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The British SRD Jar:
The British Army stoneware SRD Rum Jar was a common site throughout the Great War, and many original photographs exist showing these items in and around the front lines and trenches. The jars were still being used during WW11 and certainly with units of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) and Special Air Service (SAS) on missions behind Axis lines.
Although mainly associated with the storage of rum, these jars were in fact used for all types of liquid supplies used by the British Army. SRD stands for ‘Supply Reserve Depot’ (or Service Rations Depot depending where you research them). As always the British Soldiers had their own version of what the letters stood for – Seldom Reaches Destination, Soon Runs Dry, Service Rum Diluted and Seldom Rarely Delivers were the most common. The rum was first issued to soldiers during the winter of 1914 to help fight against the extreme cold, wet and damp weather conditions within the trenches and front line areas. These jars littered the front line areas and many are still found today, although the majority broken. Quite often examples can be purchased locally at flee-markets in Belgium and Northern France for a relatively moderate price.
All the British Empire troops fighting on the Western Front would have been issued the rum ration, with of cause the Muslim units being the exception. The daily ration of this thick, dark rum was 1/16thof a pint per man and usually given out in the morning. Of cause a wounded or dying man would also be administered rum as required.
Description: The jars were produced from many contractors and of cause will show differences in height, diameter, weight and colour. Generally, the jars were around 31 – 34cm high, 17 – 18cm in diameter and weighing between 3.2 and 3.6 Kilo. The ceramic glazed jars generally had a light-brown top, to just below the indent rings, with a lighter and greyer, or grey-beige bottom. The glazing was sometimes uneven around the top, showing a slightly wavy dividing line between the colours. The SRD stamps were mainly in a darker colour, almost dark grey or black – some indent stamps had no colouring at all. These letters varied considerably in size, design and position on jar – some were curved, following the contour or shape of jar top.
