Place | Europe: United Kingdom |
---|---|
Accession Number | ARTV04668 |
Collection type | Art |
Measurement | Overall: 76 x 51 cm |
Object type | Poster |
Physical description | chromolithograph on paper |
Maker |
Fry, W A Parliamentary Recruiting Committee High Holborn WM. Strain & Sons Ltd. |
Place made | United Kingdom |
Date made | 1915 |
Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
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Recruiting poster produced by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee. This is an unusually decorative poster, as most posters produced by the Committee were text-based, and of limited colour. Depicts a group of British infantry departing in a maroon train. One soldier is gesturing to the viewer to join him as he enters the train. The other soldiers are gathered around, leaning out windows, and crowded around the door and are also staring at the viewer. An elderly man stands in the right foreground of the image, with his back turned to us. He is waving his hat in farewell at the men on the train. The image is placed against a khaki background. The text is in black bordered white letters.
The Parliamentary Recruiting Committee (PRC), was set up following the outbreak of war in August 1914. This was a cross-party organisation chaired by the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith. It utilised the party infrastructure in parliamentary constituencies to support recruitment - party activists were called upon to distribute leaflets, and organise rallies, processions and public meetings. The PRC commissioned some 200 posters, mostly published before the introduction of conscription, Jan 1916. In Jul 1915, the PRC became the Parliamentary War Savings Committee.