Re: The Pages of Punch

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(last updated June 2, 2017 – 11:57 am MDT)
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Until the next time.

Re: The Pages of Punch

Thank you mart again for your advice.

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1918: Victory!

The war’s end has now become the story in Punch. This drawing does justice to the exhilaration that was felt at the time. At long last this miserable and destructive episode was over. The cost in human suffering as well as financially was to be counted for years to come. Even so, for one brief moment the mood was ecstatic.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: A manly response

This cartoon explicitly recognises the Armistice. The man who over indulged insists that kissing a policeman is unjustified – even if he himself had done so.

The Armistice meant that though actual fighting had ceased there technically still was a war. Until the 1919 Peace Treaty was signed that still was the case. The embargo on food reaching Germany and her former allies remained intact. This caused a great deal of suffering in the defeated countries.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: The man of the hour?

This drawing appeared in Punch in the hour of victory. It must therefore have reflected the views of a number of people at the time. Very few modern historians (if any) would endorse this opinion. The widely accepted view is that Haig was unable to think outside the most obvious of military tactics. He was a plodder who was ready to accept enormous casualties so long as the enemy’s losses were even greater. The adulation of Haig by private soldiers seen here is extremely unlikely.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Taciturnity


The two Caledonians are not going to indulge in elaborate celebration.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Withdrawal Symptoms

Herbert’s problem will soon be solved. He will find other interests to follow. Most older participants in the actual fighting will be pleased to return to humdrum civilian life. There will also be a minority who will feel like Herbert and for a much longer time. They will tend to become anti-social if not worse.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Countess mistaken for a housemaid

Just in case we hadn’t noticed the hospital visitor is very grand – a countess no less. Under no circumstances could she possibly have suffered from housemaid’s knee. The soldier’s social horizons are too limited for him to notice the difference.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: A topical allusion

The allusion is biblical and is best interpreted as a metaphor. The vicar looking forward to peace at last thinks he can find a fellow believer in its literal truth and is firmly contradicted.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: A double meaning

George Belcher again takes us into a world which is different from the usual upper middle class scenes which were the mainstay of Punch cartoons. The scene is a double decker bus. Two passengers sitting downstairs (i.e. insides) have told the female conductor that the portly man upstairs will pay for them. She merely wants to be sure that the right person is paying for their tickets.

On the other hand the man does look as though he really does have two insides…. In spite of wartime rationing.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: No more news?

Having heard about the war news all her life she is understandably surprised to learn that there are still news without a war.