HISTORIANS have unearthed a bizarre fundraising campaign that ran in the Barnsley Chronicle 100 years ago.
Historian Jane Ainsworth said the campaign shipped out thousands of parcels of cigarettes to soldiers serving abroad - the Barnsley Chronicle Tobacco Fund paid for thousands of crates of smokes to be sent out to soldiers to soothe nerves and give comfort during the time before research into health risks had ever been done.
Historian Jane Ainsworth, of Victoria Road, has completed a book on the 76 Old Boys of Barnsley Holgate Grammar School who were killed in the First World War, which is now on display at the Cooper Gallery.
She has also done research on the important role cigarettes played in the war effort.
"Smoking had become increasingly widespread during and after the Crimean War, by 1914 it was generally socially acceptable anywhere and everywhere, including in military hospitals," she said.
"A discretionary two ounces of tobacco was part of a soldier's daily ration and those at home raised funds in order to keep men in good supply."
