Is this a WW1 meal token?

[Emily Gillatt-Ball]

I believe this comes from my great grandfather (Army/RFC/RAF) in WW1, but I also have a few family bits from when my Dad was in the RAF in WW2, so just double-checking with you lovely knowledgeable people!

 

So... if so, it can't be a rare valuable thing - there must have been thousands of these things knocking around - why can't I find any photos or second-hand ones on sale? Is it not, in fact, an Army one but something else? He was in a few Field Hospitals/Convalescent Camps, might it be from them? Also, is it a 'token', a 'voucher', a 'ticket' or what's the correct term?

 

Advice, please?

[mancpal]

I've no idea what it is though I'm confident I've never seen one either. Can anybody identify the Crown which may narrow down the era?

Emily, not that it will help me solve your quest but could you post the measurements as I'm of the opinion that the token would be handed out as a 'one-off ' voucher perhaps when temporarily visiting/billeted at a camp en route to somewhere else. Years ago I did a series of maintenance visits around a variety of factories in which some you paid cash and others operated a cashless canteen system in which case you received a form of token when signing in (granted not a metal one). If its not directly military issue , could it have been a token issued at for example a Govt controlled site such as a munitions factory or dockyard? Particularly one which utilised thin steel sheet off-cuts and a press with which to manufacture cheap tokens.

I must warn you that the above has been imagined under the affluence of incahol but wondered if it may provoke other suggestions. I don't know why but it looks post WW1 to me. Looking forward to reading some more coherent posts next year as I'm off to bed now.

 

Happy New Year

 

Simon                      

 

[Neale1961]

He was sensible to not eat it. It does not look at all tasty.

 Not much of a meal - even in those days ! !😃

 

[mancpal]

May be the average Tommy would have liked one now and again if only to suck on as a change from the infamous biscuit.

Joking apart, as we have hopefully all had at least  a passable festive season I still consider my generation lucky compared with those for whom war became an inseparable component of their present and if they survived their future. Raise a glass for both, sometimes survival wasn't the better option.

Still no thoughts on the token.

 

Simon

[FROGSMILE]

The crown appears to be of the Tudor type (aka ‘Imperial’) that was worn during the reign of Edward VII and the two George’s subsequently, and certainly suggests that the meal on offer to the holder was at public expense.  The term most commonly used at that time was ‘voucher’, in that it vouchsafed that the possessor was entitled to what was on offer by virtue of a systematic process designed to capture cost and expenditure. I imagine that a large hospital, or convalescence establishment might have used such an arrangement as part of its administrative processes pre-NHS.  I have never seen one before.

Edited 1 January , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[Paul Stephens]

Emily

 

Taking this auction listing at face value, it does look to be First World War era, either from one of the National Shell Factories or Royal Arsenal (the description is not particularly clear as to which):

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/candt-auctioneers/catalogue-id-srct10034/lot-d21bcc4a-c8fd-49fe-947e-a64300a70ba4

 

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks

Paul

[FROGSMILE]

24 minutes ago, Paul Stephens said:

Emily

 

Taking this auction listing at face value, it does look to be First World War era, either from one of the National Shell Factories or Royal Arsenal (the description is not particularly clear as to which):

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/candt-auctioneers/catalogue-id-srct10034/lot-d21bcc4a-c8fd-49fe-947e-a64300a70ba4

 

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks

Paul

Well done for finding that, Paul, fascinating stuff. It would be interesting to know how the meal’s were funded, given that the workers received pay. Presumably there might have been some form of government subsidy, but I’d love to know more. It’s getting down in the weeds, but as Emily asked I think that token was a common term for such coin shapes, but that going by common English usage the rectangular item would be a voucher, or more colloquially, a ticket, as in the common expression ‘meal ticket’.  Either way it would be good to learn more.

Edited 1 January , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[Emily Gillatt-Ball]

10 hours ago, Paul Stephens said:

Emily

 

Taking this auction listing at face value, it does look to be First World War era, either from one of the National Shell Factories or Royal Arsenal (the description is not particularly clear as to which):

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/candt-auctioneers/catalogue-id-srct10034/lot-d21bcc4a-c8fd-49fe-947e-a64300a70ba4

 

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks

Paul

 

Well done - that's very helpful. Or it would be, except, as it's a job lot, it's not beyond the realms of probability that it was bunged in with the others because they didn't recognise it! 

 

There is no connection between my GGF and munitions that I know of, except that he was a machine gunner. Maybe it fell in the box when the ammo was being packed and he just found it?

 

I had a chuckle at those suggesting consuming the voucher would be preferable to Army food - but not in his case. He was the cook - and so good at it the officers snaffled him to cook for them instead!

 

Thanks to all who responded.

[Neale1961]

and from this site https://www.noble.com.au/site/docs/cats/sale_90/A12.pdf

[Emily Gillatt-Ball]

Hmm... Canadian? Could be. He had what he described as 'Colonials' in slouch hats at one of the camps he was at, but I kinda assumed they were Australian or New Zealanders. Mind you, he was in several hospitals - I don't know if he would have been in with other countries' soldiers there.

[FROGSMILE]

2 hours ago, Emily Gillatt-Ball said:

Hmm... Canadian? Could be. He had what he described as 'Colonials' in slouch hats at one of the camps he was at, but I kinda assumed they were Australian or New Zealanders. Mind you, he was in several hospitals - I don't know if he would have been in with other countries' soldiers there.

In Britain the initial convalescent hospitals were in some locations mixed, with British and other troops visible together according to photographic evidence.