British Military - The Development of Field cooking equipment and methods

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

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

• Transport and distribution

• Cooking equipment

• Training

The regular British Army of England, Ireland and Scotland was founded in 1661. Whilst there is evidence of cooking and rations in the early days, it's a bit thin on the ground, and vague, or handwriting that is faded or difficult to read.

So I thought I would start by taking a look at how the Royal Navy got on with cooking on the wooden ships. The Senior Service having been founded in 1546, one would think that they might have produced some sort of book for cooks, and be more organised. The history of naval cooking is all a bit hazy and confusing, but we get a general idea from some published autobiography books.

The role of Ship's cook seems to vary over time, and type of vessel

As I understand it - The Ship's Cook was actually a None warranted officer, (like a senior NCO in the army) responsible for;

a) Issuing rations,
b) Steeping salted food before issue,
c) Ensured that meat was properly cooked before allowing the Mess representatives to take it back again,
d) Oversaw portioning of cooked peas, etc,
e) Ensuring that everything was clean after use,
f) Reported ration status to senior officers every day.

Each Mess' cook or Mess' representative if you like;
a) Only worked in the kitchen all day, whilst the rest of the Mess scrubbed decks, etc,

Three times a day, they -
b) Set up the Mess table and benches,
c) Fetched wood or coal for the stove,
d) Took receipt of the meat, prepared it and put it into the relevant copper for cooking with all the rest,
e) Took receipt of the cooked meat and other food, portioned it out and served it to their Mess,
f) Served the pudding to the Mess,
g) Took receipt of Daily rations and issued them to the mess,
g) Stowed away the table and benches ( I still don't understand where all the tables and benches were stowed between meals ),
h) Did all the washing up,
i) Disposed of the cold ashes

There is vague mention of Mess lockers or Mess chests, where each mess kept their cutlery, weekly ration, etc.

Where I struggle, is that with a ship's company of 600, including Royal Marines (founded 1664) - with the ship split down into Mess of 8, that's 75 people at every mealtime involved with setting up and packing away the Mess, and producing the food.

More research required there.

The Navy's first cook book is released just before WW2, in 1936.

This seems a good place to remind readers, that Britain made the mistake of becoming complacent with LPG fuelled cooking equipment, with the last deployment of Stoves capable of using solid fuel being the 1990, Gulf War 1.

Before the formation of a permanent British Army, most armies were formed by the local land owner, to defend their own area. Some armies, such as Harold's of 1066 were recruited as they marched, first to Yorkshire, then then to Sussex.

All of these armies were supported by wives, mothers, camp followers and harlots. It is these women who did the cooking and fed the troops, nursed the wounded, etc.

The formation of the British Army in 1661 sees women being paid to wash and cook for the army. Regulations are put in place to control Sutlers (also spelt Suttlers), who are selling various provisions including alcohol and vegetables to the soldiers. Soldiers' wives are being employed to cook for the officers who have wives and families. Soldiers are later banned from working as Sutlers.

There are three autobiography books that offer titbits about life and cooking. Written by the ladies themselves, about their service to this country whilst disguising as men. All their books are free to download off the internet.

Christian Davies (1667–1739) joined the army to find the cheating husband who abandoned her.

Hannah Snell (1723 - 1792) joined the army, and then fearing disclosure joined the Royal Marines.

Mary Lacy (1740 – 1801) dressed as a man, and served as a civilian Shipwright on a number of HMS vessels.

Another autobiography worthy of mention is Recollections of Rifleman Harris (1781 - 1858). Harris recollects during the mass retreat during the Peninsular war of a soldier and his pregnant wife laying at the side of the road in bad weather, as the column continued to retreat. Presuming that the couple had laid down to die, they were surprised to find the woman carrying her new born as the couple raced to get back in line with their unit. The Book goes on to explain how the officers had started to limit women followers for the peninsular war.

