by James Taylor
That picture-postcards are now treated seriously by art curators and galleries is evident in a major exhibition, entitled The Postcard Age, held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, USA (October 2012 – April 2013). The museum’s marketing department has outlined their importance: ‘In the decades around 1900, postcards were Twitter, e-mail, Flickr and Facebook, all wrapped into one. A postcard craze swept the world as billions of cards were bought and mailed, or just pasted in albums. Four hundred cards by a wide variety of artists and publishers from throughout Europe and the Americas are arranged by theme (including World War I). The result is a vivid picture of the cares and concerns of the age and a tempting sampler of the artistic and historical roles found in this private archive, the lifetime work of Leonard A. Lauder (part of the Estée Lauder family company) and a promised gift to the museum.’ The Regent Publishing Co. postcard depicting Lord Kitchener captioned ‘YOU Are The Man I Want’ featured in this exhibition.
On 21st November 1914, London Opinion announced that ‘…some of the most popular of these drawings [war cartoons] are now published in a series of Twelve Postcards Printed in Colour. The cards may be purchased at any bookstall or newsagent etc Price 1d each or direct from Lawrence & Jellicoe, Henrietta Street, W.C. [Covent Garden].’ By Christmas time the number of retailers selling them had been expanded to meet the demand. The magazine issue of 26th December 1914 stated that ‘postcards of war cartoons were now available from W. H. Smith and Son and J. Beagles & Co Ltd’.
On 2nd December 1914, the commentator in ‘Round The Town’ noted: ‘I have been looking through the London Opinion coloured War postcards, published by Messrs. Lawrence and Jellicoe of Henrietta Street and find it very difficult to say which are likely to prove the more popular. Perhaps, if I plump for “The Iron Cross – A German Honour that has become a Shame” by Bert Thomas and “Our Jack of Trumps” by Alfred Leete I shall not be so wide of the mark.’ Leete’s humorous cartoon ‘Our Jack, Britain’s Trump Card’ depicted a sailor in the form of a playing card with the name ‘Invincible’ around his hat.
David Allen and Sons Kitchener poster (IWM)
‘Britons – Wants YOU’ poster (IWM)
The ‘BRITONS – Wants YOU’ poster
In September 1914, Leete’s cartoon of Kitchener had featured for the first time in a propaganda poster printed by the Victoria House Printing Co. Ltd., Tudor St, London. The actual caption of the poster was not ‘Your Country Needs YOU’ but instead ‘BRITONS – [Lord Kitchener] Wants YOU – Join Your Country’s Army!’ with the words ‘God Save The King’ printed below, and beneath that ‘Reproduced by permission of London Opinion’. This credit line was specifically designed to promote the magazine with authority, however some writers have misconstrued the meaning as implying that the poster was printed on behalf of another organisation, an official one. Until fairly recently a printing company called ‘Victoria House…’ was still trading, although no records of their poster productions during the war period have been traced.4
As a weekly publication, London Opinion was geared up to turn out printed matter rapidly, and although the BRITONS – WANTS YOU poster was not actually dated, it is widely believed that it was issued before the end of September 1914.
A second more elaborate and larger recruitment poster was printed in November 1914, this time by the company David Allen and Sons Ltd., which was active from the late 1850s to 1965. It was adorned with national flags and featured the original magazine cover slogan ‘Your Country Needs YOU’ with details of rates of pay and other information, including the additional words ‘Your Country Is Still Calling. Fighting Men! Fall In!!’
This variant is the only known example of this period to combine the slogan ‘Your Country Needs YOU’ with Leete’s wartime cartoon of Kitchener. However, this elaborate, colourful version combined too many descriptive and pictorial elements, making the overall effect overblown. The Kitchener image and accompanying slogan is small in comparison to the London Opinion poster and to an extent it is smothered by the surrounding design scheme. There is no evidence that this variant was a popular or effective poster.
