Photographers > John Warwick Brooke
(505) D.728 - Driver of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry cranking up an ambulance
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| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > John Warwick Brooke > (505) D.728 - Driver of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry cranking up an ambulance |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74548032 |
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| Description | Like a tram back in Britain, this ambulance has a humorous destination chalked on to its front panel where the windscreen would normally be. This destination is 'Blighty', an affectionate slang term for 'home'. As the war staggered on, British soldiers became increasingly keen on getting a 'cushy' (a light wound), that would allow them to get back to Blighty, hopefully until the war finished. The word 'blighty' is Hindustani for 'home'. In those days, a separate starting-crank tool was needed to start the engine. Established by Lord Kitchener in 1907 to form a professional medical link between the wounded men on the front line and the field hospitals, the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) performed a wide range of front-line duties including driving, nursing and cooking. Most of the early female recruits were drawn from the ranks of the upper classes. However, many males, often conscientious objectors, also served in this organisation as drivers and nurses. [Original reads: 'SCENES ON THE WESTERN FRONT. A driver of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry cranking up an ambulance.'] |
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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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