Original Item: Only One Available. Britain’s army at the beginning of the First World War was relatively small and professional. There was no conscription of population before 1916, and so recruitment of volunteers in large numbers became a huge challenge.

The Parliamentary Recruitment Committee was set up at the start of the War, and chaired by the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith. It used local political party associations to form a network which campaigned through the circulation of leaflets and posters, and organizing rallies and other public events.

This is a lovely 1915-dated example of a British propaganda poster made to garner support for the war effort from soldiers and industrial workers alike. The poster measures 20 x 29½” and is in good shape with basic fold marks and some minor damage in the bottom right corner area. 

This poster shows an infantry man shaking hands in solidarity with a factory worker. The background, with its smoking factory and howitzer, refers directly to British political events of the time. In 1915, Britain was suffering from a shortage of both soldiers and ammunition; recent British defeats were blamed on a lack of high explosive shells. The subsequent “shell scandal” of 1915 led to the creation of the Minister of Munitions and a public campaign urging workers “to ally themselves with brothers in the trenches by working early and late” in munitions factories. Inevitably, labor issues erupted, resulting in the Munitions War Act of 1915, in which union rights, such as the ability to strike, were curtailed for the duration of the war. One of the outcomes of the “shell scandal” was the employment of large numbers of women in munitions factories. “Munitionettes,” as they were known, produced approximately eighty percent of Britain’s weapons and shells.

This is a fantastic & scarce poster, ready for proper framing and display!