Photographers > Tom Aitken
(4) N.376 - Cheerio!
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| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > Tom Aitken > (4) N.376 - Cheerio! |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74548986 |
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| Description | British and French soldiers drinking wine together, France, during World War I. Adapting a windowsill into an 'al fresco' bar counter, these French and British soldiers toast each other’s health with a glass of wine. From a propaganda angle, such a friendly gathering of soldiers drinking and talking with one another would have been the perfect image to convey an impression of harmonious co-operation between the two Allied countries. As the original caption for this image has 'Cheerio!' written on its back, it could be that this photograph was taken just after the armistice had been signed. The nationalities of the Allied soldiers who fought on the Western Front were easy to identify because of the contrasting shapes of their helmets. The British wore flat helmets, while the French wore big, rounded helmets - similar to a old-fashioned fireman’s helmet - that were called 'Adrian' helmets, named after the helmet's designer. [Original reads: 'OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT IN FRANCE. Cheerio! British & French in the war area.'] |
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| Description | Tom Aitken was a newspaper photographer from Glasgow who was assigned in December 1917 as a war photographer along with David McLellan and Armando Consolé. McLellan's work also features in the National Library of Scotland’s Haig Papers. War photographers held a hybrid position during World War I, being part of yet not ultimately responsible to the military. |
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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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