Cigarettes and Alcohol in the Great War

[Guest steveadcock]

Hi,

As a History finalist at the University of Warwick i've just started researching for my dissertation which will look at the role of Cigarettes and Alcohol in the First World War, both on the Western Front and on the Home Front.

I intend to look at issues such as how the use of tobacco and alcohol on the Western Front affected troop performance (e.g. through improving morale) and how this compares with the use of cigarettes and alcohol on the Home Front (restricted opening hours of public houses, increased price of alcohol etc.)

If anyone could offer insight into these or related issues, or provide suggestions for further reading/source availability, i would be most grateful.

Kind Regards

Steve Adcock

[Bob Coulson]

Steve,

One chap you may wish to look into would be the Reverend Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy.

Affectionately known to the Tommies as "Woodbine Willie" after his habit of going round the trenches distributing Woodbines and advice to the men.

He was very well respected and it is said that at his funeral many who had known him during the war placed packets of Wood bines on his coffin.

He must have been quite a character.

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

Steve,

You may want to look into the issue of the rum ration to troops. This was certainly issued to troops before going over the top, probably to steady nerves, but its effect on men who were worked hard and fed badly can only be guessed. The rum ration issue was abolished in the Navy in the early 1970s, but the last ime it was issued to HM Forces was in June 1982 to the Task Force when the Falklands had been re-taken.

Ian

[Chris_Baker]

The General commanding 33rd Division banned the use of rum. It would be interesting to examine the merits or otherwise of his actions.

[Tom Morgan]

Bob has already mentioned Woodbine Willie, and another famous distributor of cigarettes, though on a much smaller scale, was the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII. He often handed cigarettes round to the Other Ranks and they were Wills's Gold Flake, much better than the usual issue the men got.

Official photographers must have had lots of cigarettes to give out too. You often see posed photos of groups of men, each man with a newly-lit cigarette. A good one is on page 111 of "The Somme - the Day-by-Day Account" by Chris McCarthy. This shows the men of a howitzer battery. They have all just lit up and some men are almost invisible behind clouds of smoke.

"Cigarette Funds" or "Tobacco Funds" are also something you might like to look into. Often organised at local level via newspaper advertisements, these were collections of money to send cigarettes out to the members of the local battalion. In addition, newspapers and magazines often carried adverts from tobacconists who were all geared up for sending strongly-packed boxes of cigarettes to individual soldiers.

[AndrewThornton]

Here are a couple of examples of collections being made to supply particular units, in this case 1/2nd North Midland Field Company R.E.:

LICHFIELD MERCURY, 1st SEPTEMBER 1916.

"Gifts to Soldiers - The Brownhills District staff of the Britannic Assurance Company make an effort to supply the local Company of Royal Engineers with cigarettes and tobacco. Many parcels containing tobacco and cigarettes have been sent during the war, and the Superintendent, Mr H. Sadler, has scores of postcards from the soldiers expressing their appreciation of the gifts. A further consignment of 10,000 Woodbines has just been sent and no less than 26 postcards have been received from the men in the trenches gratefully acknowledging the parcels."

LICHFIELD MERCURY, 15th DECEMBER 1916.

"BROWNHILLS - For Fighting Comrades - A collection has been made amongst the mechanics employed at Harrisons Colliery For the purpose of sending a tobacco pouch, pipe, matches and cigarettes as a Christmas gift to each of their former work-fellows who are now serving at the front with the North Midland Field Co. Royal Engineers. The collection was taken by Messrs. J. Tullis, J. Bagnall and J. Latham."

[charlesmessenger]

Have a look at J G Fuller `Troop Morale and Popular Culture in the British and Dominion Armies 1914-1918' Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1990. This should give you some useful leads.

Charles M

[Michael]

Ian

Rum is still issued in the RN occasionally. The Queen or the Admiralty will order 'Splice the Mainbrace' on special occasions (eg A royal birth). Rum is then issued from a barrel inscibed 'The Queen God Bless Her' to those of eligible age. If I remember rightly, this is the same barrel in which the youngest member of the ship's company ceremonially stirs the Christmas pudding.

