Dixi or mess tin

[Terry Carter]

What did British troops eat their food out of during WW1. A dixi or a mess tin or does it mean the same?

thanks

Terry

[27thBN]

I always thought the same thing but dixie is american name for a canteen i believe ,but in real terms somewhat interchangeable.In WW2 onwards the canteen holder was a steel cup inside a canvas cover that was used for cooking,had a fold out steel handle i used them many times on hikes and camping.

[NigelS]

Welcome to be corrected, but I've always understood a 'dixie' (aka billy or billycan; said to be of australian origin from the aboriginal word for water: billa)) to be more like a small deep cylinderical kitchen saucepan with a lid and swivelling top handle for heating water & cooking, a little larger than the shallower, lidless mess tins with folding side handles, suitable for basic one man cooking as well as for eating centrally issued food off of - although nothing, of course, to stop anyone eating from what I know as a dixie or billy!

Not that it really helps, but a kit list for an LRB rifleman of the GW for training gives: 'mess tin with Tommy's cooker inside' with a weight of 1.5lbs

NigelS

[truthergw]

I carried mess tins in my small pack and scrubbed dixies on fatigues. For me, dixies were large cooking utensils used in the field. Mess tins had the magical property of burning your mouth then immediately turning your food cold.

[Heid the Ba]

As Tom says, a dixie is a cooking pot, a mess tin a personal plate/dish. Like many army terms dixie is of Indian origin, from the hindi "degshi" for cooking pot.

[centurion]

To the Americans a Dixie was a metal canteen originally made by the Dixie Gun Works, another case of two nations divided by a common language

[Peter Doyle]

The Dixie was much larger, and consisted of two parts. I haven't one to hand, but it was about 2 ft long by about 1.5 feet high; it had a large handle and a top lid that was deep enough to act as a container, but shallow enough to be a serving dish. The same pattern was used until well after WW2 and I've seen them being sold, ordnance marked but dated for the 1950s at boot fairs (often by sellers with horsey-stuff as I guess they were used for mixing feed, or whatever). Sorry, as I'm still chasing a GW vintage one, I don't have any images.

The mess tin was much smaller; the classic is the so-called kidney-shaped one, which is quite deep in itself and with a close fitting lid; the lower part has a handle, the lid a fold out handle too. There are various small variants. These were carried by most dismounted soldiers in the Great War, often with a cover.

Less common are the circular mounted pattern tins, which again fit together in two halves, and were held there by a leather strap. See images! Hope this helps.

Peter

[centurion]

A Dixie or Canteen originally made by the Dixie Gun Company (and still available)

[NigelS]

... and scrubbed dixies on fatigues. For me, dixies were large cooking utensils used in the field.

This will bring back happy memories then !

Perhaps the original version was also a product of the 'Dixie Gun Company'

NigelS

[centurion]

No I think we have two different things with the same name. The American Dixie being a metal canteen for drinking water and the British Dixie being a camp cooking pot. Just to add confusion I've seen ' Canteen' being used to refer to a mess tin

[its the same as Americans driving on the pavement!]

[PhilB]

I never met a pleasant Cook Sgt or a hygeinic cook.

[NigelS]

No I think we have two different things with the same name.

Sounds reasonable: the canteen getting its name, like Hoover, from the company that made it - itself probably getting its name from where it was located: Southern US? - whereas the large cooking pot, as previously given, derives it name from the Hindi for an iron pot; It appears to be a total coincidence that in modern US & English usage the word is now spelt the same, but does explains the confusion.

NigelS

[centurion]

OK folks - first apply ear plugs to stop your brain running out of your ears!

Dixie can mean either

A metal water canteen or

Mess tins - example of a WW2 Japanese Dixie http://www.worthpoint.com/pmimages/images1...bdc53d00e30.jpg - or

Camp Kettles or

A small cup used for cooking in the American South

A Canteen can mean

Mess tins - Example of a German canteen two views - http://www.flecktarn.co.uk/photos/flbca1ux500a.jpg http://www.flecktarn.co.uk/photos/flbca1ux500d.jpg - or

A water bottle or container or

A box of cutlery or

A place to eat

So the answer to Dixie or Mess tin ? is yes!

BTW that perfidious scoundrel Charles Edward Stuart AKA the Young Pretender when attempting the throne of Britain had a canteen that was a set of silver mess 'tins' , when taken apart it included a silver wine cup, a couple of bowls, cutlery and various useful items such as a silver nut meg grater (just what every Tommy was missing). It features in the BBCs A History of the world in an inordinate number of objects

[Deerhunter]

QUOTE (Phil_B @ Jun 8 2010, 11:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I never met a pleasant Cook Sgt or a hygeinic cook.

And never trust a skinny chef.

[Terry Carter]

Thanks for your in depth replies. Much appreciated.

Terry

[centurion]

QUOTE (Phil_B @ Jun 8 2010, 11:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I never met a pleasant Cook Sgt or a hygeinic cook.

Kipling wrote an excellent story about an unlikely hero, flat footed, rotund and short of breath with an oily skin he was the butt of his local scout troop - unable to keep up, falling off everything - a thoroughly miserable young guy. He is taken in hand by an older man who teaches him how to cook and regales him with tales about heroic deeds by military cooks - saving their units morale and the day, fending off naval mutinies etc. He has it seems the natural build for an army cook, low centre of gravity, flat feet and an oily skin. The young lad has a natural talent with the skillet and when his troop return from dibbing and dobbing and good deeding they are met with potato cakes to die for, ambrosial bacon and eggs etc etc. He becomes the treasure of his troop and no longer marches but rides on the baggage cart.