Photographers > John Warwick Brooke
(404) D.3101 - Old-time headgear found by Tommies in a ruined village
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| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > John Warwick Brooke > (404) D.3101 - Old-time headgear found by Tommies in a ruined village |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74547002 |
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| Description | Three British soldiers happily pose for the camera. They are sitting on a bank of loose earth, in front of small trees or bushes. Two of the men are wearing hats which, according to the original caption, have been found in a ruined village. The man on the right wears a top hat, while the man on the left wears a bicorn. Despite their newly acquired accessories, both men are still holding onto their steel helmets. Apart from the novelty hats, the men are in uniform. 'Tommy’ is 'Tommy Atkins’, a fictional hero figure representing the average British soldier. When moving through abandoned and ruined villages, soldiers often picked up small items found amongst the rubble and kept them as souvenirs. Such everyday items would offer a momentary distraction from the war. [Original reads: 'OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT IN FRANCE. Old-time headgear found by Tommies in a ruined village.'] |
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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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