The Illustrated London News (ILN) tells of The Great camp at Chobham in 1853. This training camp is held because of concern over Russian activities in Crimea and Turkey. The ILN tells us of the Royal Engineers demonstrating the method of cooking on the Broad Arrow trenches, with clay or soil packed around the kettles to improve cooking. It tells of some troops practicing making soup, and shows women preparing ingredients for the soup.

The Illustrated London News told us that "the men are in a more sanitary condition than even when in metropolitan quarters". 

On May 4th, 1854, Colonel (later General Sir) William Codrington (1804-84), attached to the First Division in Turkey, wrote to his wife Mary: 'Our Chobham Experience - somewhat derided at the time by many, has proved as might naturally have been expected of service to all - the men being of course handy at all arrangements of tents and their management and building kitchens &c &c.' 

Whilst in Bulgaria on 15th June, Codrington wrote, "One of the cavalry regiments, which never had encamped, were like children - knew nothing - helpless almost. Scarcely any fault of theirs." 

When the troops were shipped off for the Crimean war, only 6 registered wives per 100 NCO and Private soldiers were allowed to go, along with any female sutlers. There is no obvious account of the washer women (so far), so it is unclear if they were the soldiers' wives or other women. A number of the soldiers' wives found employment cooking for the wives and children of the officers. Which all leaves fewer knowledgeable women available to cook for the troops. 

Alexie Soyer records in his book, "A Culinary Campaign" of groups of men tying their meat rations tightly into one lump, and cooking it over a fire, or boiling it for a guessed period of time. The soldiers had marked their pieces of meat with bits of metal. This shows that whilst some may have learnt to make soup at Chobham in 1853, the skill was clearly lost or at least not taught to every regiment by 1855. We read of Soyer saving as many lives due to nutritional food, as Florence Nightingale did with her medical care. Disease and malnourishment was rife in the Crimean war. 

To me, this raises the question of, did the enforced reduction of each regiments' female followers by Officer arrogance and ignorance - give rise to possibly the worst recorded event of malnourished British forces on record. 

Historically, one purchased one's rank in the military. It was possible to buy a rank of Lieutenant, and work one's way up the ranks, or one could simply buy a more senior rank. This resulted in officers with no military experience, and no concept of how to prepare or cook food being responsible for numerous troops. The lack of consideration for nourishment, along with suitability / worthiness  of equipment and clothing resulted in a dire medical episode of British military history.

Sutlers (also spelt Suttler) were merchants,  who followed the regiment and sold food and provisions, including alcohol to the soldiers. There are some excellent old books, where the Sutler describes pillaging on deserted farms as the army came through, and then sold the items on to the soldiers. They also obtained goods from local merchants. Once formerly organised as a recognised supplier, the army controlled the number of Sutlers allowed to follow the regiment, and the prices that they could charge.

 In Brief, - Alexie Soyer

   Frenchman, Alexis Benoist Soyer (1810 to 1858) came to England because of the French revolution in July 1830. In 1831 he accepted employment in the London kitchen of the Duke of Cambridge. Later becoming the Head Chef at the Reform Club. It is here that he rubbed shoulders with royalty, the country's gentry and government figures.

Soyer had become very interested in the role of diet in society, and in the use of scientific culinary principles for the improvement of health and well-being in the poor and distressed. 

In 1847, at the request of the Government, he established a soup kitchen at the Royal Barracks in Dublin that was ‘capable of feeding a thousand people an hour’, in order to alleviate the Famine. 

Alexis Soyer had his Soup cart made before going to Ireland. This cart inspired Alexis to think of a mobile kitchen for the army. The following image and text about this idea is from his 1854 book, A shilling cookery for the people.

After his return to England he established a soup kitchen ‘for the Huguenot silk weavers of Spitalfields, who were then being affected by a treaty with France that allowed cheap imported silk into this country.

Soyer was commissioned by the Admiralty, which was affected by scandals relating to navy rations, to research and report on the preservation of food for long voyages. He did this with success and his recommendations were accepted. 

His popular publications on cooking cheaply but nutritiously included Soyer’s Charitable Cookery, or, The Poor Man’s Regenerator (London: [1848]) and A Shilling Cookery for the People (London: 1855).

