Photographers > John Warwick Brooke
(361) D.2824 - Where Tommy's footwear is repaired
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| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > John Warwick Brooke > (361) D.2824 - Where Tommy's footwear is repaired |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74547730 |
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| Description | In this photograph rows of men can be seen sitting on benches, repairing army boots. The standard issue boots had steel toecaps and heels and hobnailed soles. They were of little use in the waterlogged trenches, when heavy balls of mud stuck to them. [Original reads: 'OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT IN FRANCE. Where Tommy's footwear is repaired. This big shop on the Western Front renovates 30,000 pairs a week. A corner of the shop.' The most evocative reference to army boots is in Wilfred Owens's poem, 'Dulce et Decorum est', in which he wrote, 'Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots but limped on, blood-shod. All went lame.'] |
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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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