Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Serving her country?

She is keen to serve herself first, her country second. The cartoonist isn’t praising her. On the wall is a notice which tells her where her patriotic duty lies.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Reassigned Academic

Here is another instance of agriculture as an alternative to active military service. This new ‘recruit’ can only talk in academic language. I am surprised to see that he is wearing a military uniform. That suggests that he is officially a soldier although he has been assigned to work on a farm. This would be the first time that I have come across this practice.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: The wrong uniform

Marjory is a member of Queen Mary’s Auxiliary Army Corps which existed to take up some of the duties of the regular army. This was a move to free serving soldiers from administrative duties so that they could take up a more active role in the war. The fact that these women also wore khaki uniforms gave cartoonists the opportunity to make jokes like this.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Modern Art and the War Effort

The readers of Punch would have been appalled by this kind of modern art. The cartoonist pretends that it would have the same effect on birds thus enabling the farmer to provide home grown food for the nation. I really doubt that the birds would have noticed.

This kind of art is usually associated with the 1920s and 30s. However there was a great deal of experimental art on show prior to the outbreak of war in 1914. A spectacular example was the visit of the Russian Ballet which took London by storm just before that war. This energised the whole arts scene. The promoter was Diaghilev, the principal composer was Stravinsky and the principal dancer was Nijinsky.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Diplomacy

No doubt there were many flag days. This man has found the perfect way to avoid the flag seller.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: The Greater Burden?


This is an interesting, and no doubt authentic, comparison between the life of a conscientious citizen and a soldier who is unfit for service in the trenches.

In his civilian life he has three different roles to fulfil. The office is particularly fraught. The elderly and youthful workers are not capable of supporting the boss. The young woman is neither a child nor elderly. She has, however, other interests in mind.

The light duties for the middle aged soldier are clear enough. A German seaborne invasion was by 1918 highly unlikely. (After the Battle of Jutland in 1916 the German surface fleet remained in harbour for the duration of the war). The military authorities could not ignore even this remote possibility. Our hero could safely smoke his pipe and read his book until the war ended.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Ignorance!

The speaker in this cartoon is described as a patriot. From that we can assume that he is a volunteer on the land and not someone who is engaging in agriculture in order to avoid army service. Unfortunately for him he is only showing the extent of his ignorance.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: New entry into popular culture

It was in 1904 that the Wright brothers first managed to produce a flying machine. This new technology developed very quickly. Indeed the impetus of World War One was a powerful catalyst in this advance. So much so that it had entered into popular culture by 1918.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Care for the wounded

Scenes near the front involving casualties are very are in the pages of Punch. This artist surely has been ‘out there.’ The officer and the horse seem well looked after in contrast to the ordinary soldiers.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Lukewarm attitude towards the military

I detect here a lack of total support for everything about the army. Of course there are shortages by this stage of the war. Has the colonel been cocooned from experiencing its effects? The mayor feels emboldened to comment on this visitor’s lack of an adequate vocabulary.