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Remembered Today:

Patriotic Public Scheme


Guest kh2011

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Guest kh2011

Is anyone aware of a an early war project called the Patriotic Public Scheme? A document that I have come across refers to a meeting of the Patriotic Public Scheme in Hornsey at the outset of the war which was apparently encouraged by the War Office. I am wondering if such a scheme might have encouraged the British public to be on the lookout for suspicious activity (spies, enemy aliens, etc.).

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There was something called the National Patriotic Scheme which was a coming together of various trade bodies to promote the replacement of goods and services hitherto imported from Germany by British alternatives rather than import from a third country. However I would guess that the words patriotic and scheme got attached to a lot of different plans.

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My guess is that these were similar to the Patriotic Funds formed in Canada on the declaration of war in 1914 whose purpose was to provide financial assistance to the families of soldiers being mobilized. In addition to members of Canadian units there were some 20,000 reservists (mostly British Army reservists!) in Canada who were automatically called in at the start of the War. Their wives and children would thus have been in a precarious state. Most large towns formed a Patriotic Fund, and a national coordinating body was soon formed under official patronage. In Canada the Governor-General, the Duke of Connaught lent his name and prestige to the endevour.

There was precedent to this. Similar Patriotic Funds had been formed in the Crimean War and the South African War. There were no public funds involved. I presume similar initiatives existed in the UK.

I may be wrong of course.

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Patriotic funds using that very name go at least back to the Napoleonic Wars including in Canada, the War of 1812 which were to recognize and award veterans with a focus on the needier families of soldiers especially other ranks. These war charities were practically entirely private though with officialdom or royalty lending their names as Royal Patrons. Other "war charities" with essentially the same needs go even further back into the 18th century.

John

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In the UK this went under the name of The National War Relief Fund under the patronage of the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII) which within a week of the outbreak of war had raised £1,200,000

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Patriotic funds using that very name go at least back to the Napoleonic Wars

And in the Napoleonic war in Britain used to award highly decorated swords to officers for acts of bravery

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