Silent Night, Dreary Night

Christmas Card 1917

Across the Square is set on Saturday 22nd December 1917 with both Lady Ottoline Morrell and Millicent Fawcett contemplating the festivities ahead.

But in truth there was very little cheer to be had that year. Christmas 1917 was a sad, drab affair. It was the fourth and last year of the war and by this point almost everyone had been affected either directly or indirectly by the losses on the Western Front.

As an Observer journalist noted : “…for many it is going to be a very quiet, if not a sad one. For the first time, though we are making the best of things, Christmas has lost its festive air.”

Many hotels and restraurants had abandoned their usual offering of festive fun. It is hard to celebrate when the pall of loss hangs so heavy.

With food in short supply and high in price there was a real possibility that some might go hungry. There was a growing sense of resentment at the few who seemed to be profiting from the war. The blackout restrictions introduced after the zeppelin raids of 1915 only added to the gloom. For many the giving of gifts was confined to children.