Right on 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
BRITISH fashion designer Vivienne Westwood is quoted as saying: “I was born during the war and grew up in a time of rationing. We didn’t have anything. It’s influenced the way I look at the world.”
Petrol was the first thing to be rationed during the Second World War and remained in short supply until long after the fighting was over. The country depended on overseas supplies for its fuel needs and restrictions were quickly imposed to stop petrol running out.
War was declared on September 3, 1939 and car owners were issued with fuel ration books just a few days later which entitled them to a gallon of petrol for each unit coupon in the book. Drivers also had to take their car or motor cycle registration book along to a post office to claim the coupons.
But private cars were taken off the road entirely in 1942 when new restrictions meant only petrol for essential work was allowed and special permits were issued for the precious fuel.
Roads were suddenly deserted, with some larger motors converted and drafted in for use as ambulances and deliveries. Red dye was also added to commercial petrol to foil the illegal black market.
Restrictions for private use were lifted a little in 1945, but petrol remained rationed until May 26, 1950, when a deal was reached with two American companies – the California
Texas Oil Company and the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey.
Drivers promptly celebrated by tearing up their ration books and heading to garages to fill up with while motoring organisations called it VP Day – Victory For Petrol Day.
The Treasury said new licences and petrol tax as well as administration savings would bring in £26 million in revenue to boost the country’s coffers. Soap was also taken off the list of rationed items the same year.
Food and clothing were also strictly rationed during the war, with the Ministry of Food urging: “Go easy with bread, try potatoes instead” and “Help win the war on the kitchen front”.
The government introduced a campaign to eat more veg, led by characters called Dr Carrot and Potato
Pete, while posters told people “Carrots keep you healthy and help you to see in the blackout”.
Few foodstuffs were simply thrown out and households were even encouraged to: “Save kitchen waste for the pigs”.
Wartime recipes included corned beef and oatmeal pudding and dried egg was utilised for everything from steamed custard to mock fried egg. Over in America, film starlet Jean Ames pointed out the upside of supporting Uncle Sam’s sugar rationing with the slogan: “Save sugar, save your figure”.
The Animals frontman Eric Burdon, who turned 79 this month, said: “I’m really a child of the 40s. I still think about it a lot, about the repercussions of armed conflict.
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.”