The Senior Rates messes still celebrate 'Black Tot Day' in recognition of the last daily issue.

Sorry to ramble on, but I do like to swing the lamp sometimes

Michael

[Terry_Reeves]

I have some cigarette adverts which show that manufacturers were quite happy to use various aspects of the war to promote their products.

The first is from the Boer War which shows a bloodied but unbowed Tommy, accompanied by a verse from Kiplings "Absent Minded Beggar" and is clearly using a patriotic theme.

The other two are from WW1 and are class based. The first is a magnificent colour advertisment for Cavenders "Army Club" cigarettes (1918) , depicting a wounded officer in service dress complete with MC ribbon, monocle and cane accompanied by a society lady friend most fashionably dressed. The caption is:

Gertie: "I really believe you boys would smoke those "Army Club" Cigarettes if you were dying."

Bertie: "You bet we would, dear old thing - and save our bally lives."

Needless to say the "hero" is puffing away quite elegantly.

The second is working class based, entitled " "I can't see what Farver likes about them " I depicts a disconsolate young boy and his dog pondering his discarded fag on the floor. It is accompanied by a four- verse piece of doggerel in which the young chap has been clearly emulating his soldier-father who is away at the front. He defends his mother from burglars with his pop-gun, and his dog Dash. To prove he is a man, he takes to smoking but soon realises the error of his ways. The last verse goes:

"I can't see what Farver likes

In Abdulla's Cigarette.

Why is it the Champion "Smoke"

That all soldiers love to get?

Think I'll drop this grown-up "stunt"

And be just a little Boy-

Guess I'll have to grow for years

Ere Abdullahs give me joy!"

Incidentally, Wills Woodbines were the subject of a pre-war WW1 song by the music hall artist Billy Williams -"The Man in the Velvet Suite", Called "Little Willy Woodbine", it is a cracking recording which warns, humorously, about the "pleasures" of underage smoking.

Terry Reeves

[Tom Morgan]

"Arf A Mo, Kaiser" was the famous cartoon by the illustrator Bert Thomas, who was serving in the Artists' Rifles when he drew it. It was used to raise money for a fund to provide tobacco and cigarettes to front-line troops. It did very well indeed, eventually raising the incredible sum of 250,000 pounds!

Tom

[Martin B]

I have the war time letters of my wife's great uncle; Pte. Arthur March of the 1st/15th Londons (PWO Civil Service Rifles) (KIA Bourlon Wood, 1917). In them he tells his father not to send him any more cigarettes whilst he was at camp prior to going to France as they were cheaper on the camp than at home. He later wrote that the cigarettes available in France were of 'indifferent quality'.

This struck a chord with me as I remember my father telling me that he too had asked his father not to send him 'fags' whilst he was in Germany doing his National Service as they were cheaper on the camp in Paderborn than they were back home.

[Dolphin]

This might be off on something of a tangent from your area of research, but there's an excellent article by Col S A Ruffin, a current USAF Flight Surgeon, on the medical aspects of flying in the Great War in Volume 17 No 2 (Summer 2002) edition of 'Over the Front' - the journal of the League of WWI Aviation Historians. Inter alia, it contains the following statements about tobacco and alcohol as they affected fliers:

"Both substances were readily avialable to flyers in virtually unlimited quantities, with few restrictions on their use by higher authorities."

"It is indeed highly likely that the damage done to the lungs and cardiovascular system by even short-term heavy smoking might have affected a flier's ability to function in the thin air of high altitude."

"Although drunkeness amongst airmen has possibly been over-emphasised in popular novels and movies, factual accounts of all-night 'binges' and of airmen drinking excessively to 'hold their end up' are common."

"The detrimental affects of a severe hangover on an early morning combat patrol can only be imagined."

