Digging the Trenches by Andrew Robertshaw & David Kenyon

Author:Andrew Robertshaw & David Kenyon
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783033690
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2013-05-21T16:00:00+00:00

HYGIENE AND CLEANLINESS

After eating and drinking the next preoccupation of the soldier in the trenches was trying to stay clean and healthy, a task which, given the frequently filthy conditions and the lack of water, could present a significant challenge. While most armies expected men to grow moustaches (the British King’s Regulations made them compulsory at least at the beginning of the war), shaving of the remainder of the face was expected regularly. Thus shaving apparatus of all kinds frequently appears during excavation. Ceramic handles of several shaving brushes have been found, including one at Auchonvillers proudly marked by the manufacturer ‘Guaranteed free from Anthrax’ – hardly a risk one would associate with shaving today. Another brush, found in Thiepval Wood, consisted of a plated cylindrical tin which when opened proved to have a brush inside which could be removed and slotted on to the end of the tin to provide a handle. Associated with it were a cut-throat razor and part of a ceramic shaving-soap dish, providing the complete set, although whether these had been originally one man’s set or whether the finds were coincidental will never be known.

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