Calum's video: Princess Mary s Christmas Gift Box - Restoring a WW1 Relic

The Princess Mary Christmas gift box was a brass or silver tin containing a number of gifts intended to be distributed to all members of the armed forces of the British Empire on Christmas day 1914, during World War I. The success of the campaign led to almost 3 million of these little brass tins being sent to "every solider and sailor wearing the King's uniform on Christmas 1914". We take a look at a particularly scruffy example of these tins and see if we can return some shine to this interesting piece of World War One history. I have a Patreon now! https://www.patreon.com/calumraasay Twitter......................►https://twitter.com/calumraasay Instagram................►http://instagram.com/calumraasay Website....................►http://calumgillies.com Sources used: Tommy at War: 1914-1918 The Soldiers' Own Stories Memorializing the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 Christmas 1914: The First World War at Home and Abroad LOOK INSIDE THE PRINCESS MARY GIFT FUND 1914 BOX https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/look-inside-the-princess-mary-gift-fund-1914-box Princess Mary Gift Fund Box – a royal gift for all https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/blog/2016/11/24/princess-mary-gift-fund-box-a-royal-gift-for-all The final number of tins distributed by 1920 is as follows (source: Force War Record): Navy: 255,271 Army: France & Belgium 355,716 Wounded given in France and at home 89,165 Next of kin 5,000 French mission 4,600 Troops at home including Commonwealth 1,337,889 Empire: India 294,000 Canada 70,000 Australia 53,3000 South Africa 42,647 New Zealand 19,915 Colonies 72,086 Nurses 1,500