Food rationing in Britain

On Monday 25 February 1918 compulsory rationing of meat, butter and margarine came into force in London and the counties surrounding it, known as the Home Counties. Anyone who wanted to buy them had to have a card and be registered with a chosen butcher and grocer. For most of the war Britain had confined itself to appeals for economy, and now it turned to cards for basic foods.

From appeals to cards

Before the war Britain imported about 60 per cent of its food from abroad. From the beginning of 1917, when Germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare, U-boats sank more and more ships carrying grain and meat. Lord Devonport’s Ministry of Food, set up in December 1916, relied on voluntary restraint. In February 1917 voluntary rationing was announced. In the same year bakers were allowed to sell bread only at least 12 hours after baking. Devonport put off cards and resigned in June 1917. He was succeeded by Lord Rhondda. In September the state began to subsidise bread.

In the winter of 1917–18 wheat stocks fell to enough for about six weeks. In poor districts people stood for hours in queues outside the shops, while better-off households sent their servants to queue. The queues became a political issue. In the industrial districts workers demonstrated, and local food committees began introducing butter and margarine cards on their own initiative. At the turn of the year cards were extended to sugar. At the beginning of 1918 Rhondda declared compulsory rationing “inevitable and urgent” and announced that in London and its surroundings meat, butter and margarine would be rationed from 25 February. The committees of London and the neighbouring counties had themselves asked the ministry for one common scheme, because different rules in each district of a single city would have caused chaos.

How the cards worked

Everyone received a food card and a meat card with coupons. A meat coupon did not stand for a fixed weight but for a value: each one bought 5d. worth of butcher’s meat. Butchers had to display price lists, and overcharging or giving short weight could land them in court. Visitors staying in the capital no more than four days could have butter and margarine in hotels and clubs without any formalities, and got meat meals by producing their national registration card and signing a declaration.

Not everything went smoothly. On 21 February the MP Kennedy Jones warned in the House of Commons that thousands of Londoners had not yet received their cards and would not have time to register with shops. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, John Robert Clynes, replied that he knew of no delays, and that postponing the date would solve nothing: whatever date was chosen, someone would always be late. Rationing began on the announced day.

What came next

The ministry had already announced that uniform meat rationing would cover the whole of Great Britain from 25 March. In July 1918 national ration books were introduced for butter, margarine, lard, meat and sugar. Unlike in most of Europe, bread was never rationed in Britain during the war. The rations provided about 1,680 calories a day, and according to later calculations average calorie intake fell by only 3 per cent and protein intake by 6 per cent. Food controls were fully lifted only in 1921.