The Co-ordination of Effort

From The Times, 31st August, 1914.

THE CO-ORDINATION OF EFFORT.

A WEEKLY MEETING AT ST. JAMES'S PALACE.

"With the approval of her Majesty the Queen it has been arranged that a meeting of one representative of each of the Queen Mary's Needlework Guild, the St. John Ambulance Association, and the British Red Cross Society shall be held every Wednesday afternoon.... in order to ascertain what garments and articles have been received by each Society, and what are the special requirements for the following week.

"A statement will then be issued to the Press... Great confusion and much unnecessary work has been caused by unauthorized statements appearing in the Press.  The workers for all three Societies named above are earnestly requested to note that this weekly statement will be authoritative, and no attention should be paid to any others.

"Those who are so kindly giving garments to the societies are earnestly recommended to pay for the work to be done by women who would otherwise be unemployed.
....
The Societies wish to draw attention to the following matters :—

• Many questions have been asked as regards flannelette.  The Societies are not refusing garments made of this material, but flannel is greatly to be preferred.  
• Width and length of bandages should be clearly marked on each roll.  
• No helmets are required at present.  
• All socks other than bed socks must be made with heels.

The special requirements of each Society for the coming week are as follows:—
QUEEN MARY'S NEEDLEWORK GUILD.

• Cotton twill nightshirts.
• Pillowcases, 20in. by 30in.
• Handkerchiefs.
• Dressing gowns.
• Drawers.

ST. JOHN AMBULANCE SOCIETY.

• Drawers.
• Vests.
• Pillowcases, 20in. by 30in. 
• Dressing gowns. 
• Towels.

THE BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY.

• Flannel day shirts. 
• Handkerchiefs. 
• Cardigan jackets. 
• Socks (made with heels).

[When I read this attempt to sort out the confusion over who should provide what, I thought 'about time too' - until I remembered that the country had been at war for less than a month at this point,  so it was understandable that it would take a while to get organised.

The QMNG is catering here for the sick and wounded - clearly that was always the remit of the other two societies.

Flannelette is a brushed cotton fabric, to imitate flannel (wool).  Flannel was more expensive but officially preferred - for instance, uniform shirts for the Army were made of flannel, even for summer wear (I believe).

'Helmets' means Balaclava-type helmets, either to wear on cold days or for sleeping in.

There had been several letters in the press from private individuals (for instance, here)  suggesting that socks made without heel shaping had several advantages - they would fit any size foot and would wear better, because the heel of the man's foot would not always be in the same place.  The societies reported here obviously felt that this idea should be firmly suppressed.]

Appeal for Socks

From The Times, 29th August 1914.

SOCKS FOR SOLDIERS.

Lady French writes from The Manor House, Waltham Cross, Herts:—There is a great need for knitted socks, &c., for our troops. It is, indeed, a crying need, as the War Office allowance is only three pairs for each man, and a long day's march will wear socks into holes. I would ask those who have leisure to knit, or are willing to employ others to do so, to send parcels as soon as possible ... to Miss Douglas and Miss N. Selby Lowndes, at the Ceylon Tea Depot, ... These ladies have kindly consented to receive and acknowledge all contributions, whether in knitting, wool, or money, and to forward them in my name to the different regiments. Wool is very welcome, as there are many willing workers who are glad to give their time but cannot afford to buy materials; and gifts of money will also be laid out to provide these and to pay for the work being done when it cannot be given voluntarily, thus doing a double kindness.  Socks are needed more than anything, but comforters (not less than 2½ yards long and 12in. wide) are much appreciated.

[Lady French was the wife of Sir John French, commander of the British Expeditionary Force in France.   This appeal is I think the first indication that there was a legitimate, official, need for volunteers to provide extra socks for soldiers on active service. ]

Miss Susan Ballard, 17, Waldegrave-park, Twickenham, writes:—Socks without a shaped heel have three advantages—first, the pressure, not coming to the same place, they last much longer; secondly, they fit any foot; and thirdly, they are so quickly knitted. Cast on as for any ordinary ribbed sock.  Knit till you come to where you begin the shaping for heel, then knit plain, all round the three needles, till you decrease for toe.  Do the decrease for toe on each of the three needles.  You then have a long sock the same all round in every part.  Knitters must not on any account let a knot come in the foot.  

