120-YEAR-OLD BOX OF CHOCOLATE DISCOVERED WAS GIFT FROM THE QUEEN TO BRITISH SOLDIERS DURING BOER WAR

Sun 27 December 2020:

Chocolate was given to British soldiers during Boer War by Queen Victoria

Employees at the Australian National Library have found one of the oldest boxes of chocolates in the world in the estate of famous Australian poet Andrew Barton Paterson.

Remarkably, the chocolates were not only unmolested after more than a century, but still looked – almost – good enough to eat.

The chocolate bar, marked into six fingers, still had remnants of old straw packing and silver foil wrapping.

The discovery astonished staff in the Library’s conservation lab, who weren’t expecting to find Banjo’s sweets hidden amongst a career’s worth of poetry, diaries and newspaper clippings.

‘There was quite an interesting smell when they were unwrapped,’ National Library of Australia conservator Jennifer Todd told the ABC.

‘[It was] an old tin of chocolates, belonging to Banjo, with the chocolates still wrapped in the box.’

The chocolate bar still had the old packaging made of straw and the silver foil wrapping still around the chocolate..

It was commissioned by none other than Queen Victoria herself, to provide comfort to Boer War troops at the turn of a new century.

The tins were commissioned by Queen Victoria to provide consolation to the Boer War troops during their battles, with ‘South Africa, 1900’ and ‘I wish you a happy New Year, Victoria RI’ inscribed on the tin with the royal visage.

The tin was adorned with the royal visage, inscribed with the phrases “South Africa, 1900” and “I wish you a happy New Year, Victoria RI”.

And although intended for troops, the commemorative chocolate tins became hot items of trade at the front, as Canadian soldier Private C Jackson wrote home in December 1899.

“I have just received a box of chocolate, Her Majesty’s present to the South African soldiers … there is such a demand for them by the officers and everybody else, as mementos,” he wrote.

“In fact I have been offered five pounds for mine, and at the Cape as much as 10 pounds is being paid.”

Cadbury UK created the historical chocolates for British troops, as Buckingham Palace placed an order for 70,000 to 80,000 pound tins of cocoa that was to be paid out directly from the Queen’s own purse.

According to the Cadbury Brothers, ‘the cocoa must be made into a paste and sweetened ready for use under the rough and ready conditions of camp life’ and ‘the tins to be specially made and decorated.’

Although the tins were intended specifically for the troops, the collectors tins became a popular item to trade, with some tins going for five to ten pounds on the front.

It is speculated that Banjo Paterson bought the chocolate tin from British troops in 1899 when he was a war correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and sent it back to Australia to preserve it from the South African heat.

The chocolate tin – and newspaper clippings from Banjo Paterson’s time as a war correspondent – were held by the author himself until his death in 1941, then passed down through generations of his family before being acquired by the NLA last year.

Other treasures being conserved from the Banjo Paterson collection include an early version of “Waltzing Matilda” and a large silver gelatin portrait later reproduced on the Australian $10 note.

The chocolate tin has now found a new home at the National Library of Australia as part of wider collection of Banjo Patterson’s personal items.

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent