SRD

[BIFFO]

I have just watched an old 70s documentary years of lost illusion where a vetran said they only recieved rum ration in the winter,is this true as I have allways assumed it was given all year round

BIFF

[willy]

I believe the daily ration of rum was 1/2 gill at the discretion of the c/o.

[Ian Riley]

I fortuitously have on the desk, as this post appeared, the December 1915 diary for Major-General Sir Aylmer Haldane, then GOC 3rd Division. (National Library of Scotland)

• 1 December 1915 I have issued no rum so far except to the Salvage Company - thrice weekly - and the tunneling company daily
  
• 6 December 1915 [Following dreadful weather] Have allowed rum for men on the night they come out of trenches to be put into the tea they get on reaching camp. This is the first issue I have allowed except to the Salvage Company, thrice weekly, and the tunneling company, daily. Experience of last winter is all against a daily issue to the troops holding the trenches

Clearly practice varied between formations and whatever happend in other divisions (or in 3rd Division itself later in the war), a commander higher than battalion could reserve to himself the power to issue rum.

Somewhere , I have a quote from Captain Noel Chavasse RAMC (later VC and bar), In think in a letter home in favour of the use of alcohol (though not specifically about rum, I think) even though 'I was tee-total before the war',

Somewhere else I have seen an explicit statement that, once authorised, rum could only be issued in the presence of a commissioned officer.

Ian

[Ian Riley]

I have just watched an old 70s documentary years of lost illusion where a vetran said they only recieved rum ration in the winter,is this true as I have allways assumed it was given all year round

BIFF

Isn't (or .... wasn't) that the Royal Navy, rum being one of the three pillars of its existence according to Winston Churchill. They were still swigging it daily until 1970. Apparently you can get one of the last bottles (decanted from the original stone jars) for a mere £599

[Gunner Bailey]

The rum ration was only issued if the CO thought it was 'necessary'. Most CO's thought it necessary all year, perhaps the man in the documentary had a CO who thought otherwise.

John

[auchonvillerssomme]

There is some discussion in Hansard about whether men were forced to drink rum because the rum ration was put into the tea and they had no other alternatives offerred.

[michaeldr]

This may be of interest here

Quote from 'On Four Fronts with the Royal Naval Division' by Geoffrey Sparrow MC and J N MacBean Ross MC, Surgeons RN

"Whilst on the subject of alcohol, I would like to refer briefly to that very much discussed subjectthe rum ration. The abuse of alcohol leads to a train of diseases which are only too well known and need not be mentioned here. The rum ration must be regarded as a food. The quantity which is served out per man can be entirely assimilated by the body, and under the present regulations it is impossible for any man to have more than his share.

In men exposed to cold, wet, shells, and all the other discomforts of trench life, it produces a sense of comparative wellbeing, makes life just bearable, and is often just the incentive necessary for hanging on to a newly captured position until relieved. Teetotal cranks compare the effect of alcohol even in moderationwith that of whipping a jaded horse. The analogy is possibly true, but they forget that even the pluckiest horse often requires the whip to make a final supreme effort at the end of a tiring day.

The issue of rum to men worn out with the mental and physical strain of trench life may be a method of applying the whip, but it is a mode of castigation liked by the men, and it produces the desired result with no deleterious after effects."

[michaeldr]

quote from the same book - in his FOREWORD, the Surgeon-General Sir James Porter, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., R.N., has this to say on rum:

"The chapter on the duties of a battalion medical officer is full of good and practical things, e.g. the rum ration. The attacks on it by total abstinence extremists are of old standing, and repeat themselves periodically. The truth is that the small daily tot of rum, issued under Service conditions, cannot possibly harm any adult human being. On the contrary, it is within the writer's personal experience, and of that of thousands who have been under his care, that at the end of a hard day in the field a tot of rum comforts, soothes, and supports the weary and worn."

[Gunner Bailey]

quote from the same book - in his FOREWORD, the Surgeon-General Sir James Porter, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., R.N., has this to say on rum:

"The chapter on the duties of a battalion medical officer is full of good and practical things, e.g. the rum ration. The attacks on it by total abstinence extremists are of old standing, and repeat themselves periodically. The truth is that the small daily tot of rum, issued under Service conditions, cannot possibly harm any adult human being. On the contrary, it is within the writer's personal experience, and of that of thousands who have been under his care, that at the end of a hard day in the field a tot of rum comforts, soothes, and supports the weary and worn."

I'd agree with that. I'm working my way through bottle of Antiguan rum - a tot a day. Just right after a day 'In the

Trenches'.

John

[BIFFO]

Thanks for that chaps cleared up my question a treat !!!

biff