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".
He 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."
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.
The Parliamentary Recruiting Committee is easier to find. This was a group of thirty people who were under the direct supervision of the War Office, recruited once it was obvious that not enough men were signing up voluntarily to go to war. Their first idea was to give away small posters in the street, but when this was not met with a large enough response, they started to make larger posters and display them in prominent places. This had a twofold effect, firstly the posters could not be screwed up and thrown away, but secondly, if a man was out with his girl or his wife, maybe even his children, he might be shamed into joining up if they commented. Another scheme was to produce posters for rallies, at which many men could sign up all at once, and on the spot, without the thinking time, or the having to go and find somewhere locally to do so.
You can see the development of the poster on these cards. The ones which were earliest were just lettering, no pictures, and these were enlarged versions of those small flyers that had been pressed into the hand of any man that walked past. As time went by they grew much more elaborate, and used other tactics, including the mention of atrocities, in an attempt to rouse the anger and desire to avenge.
Eventually the poster campaign was subtly changed, after a bit of a backlash, and also due to the arrival of conscription in 1916. Once there was no, or little escape, they concentrated on encouraging women to join up and replace the men, and on what would later be called "The Home Front", ways you could help the war effort, by not wasting food or materials, and by buying government stock, known as War Bonds.
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.
HOME ISSUE : -
A. Series of 12. Backs in grey, with details of publisher of poster. First words of poster : -
- Another Call
- Come Along Boys !
- "Fall In"
- Follow me !
- He did his duty ...
- Line up, Boys !
- Rally Round the Flag
- Remember Belgium
- There is still a Place ...
- The "Scrap of Paper"
- Think !
- What in the end ...
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. We know that the original posters of
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the two versions were forever parted.
The Home issue was recorded in section two of the Wills` listing, under sub section 2.A, for "Issues 1902 - 1917", and appears as simply :
RECRUITING POSTERS. Sm. Unnd. (12) See W/92.A ... W62-99
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 in both these cases , but the codes are changed, our Home issue to W675-132, and the Australian version to ZB04-690
We must add that the Home issue was reprinted in 1987/88 by Victoria Gallery.