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The Home Front in Tredegar during the Second World War A Key Stage 2 Educational Resource Pack Part 5—Rationing of Fuel and Clothes
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Fuel Rationing During the war as much coal as possible was needed to supply energy to industries and factories which made goods that were vital to the war effort. All fuels were rationed and people were encouraged by the Government to use less energy in homes and their place of work in order to divert as much as possible to the war effort. Advice ranged from reducing the level of water in the bath, turning off appliances and lights around the home, turning down heating and closing doors! Do you think that the posters on the next fifteen pages would persuade people to change their habits and reduce fuel use?
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In the 1940s, few people owned cars. Petrol rationing was introduced in 1939. To save fuel and reduce the number of accidents in the blackout, the speed limit at night was reduced to 20 miles per hour in all built-up areas. In 1942, supplies of petrol for private cars was stopped altogether!
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What was Shanks’ Pony?
You wonder why we make a fuss
Why would using Shanks’ If George decides to take a bus Pony save fuel and help but look again and you will see the war effort? that George ain’t all that Here is a short wartime poem about George the ‘Transport Hog’ created to remind everyone to walk whenever possible.
have far to go and lots to do. When George gets on we often find that other folk get left behind.
George should be.
He pays his fare and rides the stage
He's only got a step to go
and off he hops and see the rage
a couple hundred yards or so
and seeing this gives George a jog
while others further down the queue
“Perhaps I'm Just a Transport Hog”
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Clothes Rationing Clothing was rationed on a system of points. When it was introduced, in 1941, no clothing coupons had been issued so unused margarine coupons in ration books were used instead! The allowance was roughly one new outfit of clothes per year. As the war went on, the points were reduced until almost a year's clothing coupons could be used by buying a coat. People were encouraged to ‘make do and mend’ rather than buy new clothes. Younger children often wore ‘hand-me-downs’ from older brothers or sisters!
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When buying new clothes, customers had to hand over coupons with a 'points' value as well as money. Each item of clothing had a points value, usually displayed alongside the price. The more fabric and work that went into making a garment, the more points were required. As with food rationing, the main aim of the scheme was to ensure a fair share for all. But it was also intended to free up factory space and workers for vital war industries. The 'Make do and Mend' campaign suggested ways to repair and reuse old clothes.
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Children quickly outgrew their clothes. Mothers were encouraged to buy children’s clothes in bigger sizes so they could be taken in initially and then let out gradually as the child grew. School uniforms could be a real problem for parents. Many schools did not ease their rules on uniform during wartime. So families often had to use up their entire yearly allowance of coupons on uniforms. Posters encouraged women to repair old clothes, and offered ideas for how to create new outfits for themselves and their children from old clothes and scraps of fabric.
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Some people received an extra points allowance if they had a particular job, for example if overalls were needed for factory work. Pregnant women were given an extra allocation of clothing points for maternity and baby clothes. Fewer points were needed for children’s clothing because being smaller, they used less material. Children also needed replacement clothes more often than adults as they outgrew or wore them out. Older children aged 14 to 16 also received an extra 20 coupons. Why was this necessary?
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The Women's Voluntary Service (WVS) ran children's clothing and shoe exchanges during the war. Parents could take shoes and clothes that their children had grown too big for, to the exchange, in return for points. The collected points could then be swapped at the exchange for suitable clothes that fitted. The WVS also accepted donations of unwanted clothes which they sent to families who had lost theirs through bombing for instance.
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In 1941, adults received just 66 coupons or points for all of their clothing needs for a year. In 1942, the allowance was cut to 48 points and strict rules were brought in which even restricted the number of buttons and pockets that could be included on clothes! In 1943 the allowance was reduced again to 36 points and in 1945 this went down further to only 24 points!
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Cheaper clothes inevitably wore out quicker than more expensive, better quality clothing. The 'Utility' scheme, launched in 1943, offered women a range of well-designed, good quality and price controlled clothes.
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One item of women’s clothing that became almost unobtainable during the war were stockings. All available silk was used for making parachutes. In 1939 an American company developed a new material called nylon as a substitute for silk. However ‘nylons’ weren’t made in Britain. They could be bought illegally, on the ‘black market,’ but if women were unwilling to do this or simply couldn’t afford to pay, some went to great lengths to disguise the fact that they weren’t wearing any stockings! The ‘black market’ was the name given to the illegal trade in rationed or scarce goods, usually at hugely inflated prices.
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Some women painted their legs or drew a seam with a pencil along the backs of their legs to give the false appearance that they were wearing stockings.