What sustains me during a sort through the attic is the thought that I will stumble across something that will have some monetary or historical value. No luck, so far. Still, hope springs eternal.
Whilst cataloguing the belongings of Frances Greathead, daughter of the 8th Baronet Sir Henry Edward Paston-Bedingfield, the owner of the 15th century pile that is Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, the National Trust found a helmet case from the Boer War. Inside was a tin, complete with chocolate bar.
Ten thousand of these tins containing half a pound of chocolate each were given to the troops by manufacturers Cadbury, Fry, and Rowntree. It is thought that the Baronet kept the tin in his helmet case as a souvenir and forgot about it.
Although 121 years later the chocolate is well past its sell-by date, it was complete and, so the National Trust claim, is a remarkable find.
Perhaps the Baronet just didn’t like chocolate.
windowthroughtime 