Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: An unlikely result

This cartoon reminds me of my own experience of PT instructors during my army Basic Training in 1953. What the instructor wanted and what he got was something quite different. The recruits pictured here reflect the fact that all the fit and able men had already been fed into the vast extent of the military machine.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: That exhilarating feeling

Away from the horrors of the front line. Even late in the war this was a wonderful time to recharge their batteries. We get the feeling that this not at a fanciful scene but an accurate piece of reporting.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: The importance of slang

I suppose that the cartoonist must be correct in itemising these usages. They don’t make sense to us though we are used to many new terms being used in the media. Slang enables people to feel that they ‘belong’ to something from which others are excluded.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Sartorial Influence

She changes in order to do her work. He changes in response to her charm.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Self-importance

Harold’s father belongs to the school of thought that the whole world revolves round him. Such people do tend to be conspicuous during a war.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: A gender specific category?

The drawing can’t make it clear that the woman is an aristocrat. She certainly doesn’t look like one. However the text under the picture describes her as Lady Maud. She is wearing trousers because of her war work. Because of this the taxi driver doesn’t feel able to call her a lady. This is, I suppose, just about plausible. She certainly won’t dress like this once the war is over.

I do wonder whether there were any real Lady Mauds working in munitions factories. The hours were long, the work could be quite dangerous and the wages were not that great.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: A diagnosis that suits the doctor?

Who is to say that the doctor has not been influenced by the thought that he could get his patient’s meat coupons? The frequency of food related cartoons tells us what was preoccupying civilian minds during the final stages of the war.

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1918: Hoping the war will continue

The whole of Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom – though not for much longer. The well-dressed farmer owes his current prosperity to the war. This would be through government contracts either directly or indirectly. Peace would not suit him at all. His reverence isn’t going to be able to give him any reassurance.

The readers of Punch would have been somewhat reassured by this cartoon since it does not recognise the growing demand for independence greatly increased by the unwise executions following the Easter Rising in 1916.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Teasing

Various prominent people used influence in order to visit the front. The Conducting Officer here has been charged with giving the civilian just a taste of the war. The loss of the hat has given the Officer a chance to give the civilian a bit of a shock.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Propaganda in Ancient History

A very early form of writing was on clay tablets in the time of the Sumerian civilization. Here the cartoonist is referring to the then current practice of dropping leaflets on the enemy typically urging them to surrender.