The conditions being faced by the troops in the Crimea, and in the hospitals was reported in the Newspapers. Soyer again asked the government by letter in The Times, if he may be of assistance. With his contacts, and letters of introduction, in 1855 he managed to speak to the right people. All of these people gave him their unanimous backing.

Extract from The British Expedition to the Crimea Page 368 by William H Russell.

Miss Nightingale left Balaklava on the 6th of June, Lord Ward placing his steam yacht at her disposal. By the same opportunity M. Soyer returned to Constantinople, after a preliminary sojourn of three weeks in the Crimea, during which he made himself acquainted with the various hopes and difficulties which had accumulated in his path as a "regenerator" of the camp cuisine, and introduced to the notice of the Commander-in- Chief his ideas and experiments of simplification. He hoped to institute a system of cooking by companies, the company in the English regiment appearing the easiest aggregate which can be selected as the unit for a common plan of messing. He had further turned his attention to the then unsurmounted obstacles which attended the preparation of a wholesome farinaceous food, and had devised a form of bread analogous in some of its characters-i.e. , in its durability and portability-to biscuit, but in its real qualities as a staple of subsistence only differing from the bread of the baker in the mode of its preparation. 

Anyone who has eaten British army rations, will recognise the biscuit as "Biscuit A.B." The A.B. being "alternative to bread"

Russel continues Page 506

It would be unjust to say that the British soldier had not admirable raw material provided by Government for him, and many regiments possessed most excellent cooking-houses, built under the direction of their officers. I was particularly struck by the number and neatness of those of the 48th Regiment. Colonel Unett, of the 19th, worked very hard in erecting some excellent kitchens for his regiment, and even invented a plan of baking bricks, manufactured out of the earth in the neighbourhood, for the purpose. 

Page 556

Whilst the army was waiting patiently till spring should give it freedom of action, it set itself to work to provide for the winter. The spoils of Sebastopol materially contributed to our comfort and efficiency in this respect. Kitchen ranges, boilers, iron bars, Stourbridge bricks - I had some in a chimney built into the side of my hut, which were marked "Harpers, Stourbridge"-ovens, brass, iron, and copper stoves, pots and pans, flues, kettles, and hundreds of similar articles, were seized and utilized with wonderful tact. Fine well built cook-houses were constructed from the cut stone of Sebastopol, which was found in large blocks around unfinished houses or was taken from the ruined edifices and walls about the place. Mechanical ingenuity was largely developed in the adaption of materials. One officer converted the funnel of a small steamer into a chimney ; another used one of the pipes of an engine as a hot-air apparatus to heat his hut ; a third arranged a portion of machinery so that he could communicate from his salon, sleeping-room, and dining-room (three single gentlemen rolled into one) , with his cook in the adjacent kitchen, and dinner was handed through direct from the fire to the table, after the fashion of those mysterious apparatus which obey the behests of London waiters in the matter of roast meats, boiled beefs, and their satellites. Many officers distinguished themselves by the trouble they took in showing the men how to make themselves comfortable. The number of those employed on the roads and in various other ways rendered it difficult to get on with these works, and in many cases the officers were unable to complete their huts for want of wood and labour, and the unfinished walls stood in grim ruin here and there about the camp. Wood, canvas, little bits of glass, tar and pitch, and, above all, nails and tacks, were eagerly sought after. 

Soyer asked for the roll of Cook Sergeant to be created, to cook the food for the whole battalion.  Using his Soyer Field Stoves, Soyer showed that they could have hot, nutritional food anywhere, and in any weather. Soyer wrote a number of recipes for the troops to cook, so that they had a decent variety.

Improving Soyer's Field Stove - Page 409 Culinary Campaign 1857, by Alexie Soyer

General Garrett expressed a decided opinion that my apparatus was much superior to the old canteen pan, and gave me a letter, which I append in the Addenda. 

