Books and Manuscripts

London: Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, (1915). Poster No. 124. Printed by Beck & Inchbold, Ltd., Leeds and London. In two pieces, as issued. Large folding color lithographic poster. Condition: A-; creasing from original folds, some small scattered separations to same; light offsetting and spotting. 19 1/8 x 93 1/2 in. (48 x 237 cm).

A fine World War I British Military recruiting poster, issued just months before the country's first draft bill was passed by Parliament.

Within a year of Britain declaring war on Germany in August 1914, over one million volunteers had enlisted in the British military, but by early 1915, it had become evident that due to the increasing number of casualties, more soldiers would be needed to keep up the war effort. In January 1916, only months after this recruiting poster--and many like it--were produced encouraging voluntary enlistment through the imagery of brotherhood, masculinity, and patriotism, Britain's first conscription bill passed, requiring all single men ages 18-41 into military service. The Military Service act made some exemptions to mandatory service, including clergyman, teachers, some conscientious objectors, those medically unfit, and some classes of industrial workers. The bill, and its extension to married men in May of 1916, and the raising of the age limit and its extension into Ireland in 1918, were deeply unpopular, dividing the nation. Unlike the continental countries, Britain had no history of mandated military service. In April 1916, over 200,000 people demonstrated against the draft in Trafalgar Square, but by the end of the year more than a million more men were enlisted, and by war's end conscription had raised over 2.5 million men.