Plum Puddings for Tommy

Extract from Christmas Number of the Lady magazine, quoted in the Dundee Evening Telegraph, 8th December 1914.

PLUM-PUDDINGS FOR SOLDIERS.

I am firmly convinced these wholesome puddings would be what Tommy declares “filling,” and many a housewife could spare the materials to make at least one to send out with her usual parcel of shirts and knitted comforts.  Here is my recipe.  It is a very homely one, but if you boil the pudding for six or seven hours it looks rich and tastes delicious:—Two pounds of bread-crumbs (stale bread being best), one pound of flour, one pound of apples (weighed after peeling and slicing), one pound of chopped suet, half a pound of currants, half a pound of raisins, half a pound of sultanas, a quarter of a pound of candied peel, a level tablespoonful of ground ginger, the juice of a lemon and the minced rind of two, half a pound of Demerara sugar, two ounces of almonds cut into small cubes, and two eggs, sufficient milk to mix.  Mix breadcrumbs, suet, and flour, add the fruit, ginger, chopped peel, and almonds.  The latter ingredient is not strictly necessary, but improves the puddings.  Add the beaten eggs, the juice of the lemon, the sliced apples (remember to cut them thin), the lemon rind, then mix to the ordinary consistency with milk.  Put into small greased moulds, cover with a greased paper, then with a cloth, and boil tor six to eight hours.  Take out of the moulds and tie up in clean, dry, floured cloths.  When sending abroad I pack mine in a cardboard box with thin sides and fill up with shavings of paper.  As they are made in small sizes Tommy will need only to slip them into his pan of boiling water and heat them through.  I am sure our brave boys will bless you if you send a few of these to be added to their ordinary menu, as one recipient wrote, “They are uncommonly good cut in chunks and eaten cold; and you've no idea how hungry a man gets out here.”

Mittens for Breconshire Soldiers

From the Brecon & Radnor Express, 5th December 1914.

WAR CLOTHING DEPOT. 

Will the knitters of Breconshire help again and make 300 pairs of mittens for 2nd Bn., S.W., [South Wales Borderers?] now marching into Germany.  Germany is very cold.  Col. G. Raikes, D.S.O., is begging for mittens.  There is wool at 89, The Watton, Brecon, and here is the recipe for knitting:--
Eight pairs should be made of 1 lb. wool.  Please begin at once.

Pattern for Mittens :-- 4 No. 12 needles. Cast on 48 stitches. Knit 24 rows 3 purl 3 plain.  Knit 20 rows plain.  To make hole for thumb.  Turn and purl all 3 needles.  Turn and knit all 3 needles (as for back of heel in sock).  Do this 12 times.  Knit plain all round 6 rows, 12 rows, 3 purl, 3 plain, cast off loosely.

ALICE M. DE WINTON.

[Miss de Winton was evidently a woman of few words. I think the mittens are intended to be knit in the round, although she doesn't make that clear.

I'm sure the South Wales Borderers were nowhere near marching into Germany at this point in the war - or for several more years.]

Clothing for Sailors

From the Sunderland Daily Echo, 4^th December 1914.

Regular Fat Boys.

Stay-at-homes who feel the cold may get some notion that it is colder in the North Sea by glancing at this list of clothing worn by officers of the Fleet at present: --

Thick woollen underclothing.
Chamois leather waistcoat.
Flannel shirt.
Sweater.
Lifebuoy waistcoat.
Naval tunic.
Waterproof.
Duffel overcoat of heavy frieze.
Muffler.
Balaclava helmet.
Oilskin hood.

"We do look regular fat boys with all these on,” said an officer.

Shoddy in Khaki

From the Huddersfield Examiner, Thursday December 3, 1914.

SHODDY IN KHAKI

SPIRITED DEFENCE OF HEAVY WOOLLEN DISTRICT FIRMS

The recent criticism in the House of Commons by Sir Joseph Watson regarding the quality of khaki made in “the home of shoddy” was referred to at a meeting of the Dewsbury Chamber of Commerce, which was attended by Sir Mark Oldroyd, who explained that he was willing to be catechised by any member of the Chamber.

He added that there was some foundation for the allegations regarding the inferior quality of some of the khaki supplied, but it was not sent from the Heavy Woollen District, and Sir Joseph Watson’s insinuation was that the Heavy Woollen District should be avoided.

In the course of a discussion it was freely admitted that khaki, which had been submitted by manufacturers to the War Office and rejected, had afterwards been accepted from other quarters for the use of the Territorials.  It was, however, stoutly denied that the cloth in question came from the Heavy Woollen District, one member asserting that it was made in the Leeds District.

