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1918: Sucks Boo to you General!
Wikepdia defines lese-majesty thus:
Lèse-majesté (/ˌliːz ˈmædʒᵻsti/; also lese-majesty, lese majesty or leze majesty) is the crime of violating majesty, an offence against the dignity of a reigning sovereign or against a state.
I think the cartoonist knew perfectly well that this crime did not relate to a mere General. The intention surely was to puncture the self-importance of the man at the back of the car. After four years of war there were signs of people refusing to see the military as all-important.
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1918: The war and only the war
Big Sister sees blackberry picking as part of the war effort. This is just a bit too far but it emphasises how the war had permeated almost everything in daily life.
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1918: Yet another lady driver
The war effort is supposed to mean killing Germans not British Staff Officers.
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1918: Spoiling the effect
It used to be called ‘bags of swank’ during my days in the military. This involved the whole panoply of immaculately attired soldiers marching in perfect unison preferably with a band to help things along. What any of that had to do with winning a war I could never understand. In this example the whole effect is ruined by a four-legged interloper.
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1918: The tide has turned
Hindenburg was the top man in the German army. In this scene reluctant German prisoners are being made to work. Their guard shows confidence that the entire German war machine is on the verge of total collapse.
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1918: Excuses
With the benefit of hindsight we know that the war is in its final stages. Without this benefit cartoons continue to follow the well-established theme. Very soon this hostess will be able to devote herself to her little dog without any accompanying feeling of guilt.
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1918: We are more important!
Oxford and Cambridge colleges were being used for various purposes during the war. These cadets assume that the dons are interlopers whereas they really do own the place. Walking on the grass in the quadrangle was a privilege enjoyed only by the Fellows of the college.
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1918: How to achieve ‘success’
No doubt this is at a charity bazaar directly connected to the war effort. The older woman is entirely blasé about overcharging.
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1918: Now you see, now you don’t
War or no war this hat was the ultimate statement about herself.
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1918: Food shortages AND inflation
This cartoon is one of many commenting on the double problem of food shortage and inflation.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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1918: Sartorial Influence
She changes in order to do her work. He changes in response to her charm.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
