Mc Gavin's Princess Fruit Cake

I have rediscovered one of several similar Canadian fruit cake tins that I still have, sadly now missing the cake, which were sent to my family during WW2, in "food parcels" by a family friend living in Canada. What is interesting is the fantastic artwork on the side of the tin and one can imagine a family's life in black and white 1940's wartime Britain being brightened up a little after opening up a package, from Canada, and finding this tin inside.

If memory serves me correctly the other similar tins are all the same size and all Mc Gavin's Fruit Cake but the artwork has been varied a little between tins but is of a similar nature.

On this particular example the lid has suffered somewhat from poor storage but some of the others that I have may be in better condition.

Does anyone actually remember consuming this brand of fruit cake?

Nobody actually eats fruitcake. They are simply passed on from family to family. Surprised that tin didn't have it's cake still in it. Often used as door stops

There wasn't a lot of choice of what sort of cake to send because it had to be something that would survive a long sea voyage across the North Atlantic, plus transit to and from the ports, each side of the Atlantic. In WW2 Britain, a tin of Canadian fruit cake would have been considered a rare and luxury item. This is because many of our supply ships were being sunk by U-boats and the ones that did get through were carrying essential materials to fight Hitler and essential foods like corned beef, spam and basic foods.

My family appreciated being sent the fruit cake from Canada and also enjoyed eating it.

I'm now imagining fruitcakes at the bottom of the ocean, their tins, long rusted away.

Please don't take me too seriously, I'm not mocking your memory or history, I just can't help myself when it comes to fruitcakes. I can imagine they would have been very welcome. The tin is pretty cool also.

My Grandfather found that the tins were a perfect size to stretch his ARP beret if it became a little tight. I am happy to demonstrate this because I still have his beret.

That's a wonderful piece of history, thanks for sharing. To me, the various homefronts during the war are a fascinating time and place, often neglected by historians. I'm glad to see that tin is still maintained in your home; if it were mine, it would at the very least be a treasured Christmas display.

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

Mc Gavin's

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They are still in business of course here and doing well.

Seems to be an advertising technique now largely forgotten: make your packaging re-useable and attractive in a "general interest" way so that it is kept for other purposes and becomes a sort of in-home billboard advertising your product.

These days the bean-counters would obsess over the cost of the packaging and ignore the advertising value as being impossible to quantify. :rolleyes:

"No one eats fruitcake"? I beg to differ sir! Maybe not people who eat rubbish all year round and therefore can't indulge at Christmas without a health crisis? :D

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

Nobody actually eats fruitcake. They are simply passed on from family to family. Surprised that tin didn't have it's cake still in it. Often used as door stops

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Shhh! Don't let my wife hear you, it's her "diet" for the month of December!


Russ