"121-year-old chocolate bar found in helmet case" Topic

"A 121-year-old chocolate bar still in its original wrapper and tin has been discovered in a helmet case in the attic of Oxburgh Hall, family seat of the Bedingfield baronets. The chocolate and helmet belonged to Sir Henry Edward Paston-Bedingfield, 8th Baronet, who was a major in the King's Liverpool Regiment and fought in the Second Boer War. He was still in South Africa in 1902 when his father died. He returned to Oxburgh to claim his ancestral home and title. The chocolate went with him.

These chocolate bars were a New Year's present from Queen Victoria to British troops in South Africa ringing in the turn of the century. More than 100,000 half-pound tins of chocolate bearing her embossed profile and New Year's wishes in her own handwriting were produced by Britain's top three chocolate companies, Fry, Cadbury and Rowntree. It was an awkward commission because all three companies were founded and run by devout Quakers who specifically sought out an "innocent trade" that would allow them to make a good living without having to compromise their pacifist principles. Victoria wouldn't let them decline to profit from selling chocolates for troops fighting in an active war zone, so all three companies were strong-armed into it.

They managed to keep their brands off the tin, but even on that matter the Queen was less than flexible, insisting their names be somewhere on the chocolate or wrappers so the troops would know she was sending them the best British chocolate. The bars/wrappers weren't all marked, however, and the Oxburgh bar has no surviving brand…."

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Armand

There's a guy on YouTube who would eat that stuff.

Ah, the 1902! A splendid vintage!

(smile)

Armand

And we complain about modern fast food lasting forever.

Looks far worse than any rations I ever had. Throw it away and keep the casing!