Photographers > John Warwick Brooke
(262) D.2156 - Scene in a captured village
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| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > John Warwick Brooke > (262) D.2156 - Scene in a captured village |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74547278 |
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| Description | Two British soldiers sitting on the ground, leaning against a brick building. They are both looking at a small booklet or pamphlet, and appear to be amused by what they are reading. The man on the right has a bandage wrapped around his head. The ground they are sitting on is dry and dusty, probably a welcome change from the mud that pervaded much of the Front. Painted on the building is the German word 'Ottskrankenstube' alongside a cross. 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. It is possible this image, along with its light-hearted and condescending caption, was used as propaganda by the Government and Military. Injecting humour into the words people read and censoring the pictures people saw, deflected attention away from the negative and terrible aspects of war. [Original reads: 'BRITISH OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH FROM THE WESTERN FRONT. Scene in a captured village. A wounded Tommy and another enjoying a joke in a book. Above them is seen a German Red Cross direction notice.'] |
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| Description | John Warwick Brooke, of the Topical Press Agency, was the second British official war photographer to go to the Western Front in 1916. The demands placed on he and his colleague, Ernest Brooks, were heavy. They had to take as many photographs as possible, with as much variety as possible, a difficult task for two men covering an army of over two million. Despite this, Warwick Brooke managed to take what would become some of the most memorable images of World War I. As an officially appointed photographer, Warwick Brooke was assigned to the Western Front to follow the progress of the British Army. During his time there, between 1916 and 1918, Warwick Brooke is estimated to have taken over 4,000 photographs. |
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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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