Arborfield
Local History Society

 The 'Mercury' and the Home Front in WW1

National War Savings - and a shocking symbol

From August to mid-November, local newspapers carried a series of adverts on War Savings Certificates. At this time, the 'swastika' symbol would have been uncontroversial, but 15 years later, it was hijacked by Hitler to become altogether more sinister. Even today, it shocks.

Each advert in the series gave the sort of advice familiar to readers of 'Enquire Within Upon Everything' [Health warning: don't download the 'Gutenberg Indexed' version of this highly-addictive book unless you have days to spare!].

The particular example shown below was of only partial relevance to villagers in Arborfield and Newland, because none had mains electricity or gas. A few large houses had electricity generators; Arborfield Hall had a small hydro-electric turbine; Bearwood had its own private gas works; the rest had kitchen ranges, open fireplaces and candles. Most didn't have mains electricity until well after the Second World War, despite the pylons and overhead power lines erected during the 1930's.

The whole series was:

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