The signature of the treaty of peace changed all the proceedings in the camp, except mine ; for in anticipation of the distribution of the remainder of the stoves among the various regiments in the camps at Aldershot barracks, &c, as well as to those on foreign stations, I continued my daily course of instruction, in order that the men, upon arrival at home or elsewhere, might be well acquainted with their use, and be able to impart their knowledge to others. I have since hit upon a plan by which I shall introduce an oven and steamer, and thus do all that is required to vary the cooking of the daily meals in barracks — a subject of great importance. 

War having ceased, the camp bore the appearance of a monster banqueting-hall. "We have done fighting," said every one, "so let us terminate the campaign, by feasting, lay down our victorious but murderous weapons, and pick up those more useful and restorative arms — the knife and fork." 

The Soyer Field Stove as an oven Page 128, Culinary Campaign by Alexie Soyer

No. 9. — Baking and Roasting with the Field Stove. By the removal of the caldron, and the application of a false bottom put over the fire, bread bakes extremely well in the oven, as well as meat, potatoes, puddings, &c. Bread might be baked in oven at every available opportunity, at a trifling cost of fuel. The last experiment I made with one was a piece of beef weighing about 25lbs., a large Yorkshire pudding, and about 10lbs. of potatoes, the whole doing at considerably under one pennyworth of fuel, being a mixture of coal and coke; the whole was done to perfection, and of a nice brown colour. Any kind of meat would, of course, roast the same. 

Alexis Soyer had planned to demonstrate this kitchen by cooking for 700 people. Sadly, Alexis Soyer died before demonstrating the kitchen.

On 18th March 1858, Alexis was invited by the council of the United Service Institution in Whitehall to give a public lecture on the subject of military and naval cookery.

Author, Ruth Cowen advises that whilst giving his talk, Soyer informed the crowd that he had been appointed to the committee to decide on the final specification for a military cooking wagon, and was delighted, if not exactly surprised, to see his design formally adopted and sent to the army's carriage department at Woolwich for development.

Units also used other fuel sources with the Soyer, including an oil and water dropper burner, and a diesel fuelled burner.

As can be seen from the menus listed below, there are a range of variants which are designed to meet the religious and cultural requirements of the modern, diverse nature of the British Military and the climate in which they operate. 

From 1816 Royal Warrant – taken from the Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter.  Saturday, February 28, 1818

• One Pound of Bread or Biscuit ;

• One Pound of Meat, either Fresh or Salt :

• One Pint of Wine, or One-third of a Pint of Spirits.

• And no other Article whatever shall on any account, be Issued or allowed, as part of the Ration of either Officer, Non-commissioned Officer or Private.

From 1854 Tables of Nutriment in Various Dietaries, by Sir Robert Christison.

Hessian Soldiers' Diet (Liebig). (German mercenaries fighting for the British in America)

Ounces

• 5.73 Meat

• 0.07 Fat

• 3.30 Sausage

• 0.8 Butter

• 36.0 Bread

• 20.5 Potatoes

• 0.6 Pease

• 6.1 Vegetables

1848 Royal warrant and regulations regarding army services

The proportion of a soldier's pay to be applied to his mess and washing shall not exceed the sum of 5s. 10d. a week in the Cavalry, and 4s. 11 1/2d. a week in the Infantry, including the charge for bread and meat at home, and for rations abroad, unless the soldier shall himself choose to appropriate a further sum to this purpose.

Soldiers shall be accounted with monthly, for the weekly stoppages for necessaries directed by the Clothing Regulations to be made from their pay.

10. Soldiers at home shall be supplied with threequarters of a pound of meat and one pound of bread a day for each man, when in barracks or in stationary quarters; and with three-quarters of a pound of meat and one pound and a half of bread, when in camp.

Soldiers in England, on a march and billetted on innkeepers, shall be supplied by the innkeepers with one hot meal each day, such meal consisting of one pound and a quarter of meat, to be weighed previously to being dressed, one pound of bread, one pound of potatoes, or an equivalent of other vegetables, and two pints of small beer, with the necessary quantities of pepper, salt, and vinegar. For this meal the innkeeper shall receive the sum fixed by the Mutiny Act in force at the time.