Photographers > John Warwick Brooke
(500) D.720 - Delegates of the Miners Federation just after a tour of the front line
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| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > John Warwick Brooke > (500) D.720 - Delegates of the Miners Federation just after a tour of the front line |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74548024 |
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| Description | Delegates from the Miners’ Federation after visiting the front line, during Word War I. It is likely that these delegates from the Miners' Federation (Mr. Henry Roughley, agent for Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation. Mr. Thomas Greenall, President of Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation. Mr. Henry Twist, agent for Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation. Mr. John McGurk, Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation (LCMF) agent for north-eastern area) were visiting the frontline as part of a consultation exercise with the general staff. Although this consultation could have been to do with the construction of trenches and dugouts, it is more likely that they were there to discuss the digging of tunnels underneath the German front line. For in an effort to achieve the vital breakthrough, tunnels were dug directly underneath the enemy frontline trenches and high explosives were then set off inside these tunnels. In his war memoirs, 'Goodbye to All That', Robert Graves talks about 'duels of mining and counter-mining'. Graves writes of how he visited a Welsh miner-soldier who was on 'listening duty' with the Royal Engineers, and listened to the Germans mining underneath the British tunnel. In an amazing scenario like this, it was a life-and-death race between the two mining parties to see who detonated first. When looking at photographs of the frontline from the Western Front, it is important to consider what might be taking place underground. [Original reads: 'SCENES ON THE WESTERN FRONT. Delegates of the Miners Federation just after a tour of the front line. Reading from left to right - Mr H. Roughley Mr. T. Greenall, Mr. H. Twist and Mr. J. McGurk.'] |
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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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