"T. A. C." would like to draw attention to the supreme necessity of washing socks before handing them over, as if this is not done it may cause blistered feet.

Mrs. Campbell Turner, Inveraray, N.B., suggests that every maker of socks and stockings shake a teaspoonful of boracic acid powder into the foot of each sock; this is a great comfort, prevents sores from dyed wool, and a pennyworth of powder will go a long way.

[Like the suggestion to provide a darning needle with every pair of socks, the hints from private individuals may or may not be sensible.   The idea that heelless socks were better than the traditional kind cropped up several times.  I doubt if such socks were ever officially acceptable in Britain.   

The last two hints suggest that the dyes then used must have left some residue in the yarn which was irritating to the skin.]  

Send Darning Wool with Socks

From The Halifax Courier, August 29th 1914.

HELP FOR THE FRONT

TO THE EDITOR...

Sir, -- May I offer a suggestion to the ladies who are knitting socks for our soldiers.  It is that with each pair a darning needle and a small ball of wool be enclosed.  I believe every soldier of any experience would value them and would by this means make the socks last a far longer time with comfort.

I should recommend the despised “poker” needle as most suitable to man’s clumsy fingers, and suggest about a quarter skein of wool.  The point of the needle should be protected; a small cork would serve, but there may be better ways. – I am, yours truly,
EMMA TODD
Aug. 28

[There were many letters to the newspapers about this time with more or less sensible suggestions for people knitting & sewing for the war effort. 

The darning needle suggestion here seems a bit unnecessary, since soldiers carried a 'housewife' containing mending materials, which would presumably include a darning needle - see for instance, the list of kit required for the Huddersfield Territorials when they went off to war on August 5th.  And a parcel of socks, each pair containing a darning needle, ball of wool  and cork, sounds very cumbersome, if not dangerous.] 

Patriotic Work for Women

From The Times, Thursday, 27th August, 1914.

PATRIOTIC WORK FOR WOMEN.

CLOTHES AND COMFORTS.

Into the work of providing clothes and hospital comforts for our soldiers and sailors women have thrown themselves with ardour. Many have formed working parties; others have ordered things from the makers, or collected unemployed sempstresses and thus done good in two ways at once.  More might be accomplished, no doubt, in this last method, if it were easier to find unemployed sempstresses; but the Women's Local Government Society ... reminds us ... that, until the relief committees take this matter up, unemployed women and girls can always be obtained at the Labour Exchanges, and that 10s. a week and tea would be a fair wage to pay. ...

Besides clothes, there are a hundred things that would be welcomed by our soldiers and sailors, sick or sound.  Tobacco is most important (the Misses Thackeray, Lumville Hut, the Curragh, county Kildare, are appealing for tobacco, which will be sent out under the Red Cross Society); Colonel Hassard has reminded us that pipes are necessary; and Mr. Septimus Bright, 19, Dover-street, appeals to private persons and firms for pouches and other smokers’ requisites, new and old, among those old pipes which every woman is so anxious to clear out of the caches of her menfolk.

[10s. (10 shillings) translates to 50p - not a lot to live on even in 1914, and  I doubt if it was a 'fair wage', though it seems to have been a common weekly wage for women at the time. Perhaps the 'tea' made it more generous.    

Most soldiers in the trenches smoked and tobacco was one of the comforts most in demand.  The Curragh of Kildare was a huge army camp (and is still used by the Irish Army). The idea of using someone else's old pipe strikes me as moderately disgusting. ]    

Sherlock Holmes in "The Valley of Fear"

Text: 

Sherlock Holmes re-appears in the September STRAND MAGAZINE.  In the New Story, “The Valley of Fear,” CONAN DOYLE has provided as much thrilling incident and excitement as was enjoyed in the case of the last Sherlock Holmes serial, “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”

No admirer of Sherlock Holmes will miss this New Masterpiece.

A brilliant, thrilling, and amazingly clever story.  It is Sherlock Holmes at his best. 

(Glasgow Herald, 26^th August, 1914.)

["The Valley of Fear" was the fourth and last Sherlock Holmes novel. After being serialised in the Strand Magazine, it was published in book form in 1915.]  

