In the Crimean War Alexis Soyer helped Florence Nightingale look after the wounded: her nursing would have been of little use if the recovering soldiers were not properly fed. Along the way he invented the first cooker adopted by the British Army, the Soyer Field Stove. The stove remained an essential part of the standard kitchen equipment through both World Wars and all campaigns until the Falklands War in 1982, when, an Exocet missile hit the massive supply vessel Atlantic Conveyor. Although the ship went down with Chinook helicopters, tragically it was the fact that the bulk of the army’s stock of Soyer stoves was lost that caused a lot of concern.
The Soyer stoves were used by many organisations during World War II and were staffed by the Women’s Voluntary Service who provided emergency food in the bombed areas during the Blitz.
The stove was capable of boiling 12 gallons ( litres) of liquid using any available solid fuel. They were simple and efficient. The original specification was that two stoves, together with wood for fuel, could be carried by a mule.
There were 20 stoves to a regiment, allowing 300 lbs. ( kg) of meat to be cooked per thousand men. Coal will burn with the same advantage as wood. They could also be fitted with an apparatus for baking, roasting, and steaming. By the removal of the caldron, and the application of a false bottom put over the fire, the stove could be used for baking bread as well as roasting meat, potatoes, puddings etc.
This was the most ingenious piece of field equipment that British army cooks ever used.