarded as quite stylish!
ReplyDeleteI've had tow lovely home made cards - perhaps because everything is now so inexpensive making your own is an upmarket thing. Thanks for dropping by.
DeleteCripes, Fenella, that's jus' the way it is in moi village o' Widdlin'ton an' all. But don't mind the war, 'ave yerself a real merry Christmas...!
ReplyDeleteA bit of wartime privations would be good for my waistline and pocket. Thanks for commenting.
DeleteMy mother was a teenager during WWII and for ever afterwards and throughout my childhood she always made her own Christmas decorations. Happy Christmas :)
ReplyDeleteMy husband still talks about having one wooden famr animal for Christmas, Mind you he is ancient.
DeleteSorry my contact is jaffareadstoo(at)hotmail(dot)co(dot)uk -Thank you !
ReplyDeleteInteresting - and something one rarely reads about
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting. I find the research endlessly fascinating.
DeleteGreat post but I'd have loved a meatless Christmas dinner recipe as I've a veggie visitor for Christmas. Best wishes from kritsayvonne AT talktalk.net x
ReplyDeleteThere wouldn't have been a lot of meat around - I know they made a veggie goose form mashed vegetables.
DeleteWhat an image, the last "normal" Christmas! Like the apology letter... Thanks for doing the research and bringing it to us!
ReplyDeleteThank you for dropping by.
DeleteNicky -you have won the book - can you e-mail me with address -or message on fb? Thanks.
DeleteThanks everyone for dropping by - this blog hop experience has been excellent. Haven't participated as much as I wanted -not been well today. Will announce winner tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! I am always fascinated with how people dealt with the ravages of war. One of my new books features the Chislehurst Caves, which were used as bomb shelters during the war.
ReplyDeleteI love this period of History. Thank you for a well written Article and I am bookmarking it to read again...
ReplyDeleteMarilyn Watson ewatvess@yahoo.com
My mother was also a teen during WWII, and she has talked of the rationing. She lived on a farm; they did, indeed, have a better selection of vegetables, fruits, and meats than city dwellers did. If their own farm couldn't give them something they needed, they traded in the community.
ReplyDeleteMy husband used to catch rabbits and they grew their own veg and had chickens.
DeleteOne cookbook, that I have shows how ingredients of a recipe for Christmas pudding changed over the years from Victorian times to just after WWII, due to food shortage and rationing.Very interesting. My mother always told how my grandfather made sure to have an orange in their Christmas stocking.
ReplyDeleteMy husband said when his oldest brother returned from being a POW for 5 years he gave him and orange. He hadn't seen one, or a banana, since 1939. Don't know where your grandfather got oranges for the stockings from - must ahve had a secret supply.:)
DeleteWe live in Canada. My grandfather bought a grocery store during the Depression. Even for store owners it was hard to get certain goods. Plus they were always under scrutiny to make sure they followed all the rationing rules and didn't sell things on the black market.
DeleteNow, one click and we can have everything we desire. I remember getting a box of secondhand books to share with my brother as a present and was thrilled.
DeleteAh, paper-chains and sticking coloured shapes on glasses... We did that still as kids in the 1950s so the wartime hits persisted for a few years afterwards, it seems.
ReplyDeleteI've made paper chains with my grandchildren -but never stuck stars on glasses -might be hard to remove.
DeleteInteresting stuff here Fenella, a lot of which was news to me. But like others I remember making paper chains from scratch in my childhood so the habit must have persisted into the 1960s before tinsel and the like took over. Thanks for posting about this!
ReplyDeleteRichard -thanks for dropping by.
DeleteI think it's an interesting fact that, on the whole, people were a lot healthier on the wartime rationing diet than they are now! One of my aunts (a young wife at the time) learned to make home-made wine during the war and continued to make it nearly to the end of her life. She died a couple of years ago, well into her 90s - not sure whether the wine had anything to do with it!
ReplyDeletePeople took more exercise -had no choice - and no sugar -which is the biggest cause of obesity today. Thanks for dropping in.
DeleteI'm spending an afternoon re-visiting everyone on the Blog Hop - lovely! :-) Thank you for taking part and Have a Happy New Year Fenella
ReplyDeleteThank you for inviting me, Helen, and I apologize for not being more proactive.
DeleteI rather like the sound of those home-made decorations in the era of make-do-and-mend! We were still making paper chains in my childhood in the 1960s.
ReplyDeleteDebbie, thank you for dropping by and commenting. I shall certainly attempt the sticky coloured shapes on glasses with my grandson next Christmas.
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