A Note on Prices

During the First World War, the British currency was pounds, shillings and pence, and remained that way until decimalisation in 1971.  I was brought up with  the old currency and at junior school we did arithmetic in pounds, shillings and pence - not to mention yards, feet and inches, and stones, pounds and ounces.  The abbreviations for the old currency are £ for pounds, as now, s for shillings, and d for pence.  ('d' is short for the Latin denarius.)   So for instance, 3s 9d means 3 shillings and 9 pence.  There were 20 shillings in a pound, and 12 pence in a shilling.  (And so 240 pence in a pound.)

Prices in shillings and pence might be written as 3s 9d, or as 3/9.  A price like 5 shillings was often written as 5/-.  

When the currency was decimalised, the pound stayed the same but the old penny was dropped and replaced with a new penny.  There were 100 new pence in  a pound, and so 1p was worth 2.4d.   The shilling no longer had a role, although the shilling coin (worth 5p) continued to be used.

When notes were introduced in August 1914, to replace gold coins (described here), there were £1 and 10s denominations.  Ten shillings was a lot of money to many people - it was a week's wages for many women. The smallest coins were the ha'penny (½d) and farthing (¼d).  I  have not seen any mention of the farthing in prices from WW1, but it remained in use for a long time  - I remember my grandma using farthings at the local bread shop in the 1950s.  The price of a loaf cost, I think, 9¾d (ninepence three farthings).

Prices involving 11d were common, or even 11½d.   So £1 19s 11d is supposed to sound much less than £2, even though it is only 1d less, and 1s 11½d is supposed to sound much less than 2s.  I imagine it was as effective in fooling the customer as prices like £4.99 are now.

Posh shops, on the other hand, and especially posh clothes shops, priced their goods in guineas.  A guinea was £1 1s - the guinea had not been an official part of the currency for a long time, but it evidently carried a suggestion of the aristocracy and old money.  It also had the useful side-effect for the shop of  increasing the price by 5% compared to the same number of pounds.

Buying for Soldiers and Sailors

A selection of ads from the Glasgow Herald, 24th August 1914.

---

MCDONALDS LIMITED,
SUCCESSORS TO 
STEWART &  McDONALD LTD. (Retail).

BUSINESS ARRANGEMENTS.
OUR  AUTUMN    SALE CONTINUES,  AND
AFFORDS AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY
FOR  LADIES  TO  ECONOMISE   BY  PUR-
CHASING    GOODS     OF     THE     FINEST 
QUALITY AT VERY LOW PRICES.               

WE   HURRIED   FORWARD  DELIVERY OF
ALL    GOODS     PURCHASED    FOR    THE
AUTUMN    SEASON,   AND   SO   ESCAPED
ADVANCED PRICES;  IN  FACT,  WE  WERE
NEVER    SO     WELL    PREPARED    WITH
BEAUTIFUL   GOODS   IN    ALL    DEPART-
MENTS.                                                             

WE     HAVE     ARRANGED     FOR     THE 
PRESENT  TO  RETAIN THE  SERVICES OF
THE WHOLE OF OUR PERMANENT STAFF;
MEANWHILE  OUR  BUYERS  AND ASSIST-
ANTS  HAVE FORMED THEMSELVES INTO
A  LARGE  WORK  PARTY,  AND  IN THEIR
LEISURE   TIME    WILL    WORK    IN    THE
INTERESTS OF DISTRESSED CHILDREN.      

MCDONALDS LIMITED, 
21 BUCHANAN STREET.
GLASGOW.

---

FOR TERRITORIALS.

PORTABLE  CAMP REQUISITES AND
COMFORTS.

SHAW, WALKER & CO.,
14-22 UNION STREET, GLASGOW.