The main factories and offices of David Allen and Sons were in Harrow, Middlesex and in Belfast. They also had offices in Dublin, Glasgow, Liverpool and London in Fleet Street. No doubt aided by this wide-ranging business network, they worked extensively for the PRC. In fact around a quarter of the PRC posters were contracted to David Allen and Sons. The following companies were also utilised: Chorley and Pickersgill; Hazell, Watson and Viney; Johnson, Riddell and Company; and Roberts and Leete among others. However, the David Allen poster featuring Leete’s Kitchener cartoon was not commissioned by the PRC, but produced privately. The poster had no artist’s signature and the overall design of the poster incorporating Leete’s Kitchener cartoon as a central feature may well have been the work of John Hassall, who worked on special projects for David Allen and Sons, or alternatively one of their in-house artists, rather than Leete himself.5
In his book The History of a Family Firm, 1857–1957 (John Murray, 1957), W.E.D. Allen mentioned several notable artists who were managed from the company’s Belfast office during World War I: ‘The Studio was controlled by an artist named A.B. White, whose habit was to suck constantly sulphur tablets. Whether he did this for health’s sake or because he liked them was never known. The artists used by Allens in the main office in Belfast were the pick of the bunch. They included Pat Kinsalla, a big buoyant, plump Irishman with a wonderful sense of colour and personality to match. Albert Morrow, Will True, Stewart Browne, Robert Montgomery, A. Tugwell, T.E. Stephens (now a very famous artist in the USA), Reg Rigby (who did the celebrated posters for The Follies, that unique Pierrot combination), Barribal (who created a wonderful girl – the model for which was his beautiful wife), Gilbert Holliday, David Wilson and W. Piffard. Also a fine artist named Cunio [Terence Cuneo]. And Allens would also commission John Hassall and others of eminence for special jobs.’
In Keep the Home Fires Burning (Allen Lane, 1977), Cate Haste asserted that ‘Though most of the PRC posters did not reflect modern developments in design, there was one exception, their first and most famous, the Lord Kitchener poster. The design, by Alfred Leete, first appeared on the front cover of the London weekly magazine London Opinion on 15th September 1914 [a text error that should read 5th September 1914]. The Committee [PRC] took it over and added “God Save the King” to Kitchener’s face. The original spawned numerous variations. It was the most successful poster of the war, and it established Kitchener’s image as the embodiment of the nation’s resolution and strength. He recalled Britain’s imperial victories. Even government leaders who later doubted his capacity to manage the war paid tribute to the success his image had in inspiring confidence at the beginning. Miss Elizabeth Asquith called Kitchener himself “The Great Poster”.’
Haste’s publication is thought-provoking, however, the aforementioned extract contains unsubstantiated claims. All the PRC posters bear details indicating that they were officially endorsed, with each poster design being assigned a unique number, from 1 to 164. Although David Allen and Sons was one of the officially approved printers, as previously mentioned, this alone does not prove that this poster was an official PRC design. In fact, no PRC endorsements can be found on any of posters featuring Leete’s cartoon of Kitchener.
The military historian Peter Simkins noted in Kitchener’s Army: The Raising of the New Armies 1914–1916 (Manchester University Press, 1988) that ‘The Parliamentary Recruiting Committee also obtained permission to use the design [Leete’s Lord Kitchener cartoon] with a slightly amended text which included at Kitchener’s insistence the words “God Save the King”.’ In this referenced publication there is no indication of the source for his assertion, although it is reminiscent of Haste.
Conclusive evidence of the private printing of the BRITONS – WANTS YOU poster can be found within the pages of London Opinion itself. In the 19th December 1914 issue, it was noted that ‘Th
e famous Kitchener recruiting poster, issued by London Opinion, is doing good work in every part of the Empire, and not least in Ontario, to judge from a note received by the editor from the town of Hamilton, in which the writer (a former employee on the Great Central Railway at Wendover) says: “The 13th and the 91st Regiments come by our house as they go to the drill ground. We have put the poster in the window, and as they march by they all glance at it, while some salute it.”’
