Queue with rationing It is 70 years since wartime petrol rationing came to an end in Britain. MARION McMULLEN looks at how a nation learned to do without
Coupons at the ready – but we still had to wait in line for what little there was
Left: Youngsters line up to collect the family’s coal ration and, right, even the Queen had to save her coupons for her wedding dress, while, below, America made a virtue out of the shortages
Until 1953 we had rationing. We couldn’t buy meat, we couldn’t buy pleasurable goods like cigarettes and sweets. I didn’t starve, my family were lucky, but I knew what it was like standing in line waiting for foodstuffs.”
There were a lot of shortages of essential food items, not just luxuries. Supplies started to become short and some items were impossible to obtain, especially imported goods such as tea, as well as bananas, oranges, and grapes. It was to be six or seven years before any of those fruits were seen again.
Eventually butter, lard, cakes, flour and sugar became hard to obtain, followed by meat and fish.
Before the war, Britain imported about 55 million tons of food a year from other countries, but the government had to cut down on the number of food imports when war broke out because German submarines started attacking British supply ships.
Rationing was introduced to make sure that everyone got an equal amount of food every week following concern that, as food became more scarce, prices would rise and poorer people might not be able to afford to eat. There was also a danger that some people might hoard food, leaving none for others. The first post-war bananas only returned to London’s Covent Garden in 1946. Future queen, Princess Elizabeth saved up her ration coupons in 1947 for material for her Norman Hartnell designed wedding dress for her marriage at Westminster Abbey to Philip Mountbatten. The dress was made out of duchesse satin and included a 15ft train.
The royal family also had their own ration books for food and drink and the Queen has said: “As a Sunday treat we had some sweeties, but we were lucky – we had a farm.”
Fashion and style were also important to Ab Fab favourite June Whitfield. The late actress, who was a youngster during the war, once revealed: “I’ve never had a particularly sweet tooth. In fact, during the war I used to swap my sweet ration coupons with my father and he’d give me his clothing coupons in return. Looking good was more important to me than scoffing sweets.”