Feeding the Nation in wartime - Rationing

Rationing of petrol, all of which was imported, was introduced immediately after the outbreak of war becoming effective from the 16th of September 1939. Private use, except by essential workers such as doctors and farmers, was banned completely from March 1942.

Britain imported about 70% of its food, and rationing of certain basics was introduced on 8th January 1940 to ensure fair distribution. As the war went on more and more foods were rationed. The diet was designed to provide approximately 2300 calories a day for an adult though manual labourers and miners received more as did members of the armed forces. Babies and pregnant women were given extra rations of milk orange juice and cod liver oil. Special arrangements defined what hotels and restaurants, and institutions such as hospitals and prisons, could receive.

The amount of rations varied from time to time, but in 1941 the weekly amounts for an adult were typically: meat to the value of 1s 2d (roughly equivalent to 1 lb of mince or two pork chops), bacon or ham 4oz, butter 2oz, margarine 4oz, lard 4oz, cheese 2oz, milk 3 pints, sugar 8oz, tea 2oz, eggs 1 - plus every four weeks a packet of powdered egg (equivalent to 12 eggs), 12oz sweets and chocolate; then, every two months, 1lb of jam.

To receive these rations households had to register with specific butchers, grocers and milkmen, and could only buy from them taking their ration books for the relevant coupons to be cancelled. The price of rationed goods was strictly controlled. Bread, fruit and vegetables were not rationed, but were often in short supply leading to long queues developing quickly when a shop was thought (even rumoured) to have something in stock. Many items, including razor blades, baby bottles and saucepans, were not rationed but were extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find.

In October 1939 a “points” system was introduced to run alongside ration books. Everybody was given a monthly allocation of points, while food such as tinned goods, dried fruit, cereals and biscuits were each given a points value. These values varied from time to time according to availability, as did the personal allocations. People could use their points as they wished, and buy from any shop that had the goods they wanted in stock. Of course shops were often out of stock and it was common to go from shop to shop looking for what you wanted, much of the time unsuccessfully, and that after queuing., maybe more than once. Points were lost if not used in the month. Clothing was also covered by points. The initial allocation per adult was 66 per year but this was cut to 48 in 1942, 36 in 1943 and 24 in 1945. In 1945 a man’s suit took 26 – 29 points and a pair of women’s shoes 7. Material was in desperately short supply and to make savings the number of buttons, pockets and pleats on clothes was restricted and the use of lace and frills on women’s underwear banned. Shoes were particularly difficult to come by. Second hand clothing was not subject to points but prices were controlled. Coal was rationed from July 1941. Electricity and gas were not rationed for domestic consumers but there were campaigns to encourage less use, particularly at peak times, and power cuts were common. Industrial use was curtailed. There were restrictions on the supply of paper for newspapers, and the use of wrapping paper for most purposes was banned.

By its very nature the extent of the ‘black market’ is difficult to assess. In London and the big cities it was certainly organised. Goods could be stolen at any point in the supply chain from the docks onwards, food storage depots being particularly vulnerable. Billy Hill operated in the Covent Covent area and in his autobiography claimed to have rented a large barn near Bovingdon in which he stored all manner of goods in short supply including food, petrol, whiskey, and clothing. The penalties for those caught were draconian and Billy served several prison terms during which it is alleged his wife carried on his business.

Rationing did not end with the war and in some respects worsened, bread being rationed for the first time in July 1946. Most commodities came off the ration in the early 1950’s the last food being meat and bacon on 4th July 1954. Coal remained rationed until July 1958. The UK was the last country involved in the war to end rationing.