The London Opinion editor’s words ‘The famous Kitchener recruiting poster’ are of course linked to promoting the magazine itself. Evidence presented in this book reveals the remarkable popularity of the Kitchener cartoon, but the same cannot be said unequivocally about the poster. In addition to Canada there is only one other traceable record of the BRITONS – WANTS YOU poster being in circulation within the British Empire before the end of the war. In Australia, the poster was acquired by the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, on 30th March 1918, and London Opinion was almost certainly responsible for dispatching it. Although it is noted within the museum’s acquisition file that it was part of a collection donated by the Great Britain Parliamentary Recruiting Committee (a subsequent batch of posters was also donated by the Commonwealth Recruiting Committee, Sydney) the obvious explanation is that the London Opinion design was swept up with the official posters without any distinction being made in terms of their official or private status.
It is also possible that there was some approval by the PRC (albeit unofficial) of the privately printed recruitment posters. In some instances perhaps the PRC and related governmental services might have helped with their transportation, distribution and posting abroad, and possibly within Britain too – after all, they were serving the same purpose. However, in the absence of documentary evidence such claims remain conjecture.
Contrasting recollections of ‘Your Country Needs YOU’
The effectiveness and popularity of the BRITONS – WANTS YOU poster around the world is difficult to gauge, as evidence from independent and unbiased sources of the poster being a celebrated design is not generally available. In most cases the claims of having seen it are usually muddled, as the recollections have been made long after the end of the war.
The poster might have been seen by some printing and publishing companies, especially those located in or near London, where it was relatively easy for London Opinion to distribute them. There may well have been some sightings of Leete’s cartoon in postcards, reproductions on fine art paper or possibly within newspapers, however, it is far more likely that the aforementioned companies, in Britain and abroad, would have been familiar with it through direct purchase of London Opinion.
Company directors and managers along with their printers, artists and cartoonists would scour the pages of magazines for ideas and inspiration, as well as to identify prospective corporate clients by noting carefully the diverse range of advertisements. The directness of Leete’s Lord Kitchener cartoon cover of 5th September 1914 and the simplicity of the slogan would certainly have caught their attention. The actual size of this magazine was around 29.5 x 20.5 cm (almost exactly the same size as an A4 piece of paper) and it contained less than thirty thin pages, making it easy to store as a source of reference. This slim magazine priced at one penny punched well above its weight in terms of influence and popularity.
Some of the war veterans recalling their experiences many years later have quite understandably muddled memories about what they actually saw, and what influenced them in terms of signing up. A good example featured in a series of TV programmes called Lost Heroes of World War One, broadcast on Channel 5 in the UK. The episode The Call to Arms on 7th November 2011 featured Robert ‘Robbie’ Burns, who joined the 7th Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. He served on the Western Front from 1915, fought at the Battle of Loos and was wounded at the Somme in 1916. ‘Robbie’ said: ‘Everywhere you went in Glasgow there were great big posters up with Kitchener with his finger pointing at you. No matter where you were, this finger seemed to be pointing at you, “Your King and Country Needs You”.’
‘A Call To Arms’ (Priv.)
No recorded posters are known that feature Leete’s Kitchener design with the slogan ‘Your King and Country Needs You’. However, it is known that advertisements featured in many magazines and national newspapers across Britain with a similar slogan. On 7th August 1914, The Times, owned by Lord Northcliffe, printed the official ‘Call to Arms’, one of many official messages issued by the government on behalf of the King, the Prime Minister and Lord Kitchener. It read: ‘Your King & Country Need You. A Call To Arms. An addition of 100,000 MEN to His Majesty’s Regular Army is immediately necessary in the present grave National Emergency. Lord Kitchener is confident that this appeal will be at once responded to by all those who have the safety of our Empire at heart.’ The advertisement also included the terms of service, details of how to join and ended with the words ‘God Save The King’.
A second advertisement appeal for an additional 100,000 men also appeared in The Times on 28th August. These letterpress advertisements, notices and posters were produced under the guiding hand and supervision of Hedley Francis Le Bas, and YOUR KING AND COUNTRY NEED YOU was produced by the Caxton Publishing Company, a business that he had established in 1899.
