Photographers > Ernest Brooks
(153) C.1505 - Snow-spattered Tommies
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| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > Ernest Brooks > (153) C.1505 - Snow-spattered Tommies |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74546102 |
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| Description | A snow-covered British working party, pausing for the camera before they move off. They are all wearing steel helmets and many of them are holding shovels. They are all standing on a muddy road in front of a brick building. The nickname 'Tommy' entered into general usage after the Rudyard Kipling poems, 'Tommy' and 'To Thomas Atkins' (1892), which pay homage to the sturdy character of the average British soldier. Extreme weather conditions created tremendous problems and hazards for the soldiers at the front. [Original reads: 'OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT. Snow-spattered Tommies. A working party following up the recent advance on the Scarpe.'] |
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| Description | Ernest Brooks was the first British official war photographer to be assigned to the Western Front in 1916. Previously a 'Daily Mirror' photographer, he was given the honorary rank of Second Lieutenant. His remit was to take as many photographs as possible, with as much variety as possible. Using his inconspicuous hand-held camera Brooks was free to wander, sometimes capturing his subjects unawares. Many of the images taken by Brooks were used to fuel the propaganda machine at home and abroad. Despite this Brooks, who was very aware of composition and light, produced some very artistic and thought-provoking images. |
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| Description | Photographs by named photographers. |
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| Description | Black-and-white photographs mainly of the Western Front during the First World War. Official British war photographers took many of them for propaganda purposes. Unless otherwise stated, titles are the photographs' original captions. From the papers of Field Marshal (Earl) Haig (1861-1928). The Haig Papers also contain Douglas Haig’s diaries. |
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| Shelfmark | Acc.3155 |
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