Queen Victoria gift chocolate box, 1900

In 1899 Queen Victoria decided to send a gift of tin boxes of chocolate to her troops serving in South Africa. It was intended that every soldier and officer should get a box, the manufacture of which was funded personally by the Queen.

In order to carry out this project, the country's three principal chocolate manufacturers Messrs J S Fry and Sons, Messrs Cadbury Brothers Limited and Messrs Rowntree and Company Limited were asked to undertake the order for what amounted by the end of 1900 to 123,000 tins. As Quakers the manufacturers refused to accept payment for the order. Their pacifist beliefs meant that they did not wish to profit from the war so they offered to donate the chocolate instead.

The tins had rounded corners for ease of storage in a soldier's knapsack and each contained half a pound of vanilla chocolate.