British Military - The Development of Field cooking equipment and methods

Whoever said I can't cook probably hasn't tried my cereal yet !

The following is a work in progress. It is not a definitive guide, but is a researched starting point.

From The Royal Military Chronical, 1811 - Messing.

"Cooks should be appointed regularly to each company; they should always be excused any duty that interferes with their cooking. Nothing tends more to render the men contented than having their mess properly attended to. It may appear almost ridiculous, but it is absolutely a fact, that this is one of the most important matters in the internal regulations of a regiment. When a soldier has a comfortable meal to sit down to, it makes up for many inconveniences he may otherwise encounter. "

I got curious about the numbers of the British Army portable cookers, and why there's a gap between Number 7 and Number 12. So I started putting this web page together. It's proving to be an interesting journey, that continues to reveal information from numerous sources around the globe.

Due to the amount of information learnt, the information has been split down into 5 sub pages.

The Issue around Feeding the many - This page
Nutrition
British Field cooking equipment
Improvised cooking and army manuals
Travelling kitchens

The issues around - Feeding the many

Three things that are vital to feeding the many are :-

Transport and distribution
Cooking equipment
Training

Transport and Distribution

One only has to look at the number of Supermarket lorries on the roads, to get a basic idea of how much Logistics are involved in feeding the public of this country. And you won't even be aware of all the unmarked or privately branded lorries that are supplying the Supermarket Distribution centres, to keep those supermarkets supplied. Now imaging that you have to get food and supplies to thousands of people on another continent, and what that would involve.

With regards to the military, history has shown that any country who have requested military assistance, or that United Nations have placed armed forces in, should not be relied upon to provide anything to the forces - even when that force is helping to regain the country from another. So the military has to ensure that it has enough equipment, and can call on equipment (including ships) from it's own country's civilian companies to ensure supplies. The Royal Navy used to be the biggest fleet in the world, but we forget that most of those vessels were actually simply ferrying troops, and supplies to the four corners of the globe, and back.

A look at the retreat of the British during the Peninsular war due to lack of stores, shows how important it is to provide one's own food and supplies. A look at the Crimean war shows the importance of having one's own transport, and protection for that transport and its cargo.

Cooking equipment

As will be shown in the next section, the people in charge often had no concept of equipment or methods required for feeding thousands of troops. This being due to their having servants who do such things for them. From the forming of the army in 1661 to the 20th Century, there was a lack of knowledge or consideration by many Officers and Civil servants in such matters. Wellington clearly tried to take steps in ensuring that troops had equipment with them at all times so that they could cook when the day's march stopped. This was also a time of innovation and development, including of lighter materials.

Training

The opening statement of this page, dated 1811, points out the importance of ensuring that some people are left alone to cook for the many. We hear time and time again of the Cooks, or Kitchen staff being the worst soldiers of the regiment. Also of soldiers spending a month in the cookhouse - and just as they've perfected things they are replaced by new, untrained kitchen staff. It wasn't until 1941 that the Army Catering Corps was finally formed, to produce nutritional, properly cooked food.

Yearly camps were held during peacetime, at Bagshot Heath during the end of the 18th Century, and then switched to Chobham Common in the 19th Century. The camps appear to have been a number of infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineer regiments per year, but not the entire army. It may have been per division per year.

Newspaper articles tell us of a large camp at Bagshot in 1798, and of troops being taught the Broad arrow trench cooking. Large camps, as shown in the Great Camp at Chobham in 1853, is where perhaps a division camped and trained for a month, and then another division took over and started their training. 1798 of coarse was the start of another war against the French, and 1853 was in preparation because of Russian activity, and the Crimean war that followed. At the 1853 camp, the Royal Engineers are demonstrating the Broad arrow with clay packed around the kettles, to improve cooking. Improvised ovens are also demonstrated.

But as the extracts in the next section will show, whilst some troops camped at Chobham (and presumably the same at Bagshot) and learnt how to survive in the field, many regiments did not train the troops in cooking, resulting in malnourishment, susceptibility to disease and major decline in moral.

Quick list of fixed kitchen cooking items

These dates are the dates that they are first mentioned in various manuals

1856 - Soyer designed a number of sizes of his Field stove, with larger ones being used in military hospitals.

1858 - Soyer opens a modern kitchen at Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, London. This kitchen has gas fuelled cookers for more efficiency, and Soyer stoves. Sadly dies before able to cook for 700 people from this kitchen.

1878 - Warren cooking apparatus, patented 1866

1878 - Feetham's Stove comprises an oven and hot-plate

1878 - Dean's Boilers

1878 - Dean's (or Galton's) Iron Ovens

1895 - Fowler’s Camp stove

1895 - The Brick Oven

1903 - Treble Boilers. These boilers have been constructed with a view to their adoption in small forts, where, in addition to the cooking, hot water is always required.

1903 - Benham's Apparatus 1. A ventilated Brick Roasting Oven. 2. A Steam and Hot Water Boiler. 3. Tin Boilers for meat, soup, &c. 4. A Hot Plate. 5. An Iron Chamber for steaming potatoes. 6. A Furnace to heat the whole.

1910 - Dean’s Combined Cooking Apparatus.

1910 - Richmond Cooking Apparatus. Is comprised of two distinct parts.

(A) consisting of oven and steam chambers, hot plate and boiler for generating steam, also providing water for tea or coffee.

(B) portion consists of soup or vegetable boiler and stock pot. There are two sizes in use. The small apparatus will cook for 50 men. The larger cooker will cook for 150 men.

1933 - Hot-Air Ovens

British Military - The Development of Field cooking equipment and methods

The issues around - Feeding the many

Quick list of fixed kitchen cooking items

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