Hedley Francis Le Bas (NPG)
Le Bas was a Jerseyman, former soldier and salesman for the Manchester publishers Blackie and Son. He became an influential paid adviser to the government on advertising prior to and during the war. The actual copy was created by his Advertising Manager, Eric Field, who recalled that ‘He [Le Bas] swore me to secrecy, told me that war was imminent and that the moment it broke out we have to start advertising at once… That night I worked out a draft schedule and wrote an advertisement headed “Your King and Country Need You” with the inevitable coat of arms at the top.’6
Within the pages of London Opinion on 15th August 1914, there was also a full-page advert that carried one of the official recruitment slogans: ‘Your King and Country Need You… Join the Army to-day!’ Variants of these letterpress advertisements were later turned into letterpress and pictorial posters issued by the PRC. Leete adapted this topical official slogan for his own war cartoon, and its similarity probably explains why people get confused today about which slogan relates to which poster design. Judging from ‘Robbie’s’ detailed description he may have seen a poster. The Evening Telegraph of Dundee noted on 26th April 1915 in ‘The Appeal of the Poster’ that ‘It is impossible to escape the war posters… Lord Kitchener bars the way with a terrible look and menacing finger.’ Robbie has fused together in his mind the image and slogan from separate sources.
Several recruitment slogans were turned into marching ballads and popular songs, notably in Britain, Australia and Canada. Prominent among them were: ‘Your King and Country Need You’, written and composed by Paul Pelham, W.H. Wallis and Fred Elton; ‘Your Country Needs YOU Now’ by A.L. Dubin, Rennie Cormack and Geo. B. McConnell; ‘The Call to Arms’ by Jack Thomson; and ‘Your King & Country Want You’, written in 1914 by the librettist and songwriter Paul Alfred Rubens (1875–1917). It featured the line ‘For your King and your Country both need you so’. Rubens contributed to and created several popular Edwardian musical comedies that included Mr Popple (of Ippleton) in 1905, The Dairymaid (1906), Miss Hook of Holland (1907) and The Sunshine Girl (1912). The singer Helen Clark and the veteran music hall star Vesta Tilley helped to popularise ‘Your King & Country Want You’ and it was often performed at recruitment rallies, where Tilley would dress up as a soldier. She earned the nickname of ‘Britain’s best recruiting sergeant’. They also sang Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag, and Smile, Smile, Smile, the marching song written by George Henry Powell and published in 1915.
Your King & Country Want You
We’ve watched you playing cricket
and every kind of game,
At football, golf and polo
you men have made your name,
But
now your country calls you
to play your part in war,
And no matter what befalls you
we shall love you all the more,
So come and join the forces
as your fathers did before.
Oh, we don’t want to lose you
but we think you ought to go;
For your King and your Country
both need you so.
We shall want you and miss you
but with all our might and main,
We shall cheer you, thank you, kiss you
when you come back again.
YOUR KING AND COUNTRY NEED YOU was also parodied in poetical form in London Opinion on 31st October 1914 in ‘The Peep Show’ feature, captioned ‘At The Front’. (‘The food supplies and commissariat arrangements at the front are excellent’ – extract from a soldier’s letter.)
“Your King and Country Need You!”
You Know the message pat;
“Your King and Country feed you!”
There’s comfort too, in that.
Bassano photograph of Kitchener, 1910 (NPG)
Some people have certainly claimed that they saw posters featuring Leete’s cartoon of Kitchener, however, the number of authentic sightings is remarkably small in relation to its current extraordinary reputation. The Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg presented three witnesses.7 The first was Michael MacDonagh, a journalist for The Times and author of In London during the Great War – the diary of a journalist, published in 1935. Writing about a scene in London on 3rd January 1915, he observed: ‘Posters appealing to recruits are to be seen on every hoarding, in most shop windows, in omnibuses, tramcars and commercial vans. The great base of Nelson’s Pillar [Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square, London] is covered with them. Their number and variety are remarkable. Everywhere Lord Kitchener sternly points a monstrously big finger, exclaiming “I Want You”.’