Death Intoxicated, by Percy Smith from the Dance of Death series, 1916-1919.

Image Courtesy of Percy Smith Foundation.

Death Forbids, by Percy Smith from the Dance of Death series, 1916-1919.

Image Courtesy of Percy Smith Foundation.

Collection of 'How To' letters, c.1918.

Typed letters belonging to A.M. Grenfell giving explanatory notes about the advance guard, rear guard, reconnaissance, musketry and horse grooming. Extracts include: reconnaissance notes that 'information regarding the enemy'۪s dispositions and the features of the country is absolutely essential for success in war'. Rear Guard notes that 'the conduct of a rear guard depends for its success almost entirely on the character, determination, skill, and energy displayed by its commander'.

Click on the link above to download the transcribed 'How to' letters. PDF's may take a while to download depending on the speed of your internet connection.

Images Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

Humpty Dumpty, nursery rhyme reworked for propaganda purposes, 1914-1918.

Rhyme accompanying the caricature:

'Humpty Dumpty hammered the Gaul -
Humpty Dumpty had a big fall;
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Can't take Kaiser Billy to Paris again!'

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

East London College Magazine.

East London College Magazine was the student magazine and continued throughout the First World War. The regular features of news from the college, poems, stories, jokes, sketches, cartoons, and reports from union societies, continued. But the roll of service became a new regular feature, reporting the fate of fellow students to their friends.

Click on the links above to view individual pages of the College Magazine. PDF's may take a while to download depending on the speed of your internet connection. 

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

'A Reservist's Christmas Dream'

German postcard from Fritz Lindshoeft to his daughter, Christmas 1917. Fritz Lindshoeft was an Eastern front Reservist. The sketch depicts Fritz'۪s Christmas dream, to be visited by his daughter. The text below the sketch simply reads: 'Dear Katchen (Katie), Your father sends you lots of love from the field, and to Mummy and your brother and sister'.

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

Sir Charles Kingsley Webster (1886-1961) medals for Order of Saint Michael and Saint George.

During the First World War Webster served as a Subaltern in the Royal Army Service Corps, 1915-1917 and on the General Staff of the War Office, 1917-1918.

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

Westfield College Magazine advertisement for vacation and land work, May 1917.

As woman's college Westfield was able to continue during the war relatively unchanged. However it has been suggested that there were tensions between those staff and students with pacifist tendencies, on religious grounds, which included the Principal Miss Agnes de Selincourt and the others.

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

Photograph of a Belgian refugee family, c.1914-1918.

The photograph depicts a family of four Belgian refugees who were harboured by the Lyttelton family. In 1914 Belgium asserted its neutrality under international treaty and Britain promised to defend this. However, after refusing to give permission to Germany to cross Belgian territory in order to reach France, Germany declared war on Belgium and invaded the country. Over 1 million refugees fled the country over the coming weeks, mostly to the Netherlands but also to France and Britain.

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

Higgledy-Piggledy, nursery rhyme reworked for propaganda purposes, 1914-1918.

Rhyme accompanying the caricature:

'Higgledy-piggledy, my black hun!
She lays mines where the trade ships run;
Friends and foes she treats as one -
Higgledy-piggledy, my black hun!'

In February 1915 Germany declared the waters surrounding British Isles to be a war zone in which ships could be sunk without warning, and began the first U-Boat campaign with unrestricted attacks against merchant and passenger ships. The British Navy retaliated in March by imposing a total sea blockade on Germany, prohibiting all shipping imports including food.

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.