On Plum Pudding

Eating beef and plum pudding on special occasions had become so emblematic of British custom by the early nineteenth century that it was considered an act of patriotism during the Napoleonic Wars. That patriotic sentiment continued into World War I, when Lady Rawlinson, wife of Sir Henry Rawlinson, a much-decorated British Army officer, gifted a Christmas pudding to each man in her husband’s corps.

In the same period, British women working in refugee camps in France and Belgium contributed to the national spirit by embroidering patriotic themes onto postcards. Among the most sought-after image was a plum pudding bristling with flags.