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Saving the nation from starvation: the heroic age of food control, June 1917 to July 1918

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2019

John Martin
John Martin*
Affiliation:
Centre for English Local History, University of Leicester
*
Email: jm803@le.ac.uk
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Abstract

The civilian food shortages and accompanying malnutrition that characterised the latter stages of the First World War were instrumental in fundamentally changing the course of European history. In Russia, food shortages were a key underlying factor in precipitating the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, while in Germany, food shortages led to the so-called ‘turnip winter’ of 1917, which effectively helped to undermine commitment to the war effort and contribute to the country’s defeat. In spite of Britain’s precarious dependence on imported food, and the shipping losses inflicted by German U-boats, the population was less badly affected. This achievement has been attributed to the work undertaken by Lord Rhondda, the second food controller, whose actions were characterised as the ‘heroic age of food control’. This article uses evidence from official government reports, newspapers and diaries, memoirs and biographies to challenge the prevailing historiography about the success of food control measures in Britain during the First World War. It shows that the Ministry of Food under Lord Rhondda’s period of tenureship was not only indecisive, but that efforts to save the nation from malnutrition, if not actual starvation, were in large part the result of initiatives implemented at the local level.

Type
Research Article
Information
Rural History , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , October 2019 , pp. 181 - 196
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Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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References

Notes

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34 Beveridge, British Food Control, pp. 56–7.

35 Harris, ‘Bureaucrats and Businessmen in British Food Control, 1916–19’, p. 140.

36 Ibid., p. 142.

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38 The National Archives, Kew (hereafter TNA) MAF 60/218, ‘Importance of Wartime Rationing’, War Cabinet memorandum; G-418, ‘Machinery for Compulsory Rationing’; From Devonport Ministry of Food, 2nd May 1917.

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40 Tallents Man and Boy, p. 240.

41 Beveridge, British Food Control, p. 57.

42 Ibid., p. 189.

43 Ibid.

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47 TNA MAF 60/218, ‘Importance of Wartime Rationing’, note by Food Controller to memorandum of 9th November 1917 (dated 14th November 1917).

48 TNA Public Record Office (hereafter PRO) MAF 60/557, S. P. Vivian to R. H. Hodgson, October 1936 (signed memorandum enclosed with letter), p. 3.

49 Tallents, Man and Boy, p. 241.

50 TNA PRO MAF 60/557, S. P. Vivian to R. H. Hodgson, October 1936 (signed memorandum enclosed with letter), p. 4.

51 TNA CAB 24/31 GT 2563, ‘Compulsory Rationing and Distribution of Essential Foods’, memorandum by Food Controller, 9th November 1917.

52 TNA CAB 24/31 GT 2563, ‘Compulsory Rationing and Distribution of Essential Foods’, memorandum by Food Controller, 9th November 1917, Appendix A, p. 3.

53 TNA MAF 60/218, ‘Compulsory Rationing’, note by Food Controller to memorandum of 9th November 1917 (dated 14th November 1917).

54 TNA MAF 60/108, War Cabinet Papers, ‘Rationing Memorandum and Decisions’, minutes of a meeting of the War Cabinet held at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday 28th November 1917, p. 285

55 Beveridge, British Food Control, p. 195.

56 TNA MAF 60/218-G192, ‘Compulsory Rationing’, memorandum by Food Controller dated 24th January 1918.

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62 Birmingham Daily Post, 1st December 1917.

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64 Birmingham Daily Post, 26th and 28th November 1917.

65 The Times, 20th December 1917.

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74 TNA MAF 60/243, letter to W. Beveridge from S. G. Tallents, Local Authorities Division dated 8th December 1917, on the ‘Prevention of Queues’ (copy sent to Mr Tuner, Private Secretary to Lord Rhondda).

75 Beveridge, Food Control, p. 197; Tallents, Man and Boy, p. 242.

76 TNA MAF 60/237, Ministry of Food, ‘Local Schemes of Distribution’, S. G. Tallents, 26th December 1917.

77 Beveridge, Food Control, p. 200.

78 The Times, 7th January 1918.

79 Beveridge, Food Control, p. 202.

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86 Birmingham Daily Post, 7th January 1918.

87 Ibid.

88 Ibid. For a detailed critique of the extent of unrest in urban areas, see TNA CAB24/41 GT 3442, ‘The Labour Situation’, 23rd January 1918.

89 TNA MAF 60/24, ‘Food Queues’, notes and memorandum on their prevention; ‘The Effect of Food Queues at Home on Men on the Front’, memorandum by Syndey Walton, 16th April 1918, p. 41.

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100 The Times, 16th March 1921.