Photographers > Ernest Brooks
(30) C.1103 - Scene on the Ancre
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| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > Ernest Brooks > (30) C.1103 - Scene on the Ancre |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74546610 |
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| Description | Constructing a new telegraph line, France, during World War I. Telegraph poles have been raised on very hilly terrain although the rest of the landscape looks quite flat in the background. The wires coming in from the left hand side of the photograph are taut and level where as those leaving the poles are slack and collapsed. One soldier is sitting on top of the poles while another one is balanced on one of the cross bars. There are another two soldiers balanced half-way up the poles on ladders. One soldier is standing on top of a hillock surveying the work. Telegraph communication was the quickest and most efficient form of communication at the time. Telegraph wires were vital means of communication between the action on the Front and the various Head Quarters involved in strategy and supply. [Original reads: 'OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE FRONT IN FRANCE. Scene on the Ancre.'] |
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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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