The Saveloy Dip: An Awkward WW1 History

This post is part of the History of Food series, a revived project from 2021 that explores the origin stories of traditional dishes, the lessons they can teach us, and the people who keep the food alive. In each post, we visit a restaurant that puts their spin on a classic dish. 

In May 1915, the British government seized Friedrich Wiegand, shipped him to the Isle of Man and locked him up in a detention centre.

Alone and separated from his daughter and pregnant wife, the man had committed no crime that he knew of.

16 years prior, Wiegand had emigrated from Saxony, Germany and established a life as a hairdresser in Glasgow. At that time, German immigrants were welcomed in Britain.

Then, the First World War broke out.

When Germany sunk the Lusitania in May 1915, killing 1,000 passengers, riots and a wave of anti-German sentiment spread across Britain.

The government acted fast and rash.

Throughout the war, they detained up to 30,000 German, Austrian and Turkish civilians who lived in UK at the time in detention centres. Most were locked up the same month that the Lusitania sank.

Many, such as Wiegand, were not released until the end of the war in 1918.

Many of the captives were German pork butchers who had began emigrating to Britain during the 19th century.

During this period, at the onset of the Industrial Revolution, Britain was considered a land of opportunity. Thus, Europeans emigrated in droves.

The Germans established butchers shops across the country, particularly in the industrial North. They filled a gap in the market: workers needed fast and cheap food after a hard days work slogging it in the factories and mines. In this regard, these butchers could be considered Britain’s first “takeaways”.

Reporting their success back home, the butchers encouraged more Germans to emigrate to Britain. In Sheffield, the number of German butchers shops grew from 1 in 1817 to 18 in 1914.

The butchers brought their food traditions with them. This lead to a fusion of German and British cuisine, and birthed dishes such as the Saveloy Dip, a pork sausage that sits in a gravy-soaked bun atop stuffing, pease pudding and English mustard.

There is much debate around where exactly the Saveloy Dip (or, the “Pork Dip”) originated, but we can be certain that it stemmed from German pork butchers somewhere in North East England, where it is still commonly served today.

After their treatment during the First World War, many returned to Germany, or “converted” by anglicising their names, as per the Royal Family.

When the gov’t re-introduced internment during the Second World War, it finally diminished the rich tradition of German pork butchers. By this stage, they had all either “converted”, fled or moved onto other trades.

Certainly, there were Germans during both wars who committed terrible crimes.

But as a result of Britain’s hatred and fear, hard-working and innocent Germans bore the brunt of the abuse. These members of the community were singled out for their nationality. They were treat like criminals and locked away behind barbed wire for acts they had no involvement in.

It’s unfortunately a story that repeats itself time and again. Is it any wonder they decided to leave?

Before their exodus, the butchers brought us the saveloy dip. We can only wonder what other delicacies they’d have brought us if only they’d not been driven away.

But, while they may be all but gone now, the roots they left behind remain strong.

The Saveloy Dip at Dicksons, South Shields

Dicksons may sound as British as the bulldog, but the family-ran North East food outlet began with a German butcher in Berwick.

The Berwick butcher’s great, great grandchild Michael Dickson and his German wife Helen opened their first store in The Nook, South Shields in 1953.

Visit any of their 23 locations across the region and speak to the staff. Unlike most chain food outlets, you get the sense that the staff truly care. They take pride in the business, and why shouldn’t they?

Few family-ran establishments can boast as strong a legacy as Dicksons, who continue to serve the North East today. Fewer still can boast to be the “home” of a dish as iconic as the Legendary Saveloy Dip.