Shortage Collection

David Lloyd George visiting Newport during WW1
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (1863-1945), British Liberal Prime Minister from 1916 to 1922. Seen here as Minister of Munitions, visiting Newport, Wales

Apres la Guerre No. 3 - WWI postcard by George Ranstead
Humorous postcard drawn by amateur soldier artist of the Great War, George Ranstead, who, in a series of illustrations suggesting what life might be like at the end of the war

Advert for the Ministry of Food 1940
The weeks food facts No. 6. If you eat more than you need, you are wasting food as surely as if you had thrown it away. So eat what you need, but no more. Buy wisely and cater strictly

Wartime cuisine - fish and chips
Wartime rashioning during the Second World War. A plate of steak and veg is a dream, but at least there is still fish and chips to keep the spirits up and the bellies full! Date: circa early 1940s

The Nimrod Antarctic Expedition at the furthest point South
Photograph showing Lt. Adams, Frank Wild and Lt. Ernest Shackleton (left to right) standing beside a British flag at the furthest point South that they reached, 9th January 1909

Fuel winter crisis: Heating pumped from the earth and water
Diagram illustrating how heat in the earth and water can provide heating for homes and factories. City Electrical Engineer of Norwich

McDonnell Douglas F-4J UK Phantom ZE353
Royal Air Force - McDonnell Douglas F-4J(UK) Phantom ZE353, of No.74 Squadron, at RAF Wattisham, Suffolk. (a.k.a. Phantom F.3)

WWII - the man who eats grass, Mr J. R. B. Branson
Mr J. R. B. Branson, who advocated a diet of grass to counter food shortages during the Second World War. The Bystander magazine ran a double page spread on him

WW2 Birthday Card, Rationed Clothes
An illustrated WW2 birthday greetings card, clothes may be rationed - but let me tell you, there's no shortage of birthday wishes

Cartoon, Scenes during shortage of fats, Boy Scouts do good service gathering buttercups in Richmond Park Date: 1919

Hungarian public information card - grow oil seed for soap
Hungarian patriotic public information postcard - There will be no shortage of soap if we produce oilseeds: rapeseed, castor oil, sunflower oil. Date: circa late 1950s

How Housing Shortage is Being Met 1920
At the end of First World War One almost 80% of Britains rented homes from private landlords. David Lloyd George was concerned by the standards of the housing

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Los combatientes necesitan prendas de abrigo (Fighters need warm clothes). Poster ob the International Red Help. SPAIN. Salamanca. Archivo Historico Nacional

1979 fuel shortage
A Texaco petrol station runs out of petrol during a national petrol shortage brought about by a price rise by OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries)

Lord Beaverbrook's appeal for aluminium 1940
Lord Beaverbrook the Minister for Aircraft Production appealed for objects wholly or partly made of aluminium for the manufacture of aeroplanes

Lord Beaverbrook the Minister for Aircraft Production appealed for objects wholly or partly made of aluminium for the manufacture of aeroplanes

Rational Gadgets For Your Coupons by William Heath Robinson
Customers are put on scales to determine how much butter they are entitled to, the heavier the person is, the more butter they are given. Date: 1940

Porter filling water containers, India, c. 1880 s
Porters filling water containers, India, c.1880 s

WW2 era - Comic Postcard - Coupon shortage and making do
The long Caption gives the little girls excuse for having patches. The Home Front War Effort was helped along by cryptic slogans such as Make do and Mend and Making do

The Bystander - keeps pace with the times
What we may soon see if the present shortage of paper grows even more insistent. Date: 1917

Material shortage during First World War
Material shortage during the First World War - a man with rope, string and rolls of paper. Date: 1914-1918

Food queue during a shortage, London, WW1
Food queue outside a butchers shop in London during a shortage towards the end of the First World War. 1918

Margarine factory fighting food shortage, WW1
Margarine factory fighting a food shortage due to German submarine action during the First World War. 1914-1918

Queues at Smithfield Meat Market, London, WW1
Food shortage queues at Smithfield Meat Market, London, 1918, towards the end of the First World War. 1918

