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Savings during WW2

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  • Thumbs_Up
    Thumbs_Up Posts: 965 Forumite
    500 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic
    What happened to personal savings in WW2 - Were they knabbed by the government to aid the "war effort" ?

    Don’t forget in those dark days most British people were very patriotic and would gift their money to buy war material like Spitfires. Even the lefties socialist would chip in. 


  • JezR
    JezR Posts: 1,700 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    edited 27 April 2022 at 10:07PM
    There was the "squander bug" campaign from the middle of the war through to 1946 encouraging people to put any spare money into National Savings. The low level product was Savings Stamps, which when 15 shillings (75p) was accumulated could be turned into a Savings Certificate that would pay 20/6 (£1.025) ten years later. The interest was small by free of income tax.

    Hoarding of banknotes at home was also discouraged; towards the end of the war notes over £5 were withdrawn with £5 notes being replaced.
  • Thumbs_Up
    Thumbs_Up Posts: 965 Forumite
    500 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic
    tebbins said:
    Counting or not counting imperial subjects? I'm a bit confused since in 1945, British patriotic people gave Labour a landslide.

    After WW1 the slogan was “a land fit for heroes” a country governed by the liberal Lloyd George. Well that slogan turn out to be anathema, the pragmatic British voting public were war weary and wanted a new hope for jobs, workers rights and new homes, so in 1951 they voted in Churchill.   




  • Thumbs_Up
    Thumbs_Up Posts: 965 Forumite
    500 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 28 April 2022 at 7:34AM
    JezR said:
    Hoarding of banknotes at home was also discouraged; towards the end of the war notes over £5 were withdrawn with £5 notes being replaced.

    The Germans were forging British bank notes see here...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bernhard



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