Martin Roseveare

Martin Pearson Roseveare (24 April 1898, in Great Snoring – 30 March 1985, in Mzuzu, Malawi) was an English mathematician responsible for designing the ration books for the United Kingdom used during the Second World War.

He returned to Cambridge and finished his studies in 1921 and took up a post teaching mathematics at Repton School.

Lord Woolton, the Minister of Food asked him to design a "foolproof and fraudproof" ration book.

He piloted his original ideas amongst housewives before establishing a 38-page booklet with coupons for clothing and food which would then be cut out by shopkeepers.

He published Joys, Jobs and Jaunts: Memoirs of Sir Martin Roseveare in 1984.

Tray containing a ration book and the weekly ration as issued to an adult in Britain during 1942