Your Country Needs You : The Secret History of the Propaganda Poster

The Secret History of the Propaganda Poster

James Taylor

• Publisher: Saraband
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781887354974
• eBook ISBN: 9781908643117
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: History of Modern Art
• Index: History

The iconic image by Alfred Leete of Lord Kitchener with outstretched hand and finger, exhorting you to 'do your bit', is a design classic and has been repeatedly imitated worldwide. In the run-up to the World War I anniversary, Your Country Needs YOU celebrates the magnificent artwork of Leete and his fellow designers, and explores their legacy. Featuring colour reproductions of propaganda posters and drawing on fresh analysis of the archives, this book challenges received historical wisdom about these hugely popular and enduring images, and reveals a surprising new history that is no less than groundbreaking.

CHAPTER 1

‘YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU’

SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION

Alfred Leete (Woodspring Museum)

ON A SMALL HILL in the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare is the striking Art Deco grave of the British-born artist, cartoonist and illustrator Alfred Leete (28^th August 1882 – 17^th June 1933), the man who created what is now widely regarded to be one of the world’s most familiar and popular poster designs. It is generally known, although mistakenly so, by the title YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU and depicts the steely stare, outstretched arm and accusing pointing finger of Lord Kitchener, exhorting the viewer to enlist and do their bit for their country.

Kitchener played a crucial role during World War I as Secretary of State for War; and traditionally it is believed that through the combination of Leete’s forceful and eye-catching image and Kitchener’s military prowess and popularity this poster design was instrumental in raising the armies of millions of men for frontline duty until conscription was introduced in 1916.

Today, Leete’s KITCHENER design can be found emblazoned on aprons, bookmarks, fridge magnets, mouse mats, mugs, notebooks, oven gloves, postcards, posters, towels and T-shirts. However, an in-depth examination of the evidence relating to the creation of this poster, its printing, posting and popularity during the war reveals alternative and surprising stories.

A privately printed poster, not an official design

At the outset of World War I, the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee (PRC) was established in order to enlist men for the fighting services. Headquartered in London, the PRC was able to employ a variety of means to achieve this goal, including the production and distribution of posters. Leete’s design, however, was not formally part of that official organisation. It was printed privately. The poster was actually only one of more than two hundred official and private recruitment posters produced during the war, with the PRC producing the lion’s share: some 164 designs.1

There are two main reasons why Leete’s poster could not have been officially produced. Dr Nicholas Hiley, Head of the British Cartoon Archive at the Templeman Library, University of Kent, has succinctly outlined them: ‘Not only did it first appear in September 1914 when the PRC was still committed to letterpress posters, but it also employed a personal appeal that ran counter to the official tradition of recruiting in the name of the King.’2

Alfred Leete’s original KITCHENER artwork for the so-called YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU poster, although this was not its original purpose, now forms part of the collections of the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in London, kindly donated by Leete himself. It had been formally acquired by mid-October 1917, according to Richard Slocombe, the current Senior Curator of Art at the IWM. The first curator responsible for acquiring and cataloguing the visual material during the war period was Mr L.R. Bradley. Slocombe has identified a letter dated 18^th October 1917 in which Bradley thanks Leete for his ‘gift of five original drawings, including the original of the famous Kitchener drawing’. Leete had suggested to Bradley that the artwork be returned if it was felt to be too damaged for the IWM collections – there is a noticeable tear upper centre of the artwork and some minor damage caused by folding. Fortunately, the IWM retained the drawing (see page 8).

The IWM was established by the War Cabinet on 5^th March 1917 and its first home was at the Crystal Palace. The museum was opened by King George V on 9^th June 1920 when the first Chairman, Sir Alfred Mond, British MP, financier, industrialist and founder of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), addressed the King saying that ‘it was hoped to make the museum so complete that everyone who took part in the war, however obscurely, would find therein an example or illustration of the sacrifice he or she made’ and that the museum ‘was not a monument of military glory, but a record of toil and sacrifice’.3 However, there is no evidence to confirm that Leete’s ‘famous Kitchener drawing’ was on display in the museum at this time.

