1914 Christmas Box
The 1914 Christmas box was the idea of the 17 year old Princess Mary, daughter of King George V and Queen Mary. The purpose was to provide everyone wearing the King’s uniform and serving overseas on Christmas Day 1914 with a ‘gift from the nation’.
Each brass box had an embossed head of Princess Mary on the cover, flanked by the bows of battleships and roundels of the names of the Allies.
Officers and men on active service afloat or at the front line received a box containing a combination of pipe, lighter, 1 oz of tobacco and twenty cigarettes in distinctive yellow monogrammed wrappers.
The initiative was funded by members of the public and private companies.
A Daily Mail article on the 1914 box can be read
here.