1917: Barrack Room Humour
The recruits are relaxing or doing their various chores. I have never encountered a platoon pet but I imagine that his comrades find him amusing and they probably find his vulnerability appealing. The arbitrary power of the sergeant comes over very clearly.
The different soldiers are clearly depicted as having well defined individual personalities. The man standing on the left holding a pipe looks distinctly older than the rest. A schoolmaster perhaps?
1917: Trench Warfare
By 1917 very few cartoons showed anything of the actual conditions in the trenches. On the whole the public was kept in ignorance of what was really happening.
This cartoon is clearly an exception. Here we see the Tommies up to their waists in water though even that doesn’t tell the whole story since the water was very cold in winter and it was always severly polluted. The humour does little to reduce the impact of this rare instance of realism.
1917: Gender Identity
In World War Two they were called the Women’s Land Army. Here they were called land workers.
The joke is that because they dress (more or less) like men they actually behave like men. We see them lounging about and smoking. To us they still look very much like women though of course the trousers don’t shock us as they still did then. The truth is that if they turned up exactly as they are in this picture they could still go ‘as girls’.
1917: Even More Precious?
This is surely an exaggeration but it does underline the effectiveness of the U-boat campaign. Unable to achieve a decisive victory on the battlefield both sides resorted to trying to deprive the other of vital imported goods. On the surface of the water the Royal Navy was, of course, supreme. But underwater the German U-boats were very effective in depriving Britain of much of its accustomed imports. Private motoring was deemed to be a low priority indeed. I do know that in the Second World War, when the U-boat campaign was even more successful, civilian motoring was not permitted. There were a few exceptions, for instance doctors were allowed to drive their cars when visiting patients.
1917: Temporary Soldiers
This is one of many jokes which focus on the variance between soldiers’ current situation and their previous lives before entering the army. The colonel wants a caddy who can admire his play but not one who will notice his lack of competence.
Since this cartoon has appeared in Punch we must conclude that it was common practice for officers to make this sort of use of soldiers who were under their command. Clearly nobody thought of it as wrong. Indeed, the private in question may well have preferred this particular chore to some other less pleasant duty.
I may be wrong but I imagine that in this more democratic age that this kind of practice no longer takes place.
1917: Not in Awe Anymore
This cartoon reflects a less than entirely respectful attitude to Generals as a whole. After three years of war people were openly questioning the competence of their military leaders. The quote about the British soldiers as lions led by donkeys came form a German source. No less true for that.
1917: The Zeppelin Menace
Zeppelins had a profound effect on the British public who were entirely unused to the concept of bombing where civilian casualties could occur almost anywhere in the country. For a time there seemed to be no effective defence against these monsters in the sky. When Lieutenant Leef Robinson shot down the first Zeppelin over Britain in September 1916 he was immediately awarded the Victoria Cross.
I have not read any mention of invisible ‘Zepps’ but rumours of this kind abound during wartime. There was that nonsense about Russian soldiers with snow on their boots…
1917: A Dog’s Provenance
Another cartoon unrelated to the war concerning a doting pet owner. We see a well-executed drawing of the passengers on a bus and note that none of them are in uniform.
1917: Mocking the Land Workers
Quite a few of the 1917 cartoons are concerned with women taking on jobs previously done only by men. Various attitudes are taken – some of them quite favourable. This is not one of them. You would be right in thinking that it is patronising. Here the artist is making fun of the land workers. The cartoon assumes that they will all be afraid of farm animals and pretends that they will be reassured by handling such an obvious training aid as a pantomime horse.
This emphasis on women working on farms perhaps needs a little bit of explaining. Then, as now, the country imported a great deal of its food. The German U-boat campaign was designed to cut off this supply so as to starve Britain into submission. With many agricultural labourers in uniform women were needed to make up the shortfall. The same situation arose in World War Two and again many women served in the Women’s Land Army
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1917: An Educated Waitress
There is much that is odd in this cartoon. Clearly we are intended to realise that the customer is being patronised by the waitress who understands the principles of nutrition which he almost certainly doesn’t.
But surely she is recommending what he was going to order anyway. Since she is knowledgeable she should be giving helpful advice about a more suitable diet for a man who could afford to lose a stone or two.
