Our first card to have been issued in this month, but also we included it for its military meaning, as this fine man is on a march. Or march-ing, anyway.
The caption in the middle on this card is rather hard to see, even on the cards themselves, but it reads ""The moment the order came to go forward, there were smiling faces everywhere." Extract from letter written in the trenches of the Aisne by General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien".
Now I am not sure that this was written, for the General seems to have been a sensible man, and is reported to have said before the actual outbreak of hostilities "that war should be avoided at almost any cost, that war would solve nothing, that the whole of Europe and more besides would be reduced to ruin, and that the loss of life would be so large that whole populations would be decimated." So I think he would have been rather shocked at the fact that his boys were going forward and may not return.
From the back of our card we find out that the original poster was printed for the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee by the Haycock-Cadle Co. London S.E. - who also printed other posters that were reproduced for this set, namely "Come along Boys", and "There is still a place in the line for you". They also printed other military and recruiting posters, but I have not found much about them.
Despite its early date of issue, this set waits right until RB.14 – "The Cigarette Card Issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills Parts I and II (revised) and Part III" - to make an appearance, and that booklet was not published until 1949. Its entry is worth waiting for though, as it is revealed that there is more than one issue, which are described as :
92. RECRUITING POSTERS. Unnumbered. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Issued 1914-15.
AUSTRALIAN ISSUE :-
B. Series of 10. Backs per Fig. 52, in mauve, with quotations from speeches, etc, ; each card is found with two different backs. Anonymous issue.First words of Poster Backs
- A Call from the Dardanelles ... (a) In every man`s life ...
(b) In this country ...- (*) Another Call ... (a) He was there ...
(b) Napoleon had said- (*) Come Along Boys ... (a) He was present
(b) Was it unreasonable ...- Enlist (a) Every one of the lists...
(b) The gallant soldiers ...- Halt ! Who Goes There ? (a) Reinforcements are ...
(b) Some men ...- (*) Remember Belgium (a) He made an ...
(b) It was Paramount...- The Empire Needs Men (a) Britain, while ...
(b) Pensions- (*) There is still a Place ... (a) The clarion call ...
(b) Rates of Pay.- (*) Think ! (a) Rates of Pay
(b) Service Conditions- What Will Your Answer Be (a) Probably ...
(b) He was now ...(*) Similar fronts to Home Issue, but redrawn
Now the printing date for the Australian version is not recorded in the Wills "Works" magazine, so these cards must have been printed locally in Australia.
As for the fact that these cards were similar to the Home issue but redrawn here is the English version of the card we show above
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the two versions were forever parted. The Australian issue appears at the back of the book, under "Anonymous Issues (1) - with Letterpress on Back" and sub section 2.B.b, which covers "Issues 1905-17" and "Overseas Issues Through British American Tobacco." It is recorded there as :
RECRUITING POSTERS. Sm. 65 x 35. Unnd. (10) Each subject found with two back wordings. See W/92.B. Issued in Australia ... ZB4-30
The text in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index remains the same, but the code is changed to ZB04-690