It was further stated that more wool had been used in the Heavy Woollen District during the past two or three months than ever in the history of the trade, and as a proof that shoddy was not being used in making khaki, it was pointed out the whilst spinning machines were running night and day, rag machines for the manufacture of shoddy had practically nothing to do.

[Shoddy is cloth made from recycled wool, and Dewsbury was one of the main centres of production. The Heavy Woollen District is an area of woollen manufacture consisting of  Dewsbury, Batley, Heckmondwike, Ossett, and surrounding smaller towns.  It seems a typical reaction to say that poor quality cloth must have come from  Leeds, i.e. blame the neighbours.]        

Lyddite Works Explosion

From the Huddersfield Examiner, Thursday December 3, 1914.

LYDDITE WORKS EXPLOSION

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TERRIBLE ACCIDENT NEAR HECKMONDWIKE

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SIX KILLED, FOUR MISSING, AND TWELVE INJURED

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Six persons were killed, four are reported missing, and twelve have been more or less seriously injured as the result of the disastrous explosion of lyddite on Wednesday at White Lea, a district situated between Heckmondwike, Dewsbury and Batley.

The works, which were owned by Messrs. Henry Ellison, Ltd., were wrecked, considerable damage was done to buildings in the vicinity, windows more than a mile away were smashed, and the explosion itself could be heard as far away as Leeds and Bradford.

It appears that three lyddite magazines exploded in a field near the works.  So terrific was the explosion, however, that not only were the whole of the works involved in ruin, but property within a radius of  hundreds of yards suffered damage.  …. [list of dead missing and injured follows.]

Among those employed on the premises was Jim Gath, the famous forward who played with Yorkshire when the star of the Batley Football Club was in the ascendant.  The discovery of his insurance card in the remains of a coat among the ruins led to the assumption that he had been killed, but it was afterwards discovered that he had gone quietly home to nurse injuries which were not serious.

Messrs. Ellison’s factory was situated on the brow of a hill overlooking the Spen Valley, and the force of the blast, travelling straight across the intervening gap, smashed in shop windows at the other side two and a half miles away. ....

The explosion obliterated all trace of its origin, and as presumably the men nearest the magazines lost their lives, it is very doubtful whether the cause will ever be ascertained.  The manufacture of explosives was not a new undertaking at these works.  Lyddite was made there during the South African War.  The production of powerful explosives had been resumed since the outbreak of the present war and an extension of the premises was being made in order better to cope with the work.  Lyddite, the modern military high explosive, is chemically much the same as picric acid.  The consignment of picric acid – a yellow solid crystalline – stored in the magazines had only just been prepared for delivery to the Government.

A 'Work for Women' Workroom

From The Times, December 1st 1914

THE QUEEN AND EMPLOYMENT FOR WOMEN.

The Queen yesterday visited the workroom which has been established at the Royal Institute of Public Health in Russell-square as a branch of Queen Mary's Needlework Guild.....

Her Majesty inspected the workroom, in which 30 girls and women were engaged in making and remodelling clothes, and conversed with many of the workers.  In the library of the institute a number of garments were displayed.  Some of these were new, but others had been remodelled.  There were petticoats made out of tea-gowns, a girl's dress made out of a man's dressing-gown, and, notably, a number of clothes for boys and girls which had been fashioned from golf capes.  Some hundreds of garments have been sent from the workroom to our soldiers and sailors and to the Belgian refugees.

The undertaking has an excellent educational value, as the women to whom employment is given are taught the work of remaking clothes.  The Queen expressed her appreciation and approval of the work that is being done.

Mittens for the Troops

From the Glasgow Herald, 1st December 1914.

COMFORTS FOR THE TROOPS.

1st A. and S. [Argyll and Sutherland] Highlanders. – Mrs. Adair Campbell, Rockbank, Helensburgh, has been asked by Colonel Henderson of the 1st A. and S. Highlanders to collect 400 pairs of mittens for men of the regiment, which has just returned from India and is shortly going to the front.  All contributions from work-parties or from those interested in the regiment will be most gratefully received at the above address.

Christmas Fare. – The Scottish Branch of the Queen Mary Needlework Guild (St. Andrew’s Ambulance Association), 180 West Regent Street, Glasgow, will be very grateful for gifts of plum puddings and fruit cakes to be forwarded to our Expeditionary Force and Home Regiments for Christmas.  It is advisable that the puddings should be cooked and tied in a buttered cloth, and packed in cardboard boxes, and sent in before December 5.  It is felt that such gifts will be appreciated by our soldiers, and the making of an extra pudding will not entail much extra trouble.