Gallery: 74 imagesWorld War One Posters
In 2006, King's College purchased a collection of colour propaganda posters from the Moravian Church of North America. The posters were collected by the Reverend Kenneth G Hamilton (1892-1975), while working as a YMCA chaplain during World War One, and at some stage were placed with the Moravian Church.
The posters include both Parliamentary Recruiting Committee and Parliamentary War Savings Committee posters. The posters are full colour and are designed as postive and negative propaganda to aid recruitment and encourage donation to the war effort and were aimed at domestic civilian audiences. Highlights include posters referring to the sinking of the liner, the Lusitania, appeals to assist the defence of Belgium, examples of alleged German atrocities, and representations of Britain, British families and the British way of life thought to be under threat.
The Parliamentary Recruiting Committee (PRC), was set up following the outbreak of war in August 1914. This was a cross-party organisation chaired by the Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith. It utilised the party infrastructure in parliamentary constituencies to support recruitment - party activists were called upon to distribute leaflets, and organise rallies, processions and public meetings. The PRC commissioned some 200 posters, mostly published before the introduction of conscription, in January 1916. In July 1915, the PRC became the Parliamentary War Savings Committee.
Date
1914 - 1918
Specific keywords
Recruitment
Archive reference
Posters 3 01 - Posters 3 41, and WW1 Posters 1-01 - WW1 Posters 1-41