TRAVELLING   SPIRIT   STOVES,  complete  with
Pan 1s each.   Combination Knife and  Fork, 9d each.
Collapsible Drinking Cups, 6d and 1s.  Vacuum Flasks
(will  keep  liquids  boiling  hot  for  24 hours),    1s 11d
each.  Tin Openers, 4½d each. Hollow Ground Razors,
1s. each.  Razor Strops, 9d.   Safety  Razors  from 1s.
to 21s.  Electric   Pocket   Lamps   from   8d  to  1s 9d
each.   Candle Lanterns, 1s.  Field Glasses from 7s 6d
to 27s 6d.  Strong Ironclad Watches, 3s 9d each.         
FOLDING WASHSTANDS, 7s.   Sponge  Baths,  8s. 
Enamelled Pocket Flasks, 9d.    Enamelled Water Jugs,
1s 9d.   Nail  Brushes,  4d.   Cloth  Brushes, 1s.   Shoe
Brushes,  6d.  Polishing  Cloths, 3½d each.  Aluminium
Soap Boxes, 6d each.                                                 
TERRITORIAL FOLDING CAMP BEDS, size when 
folded  39in.  by  6in.  by  4in.,  weight  19lb.,  15s each.
Tuckaway  Camp  Beds,  10s 6d each.   Camp Chairs,
2s 11d.    Camp  Stools,  1s 6d  each.    Kit Mirrors, 6d
each.  Air Cushions, 15in. diameter, 1s 9d each.          

---

RED CROSS SOCIETIES
AND   OTHER AGENCIES
FORMED FOR THE AMELIORATION OF THE
HARDSHIPS OF OUR TROOPS IN THE FIELD
ARE EARNESTLY INVITED BY
MESSRS COPLAND & LYE
TO   INSPECT   THEIR   HUGE   STOCKS  OF  WHITE 
SHETLAND      AND     ARMY     GREY   FLANNELS,
CEYLON SHIRTINGS, FLANNELETTES, BLANKETS,
ETC.,      ETC,      ALL    OF    WHICH    ARE   BEING
OFFERED AT GREATLY REDUCED PRICES.             


MEN'S SECTION. 
SPECIAL BARGAINS.
IN  THE MOST USEFUL GARMENTS FOR OUR
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS ON ACTIVE SERVICE.
HARD WEARING  ARMY WHEELING  SOCKS,  in
Dark Steel,  Shetland Grey, and  Lovat  shades, at 11s.,
12s., 12s 9d., and 15s 6d per dozen.                              
ODD LOTS OF FLANNEL SHIRTS, 3s 11d each.      
SPECIAL VALUE FLANNEL SHIRTS, 5s 11d each, 
3 for 17s.                                                                   
ALL-WOOL   FLANNEL  SHIRTS,  6s 11d  each,  3 
for 20s.                                                                     
BALACLAVA  ALL-WOOL  CAPS,  12s and 16s 6d 
per dozen.                                                                 
FOR THE HOSPITAL.
FLANNELETTE   NIGHTSHIRTS.   1s 11½d each; 
worth 2s 6d.                                                             
CEYLON FLANNEL NIGHTSHIRTS, 3s 11d each; 
worth 5s 6d.                                                            
CEYLON  FLANNEL  PYJAMAS,  5s 11d per suit; 
worth 7s 6d.                                                            
ALL-WOOL FLANNEL PYJAMAS – 20 Dozen to 
clear,   10s 6d per suit; were 13s 6d  and  15s 6d  per 
suit.                                                                        

COPLAND & LYE
SAUCHIEHALL STREET, WELLINGTON STREET, AND BATH STREET, GLASGOW.

---

[Like many other newspapers at the time, the front page of the Glasgow Herald was all advertisements and personal announcements, in narrow columns. No matter how momentous the news of the day was, there was no sign of it on the front page. 

There were articles in the press about this time saying that because of the war, consumers were avoiding buying anything not immediately essential, and that this was leading to unemployment.  The McDonalds ad suggests that this employer was choosing to keep staff employed when perhaps there was not enough trade to need them all. 

The list of items in the Shaw & Walker ad 'For Territorials' seems better suited to a camping holiday, although the Territorials at this point were mostly in training camps around the country.

The ad from Copland & Lye makes clear that socks and flannel shirts were easily available to buy.  It's not clear why ordinary soldiers would have needed to buy shirts - the War Office would have provided them.  (Extra socks were always welcome, though.)  But officers provided their own uniforms, so perhaps the ad is mainly aimed at them.  The ad also shows that volunteers making flannel shirts at home were in competition with an existing industry which was set up for mass production and could produce them much more efficiently. 

For a note on the prices, and the currency in use in 1914, see the next post. ]