Go to War on an Egg

Those of us of a certain age may well remember Tony Hancock on TV in the adverts of the Egg Marketing Board in the 1950s and 1960s, ‘Go to Work on an Egg’. 

The virtues of the humble egg were recognised long before that though, and eggs were in great demand during WW1 as a food for our fighting men, in particular those recuperating in hospital. But there was a problem. How on earth do you get hold of millions of eggs, and transport them to the Front? By the time WWII came along, the problem had been solved. Powdered Egg! Imported from the USA in tins, it could be easily transported. But how to solve the problem before that? The development of battery cages lay many years in the future. Chickens lived on farms, in flocks, and laid eggs that were collected by hand. Mass production of eggs did not exist, they were generally for fairly local consumption.

Cambrian News, 7 Sept 1917

So began the National Egg Collection for the Wounded in November 1914. This was a campaign for people to collect eggs and send them in to collection centres for distribution to hospitals for the wounded. The Aberystwyth area played its part in the campaign: children in particular played an important part, as it was something they could all do to ‘do their bit’. It seems that a lot of the actual collections tended to be in the rural areas, as there were only a limited number of chickens in Aberystwyth. 

Cambrian News 19th May 1916

In the towns, collections were held to raise money to buy eggs instead. Again, this was something that the children could get involved in – there are records of Boy Scout and Girl Guide groups, as well as schools, getting involved. In August 1915 the Girl Guides in Aberystwyth contributed 835 eggs to the cause. The newspapers record campaigns by the children and schools in many of the villages around Aberystwyth. In some cases the school logbooks (held at Ceredigion Archives) mention the results of the school collections. 

The collecting wasn’t limited to children, as indicated in the Cambrian News, 23 April 1915:-

“For the Wounded. It is worthy of note that in the present crisis a man can perform the duties of a patriot in many ways without being a. soldier. An illustration of this is afforded by Mr. Albert R Doughty, of Aberystwyth, who is in charge of the County Council steam roller, and has undertaken the patriotic task of collecting eggs for wounded soldiers. Mr. Doughty throughout the day is employed steam rolling. As soon as he is free he, with the heart of a patriot, visits the farms in the locality. Llanddewi district has honourably responded and 1,126 eggs, with 12s. 2d. in cash, have been forwarded to the National Egg Collection Committee, London, through Mr. Doughty's exertions." 

Although the egg collection scheme was intended to provide eggs to the main military hospitals, some went to the local Red Cross Hospital on the Promenade, in what is now the Gwalia building, the former Theological College. The eggs often had the name of the donor written on them, which allowed the recipients to send letters of acknowledgement:

Cambrian News 22nd October 1915

By the end of the War the national campaign had collected over 41 million eggs for the wounded troops. But the campaign did not end on Armistice Day, and it would take many months and years for life to return to normal. Even though the guns had stopped, there were still many thousands in hospital needing care and feeding. In addition there was now the matter of the returning former prisoners of war, many of whom were in very poor physical condition and eggs were now needed to help get them back to health.

Cambrian News 23rd February 1917

Blog by Nigel Callaghan, project volunteer