SRD WWI Rum Jug

[CBH]

I've been looking for one of these crockery jugs for ten years or so, once I heard there was a Military Issue Rum Jug I wanted one. Managed to finally find one last week, it has a couple hairline cracks but not bad for 100 years old. It still has it's wire and wood handle and and interesting mark on the bottom, besides the makers stamp there is a Star of David type symbol and Free Package, does anyone know of this stamp?
Thanks for your time.

[BrodieBartfast]

Always loved these. A very iconic piece of First World War militaria. Owing to the nature of its contents and where it was used, troops often joked that SRD really stood for 'Seldom Reaches Destination' or 'Soon Runs Dry'.

B.B.

[CBH]

You don't see many on this side of the pond, so I was glad to get this one. It will look good with some other WWI bit and pieces.
SRD stand for "Service Rum Diluted" according to Dictionary of Military Abbreviations, but I have heard of other explanations.

[kradman]

You also find ww2 dated ones of these

[Watchdog]

I too have always been fascinated by these and they can still be found without too much trouble in the UK if you look in the right places. Strangely it is not usually militaria dearlers / shows where these pop up. Most that I have seen have been amongst the type of stuff that people use for interior decoration everywhere from bric-a-brac stalls/shops to architechtural salvage to full on antique dealers. This of course makes for a very wide price range with the antique dealers often asking outrageous prices for items "used at Vimy Ridge / Passchendaele / Verdun" etc. They are usually mixed in with the civilian market items of almost identical (apart from markings) appearance. Many of the civilian items have brewery or other commercial names on them. A good price for these currently seems to be £30 - 50 but as I say some sellers ask for a lot more and the the car boot sales sometimes yield a bargain. Of course I am talking about straight retail sales here car boot sales being the exception, auctions are another possibility and the prices here can be very much lower unless there is more than one bidder as we all know.

I have no idea about the base markings on yours but I would hazard a guess that "Free package" has something to do with excise duty matters. I am also pretty sure that the Star of David has absolutely no religious connotation.

As an aside, back in the early '90s whilst serving in Germany I was involved in the back-loading of a lot of stores from units that were being disbanded or withdrawn due to drawdown (the bloody "peace dividend" again!) and in a dusty cellar was found an unopened example complete with wicker basket cover, 1960s dated if I recall (the Army maintained a scale of issue of rum in arduous conditions long after the RN ceased the "daily tot" in 1974). Of course it was quickly opened and at a later mess function some foolhardy individuals (I was not that soldier!) actually drank some of it. Needless to say they were of somewhat impaired ability the next day

As fot the SRD abbreviation the meaning you offer is I think the most widely given although there seems to be little evidence to support that and the rum itself was only diluted at the point of consumption by adding water in accordance with regulations. The RN certainly had very specific dilution rules which were actually based on seniority and age (the grog issued to boy sailors was much weaker!!).

Personally I feel that SRD = Supply Reserve Depot is much more plausible.

These are iconic pieces of miltary ephemera that were in use for a very long time and you have re-awakened my interest now

Yours seems to be a very nice example, thanks for showing it here

Regards

Mark

[CBH]

Thanks Mark, for the detailed and humous reply. I'd been using Supply Reserve Depot to explain the SRD, but a more recent search gave the Service Rum Diluted definition. I've seen thousands of crocks over that years, but only maybe two or three of these. And once I knew what these were, I wanted one.
Got it on the mainland, after seeing it on a local by and sell site, it had a couple hairline cracks so I haggled him down to 32$can. Which I thought was a good price.
These are interesting pieces of History, and I'll be on the look out for more. Thanks for the interest.

[Watchdog]

Hi Chris,

Yes that is a good price, roughly the mean value they seem to fetch at auction in UK with retail being considerably higher though they are often seen on Fleabay too. I have heard scare stories about fakes but I wouldn't know what to look for (apart from the obvious "made yesterday" appearance) as the manufacturing process for stoneware is virtually the same as it always was give or take a little modern mechanisation.

Regards

MArk

[mpw]

Lovely jar and good to have the original carrying handle too. Pearson and Co became a limited company in about 1925 so yours is a nice early example. As mentioned above the star of David is probably something to do with duty , perhaps a bonded warehouse stamp.

Rgd's Mark.

[CampX]

If you find these in wicker with a red stripe in the wicker, they are WW2 RN or RCN not ww1 I have seenso many with red stripes sold as first Canadian div and it crap, I know a guy that bought about 200 of the out of Halifax in the early 60s, but the time I saw them about 10 years ago, most of the wicker had rotted off, and the ones I saw with no wicher, were not marked but some had dates on the bottoms all 42 to 44. With that said I have late last year seen the best collection of WW1 SRD jugs, they cam in clear and brown galls also, some had small loops to hole them some did not. If you want real nice ones for 20 euros each, stop at >TOMMYS restuerant between Albert and Bampaun (?) he is on the main road and has a great trench display as well as more relic than to can find anywhere eles, and if you make a good offer, you can buy many things from his inside collection, both Brad and I boiught ones with the SRD stamped into the jars, but as I have several arlready that is what I wanted..not I am looking for glass ones!!

[CBH]

Thanks for the additional information, I've always wanted one of these since I first heard of military issue crockery.
Many of my friend collect Ginger Beer crocks, I have a couple, but issue Rum was too hard to resist.
Glad to see you post again, a friend of mine father trained at Camp-X and he has a photo of him and another soldier.
I'll be sure to post it if I ever get a copy.