The Evacuation

Germany was already inside Poland and within three days 1.5 million British children were evacuated from the cities away from the Nazi bombing. They were moved near the countryside, without their parents, and to make the process easy, thousands of volunteers were appointed. The volunteers organized the evacuations and took care of the proceedings after they received the children to the camps.

After Moving

In June 1940, the British government started giving the food ration book to every man, woman, and child. This book contained coupons that could be used to buy basic food products like cheese, sugar, and meat. It was done because the government wanted to make sure that every person gets a fair share at a time when food supplies were limited.

All About The Priority

The rationing system was fulfilling people’s basic need but then even in this system, there were exceptions. Vulnerable groups which included children and pregnant women were always given the priority for products like milk and eggs. People were also encouraged to grow their own vegetables as importing became very difficult for the authorities. The food rationing process lasted post-war until it came to an end in 1954.

The List Only Grew

Not only food there were other necessities too which were in short supply. In 1939, petrol was also rationed and later in 1941, clothes followed in on the list and then soap the next year. And seeing the scarcity of the products the black market took over and they started selling the products for their own profit.

The Textile Industry

The textile industry was working under huge pressure because the government kept recruiting the soldiers and the textile industry was working day and night to produce the uniforms. The fabric was needed for the military and the civilian clothing and shoes took a toll because of that.

Why Rationing The Clothes?

Honestly, the British government wanted to fulfill the basic needs of common people and tried their best to distribute them fairly. To see that the production process of clothes doesn’t slow down, different items of clothing production were given “points value” depending upon the effort which was put in its production. Even the Queen, Princess Elizabeth, saved up her coupons to buy a proper wedding dress, just after the war ended.