Peek Frean Emergency Rations Tin
1914-1918
Peek Frean Emergency Rations tin
A square undecorated tin containing emergency ration biscuits. It has a lift-off lid, embossed with the initials PF (Peek Frean), over the soldered lid. The contents are still in place. A stuck-on label on the corner reminds the user that the tin was made from 'Important Steel for Munitions' and requests its return.
This tin provides a fascinating glimpse into wartime conditions in Britain during the First World War. As can be seen, the thirst for raw materials useful for munitions production involved not only the destruction of such things as wrought-iron park railings and kitchen saucepans, but humble and inconsequential items such as this biscuit tin. The label pasted on the lid reads 'IMPORTANT STEEL FOR MUNITIONS Steel supplies for these tins are no longer available. Please, therefore, return this tin to your supplier. CREDIT 8D'. The lack of fancy packaging also testifies to the climate of austerity. Between the lift-off lid and the soldered inner lid there is a loose paper label with instructions (and a diagram) in English, French, Italian and Spanish explaining how to open the seal, beginning 'To open this tin with the enclosed cutter ...' Unfortunately the 'enclosed cutter' has disappeared from the Reading Museum tin. Printed using offset litho.
Although this is a Peek Frean tin, similar constraints operated in the Huntley & Palmers factory. Orders for army biscuits often involved twenty-four-hour production. Huntley & Palmers even turned over part of their engineering department to shell production, delivering by the end of the war over 60,000 shells. Huntley Boorne & Stevens remained truer to their Quaker heritage and, after some hesitation, agreed to produce smoke bombs and steel helmets - neither of which were involved in taking human life.
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