Brits were groaning about their journeys abroad centuries prior to evaluation websites like Tripadvisor, a journal up for auction programs.
Soldier Frederick Shaw was outraged by an overpriced lunch of giblets and beer in France, where he battled in the Napoleonic Wars in 1814.
He informed his journal: ‘Me and 2 more of my good friends entered into among their cookshops to get something to consume and they brought us a plate of giblets worth about one shilling to the very best of my viewpoint.
‘We not being satisfied called for another which they brought, we eat that and bread too and drank four bottles of beer and then called for the reckoning.’
To his ‘great astonishment’ the expense concerned 9 shillings, with the beer costing sixpence a bottle– or ₤ 6 a bottle today.
The soldier became part of Allied columns marching towards Paris in the wars which ended with Napoleon’s 1815 Waterloo defeat.
‘Frederick Shaw’ s account is refreshingly various to the normal letters of officers and offers readers a various flavour of army life abroad,’ stated Chris Albury, of Dominic Winter Auctions inGloucestershire
.
‘He describes the towns and villages that he passed through and how friendly the locals were, but the prices of food and drink were definitely not to his liking.’
Mr Shaw’s journal is set to bring ₤300 when it is offered by a personal collector next Thursday.
MORE: Beers will cost ₤12 a can at Qatar World Cup and they just serveBudweiser
MORE: Beatles superfan discovers John Lennon’s face in a pint of beer.
Get in touch with our news group by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, inspect our news page
Get your need-to-know.
most current news, feel-good stories, analysis and more