"Alcohol use, however, for all its harmful effects may have been a necessary evil - at least when used in moderation. The strain of aerial combat may have been too great for the average man to stand without some form of drug induced relief."

The article suggests that, on the other hand, those who didn't resort to drink might have had too much time to think and let therefore their imagination run riot.

I hope this helps

Dolphin

[Patrick]

The German soldier was smoking the cigarette brand “Fur Heer und Flotte”

for army and navy

Soldiers in the trenches called it “Fur flotte Herren “ for smooth gentlemen .

[Guest steveadcock]

Thanks for all your responses so far, they're proving really useful. Woodbine Willie certainly sounds like quite a character, distributing bibles and cigarettes to soldiers at the front!

Please keep the suggestions coming in, and no doubt i'll be posing further questions as my research develops.

Cheers, Steve

[Jim_Grundy]

Steve

One of the members of the Player family (as in John Player's of Nottingham) served with the 1/7th Battalion, Notts & Derby (Robin Hood Rifles). He distributed cigarettes to his men. Apparently, he had access to a cheap and plentiful supply!

I'm sure that you've come across the activities of the temperance movement during the war. Chris has mentioned the 33rd Division but have you read the debates that certainly took place in 1915 about the need to maintain the war effort and not undermine it through alcoholic excess? This was covered extensively in local (Nottingham) newspapers of the time. In fact, when war was declared amongst all the advice contained in the editorial about not panicking etc., the greatest emphasis was given to the need to stay sober!

Cheers,

Jim

[michaeldr]

A brief digression to complete the picture of Kennedy.

Steve and Bob have both referred to Woodbine Willie (Rev Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy) as quite a 'character' and while giving away smokes was what made his name so to speak, he had other attributes as well.

At railway stations he was known to stand on a box and sing to the waiting men; 'Mother Machree' for the sons, 'Little Grey Home in the West' for the husbands and 'The Sunshine of your Smile' for the lovers. When he had finished singing he would offer to write letters home for the men, a particularly useful gesture in the days before universal literacy. He was also described as a short, bat-eared, asthmatic who, although English born and educated, adopted an Irish brogue and was frequently heard to swear. This is from 'Chaplains in Conflict' by Louden, however what was left out was how Kennedy got his M.C. at Messines in 1917. Can someone please fill in this detail?

Thanks

Michael D. R.

[Bob Coulson]

Michael,

The only reference to this that I can find briefly states-

"Studdert-Kennedy won the MC at Messines after running into no-mans-land to provide comfort to those injured during an attack on the German front line."

Not much I'm afraid.

Perhaps someone can come up with a more detailed account?

[Bob Coulson]

Just been looking at another "Woodbine Willie" story.

Apparently when seeing off the troops at the station he would have two rucksacks, one containing bibles and the other woodbines. He would go up and down the troop train until he had distributed both sacks.

[munce]

Robert Graves' 'Goodbye to all that' mentions the use of alcohol by officers. I think I remember him saying that many would get through a bottle of scotch a day whilst in the trenches, but have no need for it at all at home. Of course, there has been a lot of doubt cast on the historical veracity of Graves' account.

Another book I have 'War as a Temporary Occupation' by Frank Paish mentions that 'two items of chronic shortage (in the views of the men) were cigarettes and alcohol. The daily ration of cigarettes was of unknown brands and was quite inadequate. Pipe smokers on the other hand did very well, for the ration of pipe tobacco was taken up by most men only in the hope of exchanging it for cigarettes. For troops in action there was a small daily issue of rum, usually distributed last thing at night. In the dusk or dark it was necessary to see that no-one rejoined the queue to draw his ration twice. In addition each man was entitled to draw 5 francs a week from his pay; but their opinion of French beer was well expressed by one letter which I censored: "the beer out here is rather like the water, only not so strong".

If the men felt short of alcoholic drink, the officers certainly did not need to, with Johnny Walker Red Label whisky on sale at the EFC canteens at 70 francs - a little over £3 - per case of 12 bottles.'