‘Your Country Needs YOU’ as a magazine cover

Imperial War Museum poster (IWM)

The design was not originally created as a poster but rather as artwork for a war cartoon for London Opinion magazine that featured on the cover of the 5^th September 1914 edition with the caption ‘Your Country Needs YOU’. This black and white magazine had been established more than a decade earlier on 26^th December 1903 as ‘A popular paper full of Original Articles, Essays and Reviews, with Tales, Sketches and Illustrations’ and was published at 36, Southampton Street, Strand, London. Leete excelled as a cartoonist and commercial illustrator and had a long and rewarding relationship with this magazine. He had created many cover designs and cartoons for the magazine prior to his LORD KITCHENER design and in fact he was still contributing cartoons up until his death in 1933.

London Opinion front cover (BL)

An example of the news-stand poster incorporating Leete’s Kitchener cartoon and promoting the sale of the London Opinion issue of 5^th September 1914 is now in the collections of the Library of Congress in the USA. As its advertorial function determined, the poster featured the name of the magazine prominently at the top of the poster and towards the bottom it was repeated in smaller type, as well as indicating the price of ‘1d’ (one penny). It combined commercial self-promotion with a patriotism that captured the mood of the war at that time.

During the early summer of 1914, London Opinion boasted a weekly circulation of almost 300,000. The last edition in May sold 295,000 copies, although circulation and advertising slumped in the first weeks of the war. However, it picked up. In The Street of Ink, an Intimate History of Journalism, published in 1917, author Henry Simonis noted that from the beginning of the war ‘…things gradually mended, and then improved, and then boomed, until to-day circulation and advertising, revenue and turnover are all at records’.

The weekly circulation figures printed within individual issues of London Opinion indicate that numbers were still impressive by modern standards. In the week prior to the publication of Leete’s Kitchener cartoon cover, the circulation was 251,000, and in the edition when the cartoon made its first appearance the number had increased to 257,000. In the following two issues the figures also showed an upward trend, increasing to 265,000 and then 270,000.

Shortly after Britain declared war against Germany on 4^th August 1914, the editor of London Opinion claimed it had been bombarded with requests for copies of their illustrations and cartoons. An advertorial of 12^th September 1914 announced that ‘The War Cartoons Appearing in London Opinion are being reproduced by many of the leading newspapers in the kingdom. At the request of many readers the following pictures have already been printed on fine art paper, suitable for framing.’

They included one work by the Glasgow-born artist, illustrator and cartoonist Alexander Stuart Boyd (1854–1930) and four by Welshman Bert Thomas (1883–1966), who was famous for his cartoon-poster of a grinning Cockney Tommy lighting a pipe with the caption ‘Arf a ‘Mo’, Kaiser!’ It appeared in the Weekly Dispatch of 11^th November 1914 as part of the paper’s tobacco-for-troops fund, which raised an estimated £250,000. Leete provided five works, the largest number, including YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU. His other popular cartoons were listed as: ‘Yah! [sic] I will make meinself bigger or burst’ (15^th August), ‘Our Jack, Britain’s Trump Card’ (15^th August), ‘Got Him!’ (22^nd August) and ‘He didn’t know it was loaded’ (29^th August). They were offered for sale ‘post free for Sixpence each’.

Alfred Leete cartoon (Auth.)

The fine art paper printing of YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU was the first time this particular design was produced independently of the magazine, but it was specifically created as a small-scale souvenir for private enjoyment rather than as a poster in the strict sense of the word.

The ‘Golden Age’ of the postcard

‘Arf a Mo Kaiser!’ (Priv.)

On 12^th September 1914, another London Opinion advertorial stated that ‘We are getting numerous applications from various recruiting organisations for postcards reproducing last week’s LO cover – the Kitchener head, “Your Country Needs YOU” – in colour. To aid in recruiting we will supply these at the rate of 1s. 4d a 100. Post free.’ These postcards may well have been produced, but locating examples in public or private collections remains an ongoing challenge.

London Opinion news-stand poster (LoC)

Bassano photograph of Kitchener (NPG)

‘YOU Are The Man I Want’ (Priv.)

In ‘Round The Town’, a regular feature of London Opinion that appeared in the issue...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 1: ‘YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU’
• CHAPTER 2: WEAPONS OF MASS PERSUASION
• CHAPTER 3: ALFRED LEETE’S LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS
• CHAPTER 4: THE INFLUENCE OF ‘YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU’
• CHAPTER 5: JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG
• CHAPTER 6: THE LEGACY OF LEETE AND FLAGG
• REFERENCES
• PICTURE CREDITS
• INDEX
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• Copyright