Does anyone here have any of the little tins that Queen Mary sent out to the troops during the early days of WWI, in 1914? These were flat, square silver tins, embossed with the royal insignia, and were filled with either cigarettes or, for the soldiers who didn't smoke, sweets. They also contained a greeting card from Queen Mary. Once in a while you see these pop up on eBay; they're not that expensive. I'm tempted to add one to my collection; somehow, I'm so moved when I see a photo of one of these surviving--and treasured--for all these decades.
I don't have one personally, but I have worked for museums that have some of these. Occasionally you can find one with some of the contents intact - I assume they would be more expensive on eBay. Finding one that still has tobacco is very rare! They are a nice memento of the First World War.
My father had one of these boxes in his tool shed for years. There were bent nails, rusty screws and two medals in it, one of which was a 1914 Star. I remember seeing them as a young boy but I don't know whatever became of them. I bought one of these boxes at a car booth sale a few years back...
Royal Irish Rifles Fife and Drum Band in France 1915. Seated at front and 3rd from left is my father's uncle Dennis Farrell from Dublin, Ireland. His unit came under heavy fire and they were pinned down inside the ruins of an old catholic church. Dennis spotted a small holy statue among the rubble of the church and picking it up put it in his pocket. That statue survived the war along with D ennis and took pride of place in his house for the remainder of his life.
Sir, I would ask you to stop having such interesting family history as some of the other members (me, mostly) are getting slightly jealous. Seriously, those are some really nice photos you're coming up with. I hope you don't mind that I've saved them.
I bought this in a Car Booth sale for £20 in Colchester. My grand uncle had one in which he kept all of his medals. After he died in the 1950's they disappeared out of sight. He rejoined the army at the outbreak if WWII and was sent home because he was deemed to be too old.
