{"id":651963,"date":"2025-12-24T06:29:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T06:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/651963\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T06:29:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T06:29:24","slug":"wartime-christmas-greetings-sent-by-biscuit-revealed-in-leeds-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/651963\/","title":{"rendered":"Wartime Christmas greetings sent by biscuit revealed in Leeds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LeedsLeeds Museums<\/p>\n

The imperishable Army biscuit was perfect for surviving the postal service<\/p>\n

They were the unappetising biscuits meant to sustain soldiers in the trenches during World War One. But for some these basic emergency rations were used for something far more poignant – a way to send messages of love and hope back home. More than a century later, surviving examples of these fragile snacks can be viewed in Leeds.<\/b><\/p>\n

Inscribing what may have been his final words, Pte William Maxwell, a soldier with the 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers, carved a personal message on the surface of his Army biscuit.<\/p>\n

Dating from 1914 and still tucked in its original wrapper, it was addressed to his mother, Margaret Maxwell, of Meanwood in Leeds. On it, he wrote: “Christmas dinner in the Army. Give us this day our daily bread and please put a bit of butter on. From Max.”<\/p>\n

Several months later, in May 1915, Pte Maxwell – the son of of GE and Margaret Maxwell – was killed, with his body buried in Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery in northern France.<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty<\/p>\n

The biscuits were a staple for soldiers on the front line – and offered a way of communication with loved ones back home<\/p>\n

Records show his younger brother Arthur Maxwell also died serving his country during the first month of combat, on 30 August 1914.<\/p>\n

Pte Maxwell was not the only soldier to refashion the trench biscuit into makeshift stationery.<\/p>\n

Made out of whole wheat flour with no sugar, the hard, dry biscuits could survive long journeys and military campaigns without moulding or disintegrating.<\/p>\n

\"LeedsLeeds Musuems<\/p>\n

The Discovery Centre in Leeds has carefully preserved the festive messages<\/p>\n

According to the Imperial War Museum (IWM), the British Army-issue biscuit was a key component of a soldier’s rations.<\/p>\n

They were produced under government contract by Huntley & Palmers, which in 1914 was the world’s largest biscuit manufacturer. <\/p>\n

In its description, the IWM said: “The notoriously hard biscuits could crack teeth if not first soaked in tea or water.”<\/p>\n

Preserved at the Leeds Discovery Centre is another more elaborately decorated biscuit.<\/p>\n

Also from 1914, it features an image of a battleship and carries an inscription that reads, “Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a bright new year”.<\/p>\n

\"LeedsLeeds Museums<\/p>\n

The decorated biscuits are available for visitors to view<\/p>\n

Kitty Ross, Leeds Museums and Galleries’ curator of social history, said the biscuits sent home from the front line gave a “very real and thought-provoking insight into life in the trenches of the First World War.”<\/p>\n

She added: “That they would seemingly rather have used these biscuits to share a joke with their loved ones than eat them speaks volumes about both the quality of the food and how much they must have wanted to stay in touch at a time of year when they would doubtless have felt the distance between them more keenly than ever.”<\/p>\n

Ms Ross said visitors were able to view the biscuit messages at the centre on request.<\/p>\n

Councillor Salma Arif, Leeds City Council’s executive member for adult social care, active lifestyles and culture, said: “It’s fascinating to see these different generations and their experiences of the festive season represented in our collection.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds Museums The imperishable Army biscuit was perfect for surviving the postal service They were the unappetising biscuits…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-651963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-leeds","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115773138081424266","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}