A little later in the book he mentions that as mess secretary he had to maintain a balance between the stocks for those officers who liked whisky, those who liked gin and Italian Vermouth. During the battle of Cambrai, his unit had to withdraw too fast to collect the mess supplies, and when he went back to get them when things had calmed down, all he found was a large group of drunk infantry, and the vermouth!

[michaeldr]

Bob,

Many thanks for your replies: a little more of the Kennedy jigsaw falls into place.

Regards

Michael D.R.

[weightmanrm]

Steve,

Some info I might add on the 'temperance' side of things.

One of my relatives, Arthur Barker was killed serving with the 1st Northumberland Fusiliers in August 1918. We have all the letters he wrote home during that period. He was a strict teatotaller, Methodist and I believe a member of the Rechabites ( a temperance society - you can search for more info on this topic on the web), not atypical as he came from Bradford, West Yorkshire, where a large section of the populace would have at least been Methodists.

He writes, while convalescing after being wounded in April 1918, about being hassled by a young man from his home town wanting to borrow money for beer. I guess to put this in perspective, not only would a tea totaller be annoyed at such behaviour, but Arthur at 37 with a wife at home would not have wanted to be hassled by young men in their late teens......

I get the impression that the Salvation Army, YMCA, Scottish Churches huts etc provided a safe haven.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Yours....... Richard

[stevenbecker]

I well remember going overseas to fight, I never smoked or drank (you had to be 21 to drink in Australia and I was 19).

But once in country things changed for many reasons. We used to get free cigerettes in the US section ration packets and it was always good as they had many things not in ours (like aftershave).

Even now I cannot relax unless I am smoking on my pipe.

I can well know why these men must have gone to tabac and drink.

S.B

[Hedley Malloch]

If you want some comparative material look at Paul Fussel's 'Wartime' in which he looks at the role of booze and baccy in the effective conduct of the second world war. If you want to experience the effects first hand go out and buy a bottle of Woods Navy Rum (70% alcohol) and available in specialist alcohol stores. Many years ago a veteran assured me that it was the nearest thing to SRD he had tasted. You would fight anyone after a breakfast cupful of Woods. But it's not a bad drink. Taken with copious quantities of ginger wine, sugar and lemon it's the ideal way to fight flu' SARS - in fact most things. Indeed, it's just the ideal way - full stop.

I am not sure if Woodbines are still available. I think that the 1914 cigarettes would be rougher and stronger than most current brands. Tommy did not mess about with low-tar, filtered nonsense. Don't forget snuff; ideal for damp trench conditions and no risk from flaring matches. Many soldiers from mining and fishing communities would have preferred it to cigarettes.

If you want to see a current archeological record of the importance of booze to Tommy go to Gully Ravine in Gallipoli. 89 years on the place is still ankle-deep in the shards of SRD bottles. Somebody here might have a photo they could let you have.

[fatbob]

I have a copy of 'Soldiers on Service - A Manual of Practical Information for Members of the Expeditionary Force' by Captain Horace Wyndham BEF publ. 1915.

He states:

"He [the soldier] is also given 2 oz. of tobacco a week, and, if necessary, a tot of rum in bad weather."

It's interesting to note that an earlier posting pondered the effects of the rum on poorly fed soldiers. Captain Wyndham would have strongs words about that! He states:

"During the present campaign a soldier is exceedingly well fed, and there is no reason for him ever to be hungry. If he is it is certainly his own fault, as he is given as much food as he can to eat." He goes on to list the daily allowance.

Sorry it's not much about fags and booze but if anyone wants any more info from the good Captain's book just let me know.

Fatbob.

[andigger]

Steve,

I was researching some other things and this thread came up, I was hoping you are still active on the Forum and could update up on how this came out? Honestly, if you need any research into how cigarettes and alcohol affect the Great War tourist I am ready to sacrafice for research!

Andy