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Chrissie Squire was amongst the hundreds of thousands of people who answered the call of the National Egg Collection, the aim of which was to get fresh eggs over to the wounded soldiers in France.

Chrissie became known as the ‘Chideock egg lady’ because of the way she personalised the eggs she sent by painting intricate little pictures, and sometimes adding a poem or an encouraging word. She also included her name and address, which prompted many of the egg receiving soldiers to write back to her.

Set up under the patronage of Queen Alexandra, the National Egg Collection resulted in well over 20 million eggs finding their way to the soldiers who needed them as an important part of their sustenance. Such was the popularity of receiving one of Chrissie’s eggs that a lottery or draw was used to decide exactly which soldier would get the egg.

Amongst the pictures Chrissie drew were the Union Jack, black cats with long tails, sprigs of heather, and the French flag. The letters Chrissie received back were not just from British soldiers – they also came from Australians and Canadians, and from men of varying ranks.

Location: Chideock, Dorset DT6 6JF
Photograph courtesy of Frances Colville
Presented by Tony Adams

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