Moreover what is she doing, being ‘late of Girton’, working as a waitress? When women were taking over more and more jobs previously only done by men her present role hardly fits into that category. In reality she should be a temporary civil servant and obviously in the Administrative Branch. She would be an asset to the Ministry of Food.
This description ‘late of Girton’ has a story behind it. As a student at Cambridge she would by then have been allowed to attend lectures and sit the examinations. However, she was not permitted to graduate. So, while a male contemporary would be styled as an MA she could only write ‘passed the xxxx examination’ after her name. Of course, potential employers knew perfectly that the difference was purely artificial.
I think that it was late as 1947 that this absurd anomaly was finally removed.
Being a great fan of the now defunct Punch magazine I have got to comment on how much I’ve enjoyed this thread. I’ve got the book which has every Punch cartoon ever published in it and it goes to show how observations then are still relevant today.
Thank you Judd. I look forward to seeing some comments on the issues raised by these cartoons. Everyone is welcome!
1917: Who Are The Real Soldiers?
On the left we see soldiers as they were usually seen in peacetime: swaggering in their fancy uniforms with all sorts of extra embellishments. On the right we see soldiers just returned from the trenches. What they are wearing and carrying convey no glamour at all but is essential for effective soldiering in time of war.
1917: Too Ill to See the Doctor?
I perceive here a cynical barb at the medical profession. The books reveal that the lady has not been to see the doctor for quite a while. This is not good for the financial health of the practice. No doubt routine visits will now resume. This suggests (to me, anyway) that this doctor usually sees patients who are not seriously ill.
1917: A Deadly Gamble
Various ‘political’ drawings appeared in Punch in 1917. They generally try to be upbeat about the progress of the war and with hindsight we can see that are hopelessly optimistic. By contrast this one can now be seen to be particularly perceptive.
The Kaiser’s broken sword on the floor is rather excessive. In February 1917 the German army was by no means defeated. Because of the impasse on the Western Front both sides were trying to prevent the other from importing essential goods - notably food. Because the Royal Navy massively outnumbered its German opponent the British blockade was much more effective than the German effort.
The German blockade had been essentially conducted by U-boats. This campaign had been hampered by considerations of neutrality – especially American neutrality. By February 1917 the German High Command had decided to risk America coming into the war by announcing that they would sink all ships bound for Britain, irrespective of country of origin. The cartoon correctly describes this policy as a gamble – could Britain be starved into submission before American troops would arrive in vast numbers on the Western Front? Woodrow Wilson did indeed declare war on German as a direct result of this policy.
In spite of the Russian revolutions later in 1917 eventually enabling the Kaiser to switch his armies from the East to the West by late 1918 two factors had convinced the German High Command that the war was lost. Firstly the Allied blockade had caused food shortages severe enough to cause spontaneous food riots all over Germany. The rioters made it clear that they no longer cared who won or lost the war. They wanted it to end. The other was indeed the vast numbers of American soldiers arriving on the Western Front. Unlike the British, French and German armies these soldiers were fresh and eager for battle.
As this cartoon had predicted the Kaiser had lost his gamble.
1917: Kicked Upstairs
There is a bit of subversion going on here. We can see for ourselves that the corporal cannot control the men. They are laughing at him when they are not actually ignoring him.
The sergeant is telling the officer that this doesn’t matter because the corporal is going to become an officer himself. It seems that the sergeant doesn’t have much respect for officers in general.
1917: Staying Within the Rules
Bobby has discovered a way of continuing to be a rebel while appearing to conform. His prayers clearly won’t satisfy his mama.
It is reassuring to note that in a time of intense patriotism this little act of defiance is seen as just a joke.
1917: The Logic of the ‘Lower Orders’
Mrs Bloggs feels that the Vicar must surely understand that it is essential to answer back. The Vicar, of course, doesn’t.
1917: Boring For Britain
The calculated put-down clearly seems to have been deserved. We can observe an example of how the ‘great and the good’ seemed to have spent their time during the ‘Great War’.
1917: Which is the More Acceptable Spouse?
A very well observed scene by the incomparable George Belcher. I can think of modern couples about whom such remarks are also true.
1917: Food Shortages
By this time the U-boat menace was seriously affecting food supplies coming into the country. An increasing number of Punch cartoons were reflecting this problem. As this cartoon demonstrates people really were ‘all in this together’.
