Re: The Pages of Punch

1932: Maintaining Harmony in the Home

This charming little scene is very much of it’s time but modern, more complicated, equivalents certainly exist. The advice was sound enough as are today’s examples.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1932: Grownups Are Difficult to Understand

Unlike most jokes in Punch this scenario is entirely plausible. This is a well-heeled family. We note that there are two maids in attendance at this festive meal.

The younger daughter has failed, through no fault of her own, to understand the niceties of the situation. She has heard the family discussing Auntie’s visit before her arrival in which she was described as a burden that has to be borne. Now she has clearly heard her father toasting those who are loved. To her it is obvious that Auntie is not included and she wants to repair his omission. At that moment her father had not intended to exclude this troublesome relative from his general good wishes.

As a result she is going to commit a serious faux pas which will be very difficult to explain away. As she grows up she will have to learn how to navigate some of the subtleties involved. People do not always say in public what they think in private. She herself had failed to live up to this maxim which she had not yet learned.

Re: The Pages of Punch

Introducing 1914

I have no more cartoons to offer from 1931 and 1932. I have decided to go back in time to 1914. My source is a bound volume for the second half of that year. By starting at the beginning of July we are able to witness the last few short weeks before the outbreak of ‘The Great War’, as it used to be called. The cartoons from those weeks illustrate perfectly the total unawareness of the horrors to come. Britain had not been involved in a European war since the defeat of Napoleon 99 years previously. The Boer War (which was not in Europe but was against an ethnic European enemy) should have provided a serious warning but it hadn’t been heeded.

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1914: It Jolly Well Belongs to Her!

We note that there is nothing hesitant in the way that she asserts her rights. Her pew, which she pays for, is a measure of her standing in the community. I really doubt that 100 years ago the readers of Punch would have thought of Mrs Pilkington-Haycock as a snob. I imagine that they would have applauded her for the firm way that she dealt with the interlopers. She is not accustomed to having her rights ignored.

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1914: What Didn’t Go Without Saying

Each assumes that the other has the same expectation of the contents of the bottles but they are both wrong.

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1914: An Expensive Night Out

This cartoon bears witness to the popularity of the cinema already in 1914. The artist has had fun with this. He imagines a British man taking his wife to his local cinema. There is commissionaire outside and an urchin looking on. He now sets this scene to the Middle East. The cinema, the writing under the cash desk, the two men and the boy are all shown to belong to his designated milieu. Then instead of a wife we see a long line of wives, similar in size and shape, stretching as far as the eye can see.

His most obvious mistake is that he hasn’t understood how the veil is worn. The writing outside looks nothing like Arabic. It’s a lively joke though I dare say that the artist knew perfectly well that the Grand Vizier would not have taken any of them if he went to the cinema at all. If they were very lucky he might have arranged a private viewing at his palace. The projectionist would obviously have been in a separate room.

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1914: A ‘Joke’ in Doubtful Taste

The title underneath the drawing makes it clear what the artist had in mind. A suffragette, Emily Davison, had stepped right in front of the king’s horse which was running in the 1913 Derby. She died of her injuries.

Public opinion was divided over the issue. Mrs Pankhurst declared the young woman to be a martyr and a military style funeral was organised by the Suffragettes. On the other hand those who opposed the movement were outraged by this act. This cartoon clearly relates to the latter point of view.

That this cartoon appeared at all in Punch seems to us in particularly poor taste. I think that it reflects the severe polarisation of attitudes in the summer of 1914. No one could have predicted the imminent outbreak of war. This was followed by the immediate cessation of all suffragette agitation. Mrs Pankhurst then threw her organisation enthusiastically behind the war effort leading to votes for women over 30 in 1918 and universal adult suffrage in 1928.

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1914: Too Much of a Good Thing

Here is George Belcher already active in 1914. His style is immediately recognisable. Here again he is keeping away from upper middle class people and situations.

These are the children from the village being given a treat while wearing their Sunday best. They are encouraged to eat as much as they like. A likely reason for this event is that it is a reward for regular attendance at Sunday School.

The weather is clearly benign. In the long years of the forthcoming conflict many people looked back with longing to that lengthy warm summer of 1914 when all was still peaceful.

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1914: Gerald’s Misdemeanours

Gerald’s mother seems strangely relaxed about her son’s activities. He is, in effect, asking for other offences to be taken into consideration. I suspect that he is bored. The size of just part of the garden gives us an impression of the family’s standing. It may be that the other children in the vicinity are regarded as ‘common’ so he is often left to himself. No doubt when he goes to his public school he will make friends but he will also find that the authorities will be far from relaxed about even minor infringements.

Meanwhile we can see what the well-dressed woman was wearing just before the outbreak of war.

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1914: Tricks of the Trade

A satirical look at the art of being different.

The ‘artist’ surely is meant to be French.

Re: The Pages of Punch

what a smart answer. From the boy ......