Blackout, meal by candlelight, 1949
Once again the victims of an unofficial strike: the long-suffering public. Recalling the inconveniences of the long wartime blackout

Avro 701 Athena T Mk. 2 VW892
Avro 701 Athena T Mk.2 VW892, (second prototype T Mk.2), at the 1948 SBAC Radlett air show. Originally designed for turboprop power to Air Ministry Specification T.7/45 as the Athena T Mk.1

DISTRIBUTING SOUP, PARIS 1709
Distributing soup to the needy during the Paris food shortage caused by the freezing winter of 1709. Date: 1709

FOOD SHORTAGE PARIS 1709
Distribution of bread during the food shortage in Paris during the coldest winter in Europe for 500 years. Date: 1709

Selling dogs for food 1871
Selling dogs for food in front of the horse market during the Paris Commune Date: 1871

Food Queues in London owing to shortages
Food Queues in London owing to shortage of supplies. People waiting to get 2 ounces only Date: 1918

Sheffield Workhouse Token, 1815
A one penny workhouse token of the Sheffield Workhouse, Yorkshire, from 1815. During a national shortage of copper coins in 1812-15

A Mound of Aluminium, July 1940
In response to the appeal for aluminium from Lord Beaverbrook, Minister for Aircraft Production, families hand in their spare pots and pans to aid the war effort. 1940

Caricature of Queen Victoria as a shepherdess with lambs and an animated pot of mint sauce. In the matter of lambs, Her Majesty sings, we mean to do without them

Halesowen Workhouse Token
A one penny workhouse token issued in 1813 at Halesowen, then placed in Shropshire. During a national shortage of copper coins in 1812-15

German ration card WWI
German bread ration card from Munich, Germany during World War I

Robert Morrison, 1940
Robert Morrison, Labour MP for Tottenham, at a salvage depot amid a mass of waste-paper being put towards the war effort. Morrison was made Chairman of the inter-departmental committee on salvaging

Ann Todd gives in her appliances for the war effort
Actress Ann Todd photographed handing in her spare household appliances to the local W.V.S. office in Berkshire. In 1940, Lord Beaverbrook, Minister for Aircraft Production

Households Encouraged to Give Aluminium for the War Effort
Woman from the Womens Voluntary Services hangs up pans and kettles from the W.V.S. centre to encourage people to hand in aluminium items to aid the war effort

Women War Work WW1 Railways
Womens work in wartime involves the cleaning of railway carriages, reflecting the shortage of male workers in WW1. Date: circa 1917

Fleet Laid Up / Gen Strike
Fishing trawlers and liners laid up at the Fleetwood docks, owing to shortage of coal due to the General Strike Date: 1926

Cartoon, Croesus, WW1
Cartoon, Croesus (Cresus). A comment on the food shortage in France during the First World War - a man hides his egg in a safe

Cartoon, Concerning sugar, WW1
Cartoon, Concerning sugar. Two French women discuss how little sugar they are using during the sugar crisis, but it still sounds like quite a lot! Date: 1916

Cartoon, The paper crisis, WW1
Cartoon, The paper crisis. A French officer on horseback asks a civilian why he has no papers (identity documents). The civilian replies that the newspapers are short of paper too! Date: 1916

Cartoon, The sugar crisis, WW1
Cartoon, The sugar crisis. A diabetic man wonders why all the dogs are following him. A comment on a new wartime rule not to give sugar to dogs. Date: 1916

Cartoon, The... High Price of Provisions
Cartoon, The Real Cause of the present High Price of Provisions, or, a View on the Sea Coast of England with French Agents smuggling away Supplies for France

Things We Vow We Will Do, When Peace Breaks out
Cartoon by George Studdy showing a gent purposefully indulging in wasteful behaviour, a welcome relief after years of food control, shortages and rationing. Date: 1918

WW1 - Comment on the food shortage
WW1 - To ensure food supply during shortages, National and local food control committees were established to ensure food distribution across the country

Gas bag omnibus in Edinburgh, WW1
An example of a coal gas powered vehicle in Edinburgh - in this case a bus which holds a voluminous rubber bag for the gas on its roof

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