Peace babies

In this Armistice weekend, I thought I would blip some Bassetts Peace Babies.

In celebration of the end of the First World War in 1918, George Bassett & Co. produced Peace Babies – what would later become the confectionery classic we all know as Jelly Babies.

Archivists at Mondelez (who now own Bassetts) trawled through records and found a rare surviving copy of an export list mentioning the sweet treat. Thought to be from the 1920s or 30s, this shows a 'hundred-weight' (100lb or 45kg) of Peace Babies listed for sale in '4lb wood boxes', for the grand total of 68 shillings. This would be the equivalent of £139.60 in today’s money.

It is thought that these were on sale until a shortage of raw materials put a stop to production during World War Two. In 1953, they were relaunched as Jelly Babies - the rest, as they say, is history!

Anyway, here they are with a replica Princess Mary’s Fund sweet tin, that all the soldiers were sent for Christmas 1914.

Here’s hoping you have had a good day.