Top: ‘A nap in the dug-out bunks. Contalmaison. 1916’ Bottom: 'The Battle of Flanders. A stretcher bearer party coming through the mud near Boesinghe. Pilsen. 01/08/17’
Sometimes sold in commercially available kits and sometimes made out of scrounged thread, feed sacks and woollen cloth taken from uniforms.
The tradition began in the 19th Century with Queen Victoria who, as an amateur practitioner of textile arts, thought soldiers may find quilting or needlepoint a welcome distraction during convalescence or times of loneliness. The tradition carried on throughout WW1 and the archive at the fort contains some fascinating examples of such pieces.
Materials included paper decoupage, glass beads, metal pins and plastic alongside sequins and braids.
Inscription:
‘Think of Me When the golden sun is sinking, and your mind from care set free, when of others you are thinking, will you sometimes Think of Me’
The activity was mostly undertaken by men and the pincushions were stuffed with a variety of materials including sawdust.
…..this card was included with the previous posted photographs (& with a batch of 67 other images & documents) in the archive at the Fort.
It reads:
FRONT
'God bless my DEAR DADDY at the WAR and keep him safe’
(Original printed notation)
'With little Duncan’s love’
(Handwritten)
REVERSE
'Take this for your Mascot’
(Handwritten)
The owner of these items was Sgt David J McRae, originally a tailor who spent time living in South Africa, he went to France on 1st May 1915. Discharged on 16th February 1919.
….At the edge of a group shot a child in a woollen hat stares into the camera.
She looks troubled, unsure, as if she’s biting her lip. The soldiers are laughing, with the central figure placed on a wooden cart who’s pretending to drink beer.
Due to the length of the exposure other figures appear ghostly, blurred.
WW1 Embroidered Postcards (Handling Collection / The Highlanders’ Museum)
Further information below courtesy of the Imperial War Museum:
What are embroidered postcards? The embroidered silk postcard is a common souvenir of the First World War. They are blank postcards onto which an embossed paper surround has been glued, to frame and hold a central piece of silk. On the silk, a design is hand-embroidered in coloured thread.
Who sent and received them? The embroidered postcards were very popular with British soldiers who often sent them home. They were sold in thin paper envelopes but were seldom sent through the post in them. They were too fragile and, more particularly, they represented quite an investment – they were not cheap souvenirs. Usually they were mailed with letters. For this reason, they are often unwritten, with no marks on the back, any message having been sent in an accompanying letter.
2 days ‘in’ to my first residency block….. …themes / artefacts emerging from the collection include: - Trench Art - Prisoner of War camp newspapers - Embroidered postcards - Sweetheart pin cushions - Death pennies - A pair of shoes worn by a WW1 nurse - Tartan samples
Photographs show The Vistula Weekly Newspaper printed at Graudenz Prisoner of War Camp in Poland during the 1st World War. Named after the River Vistula that flows through Poland.
A handwritten publication filled with anecdotes, stories and humour alongside moving accounts of everyday lives.
Contents included Camp Notes, Prominent Prisoners, Camp Finance and Things We Want To Know.
The cigarette case pictured above belonged to Private M Smith of the 5th Bn Cameron Highlanders. It was damaged by a German bullet at Loos in 1915. Private Smith was later killed at Delville Wood during the battle of the Somme in July 1916.
The Artist in residence will work with our First World War archive to bring to life some of the interesting stories and characters which exist in the original letters, diaries and photographs kept by Highland soldiers during the conflict.
‘The Highlanders’ Museum is delighted to announce the appointment of Robyn Woolston as Artist in Residence for the first 6 months of 2017. Thanks to a grant from Museums Galleries Scotland, we have been able to appoint our first Artist in Residence who will be working with our World War One collection to generate a creative response, engage local primary school children and interact with visitors to the Museum. The residency will be followed by an exhibition of Robyn’s work alongside pieces generated from the schools workshops.’
Gill Bird - The Highlanders’ Museum (Queen’s Own Highlanders Collection)
‘Summer Has Been Turned To Winter By The Guns’ (2017)
at
The Highlanders’ Museum (Queen’s Own Highlanders Collection)
8th October 2017 – 18th March 2018
“It has been a real experience for staff, volunteers, visitors and local schoolchildren to work with our Artist in Residence on this project – seeing our World War One archive through fresh and creative eyes. Robyn Woolston’s exhibition is stunning, thought-provoking and presents a personal response to ‘The Great War’ from the artist and the children and adults who contributed to the project.”
Fort George is a ‘registered Ancient Monument’ and for over 235 years has been a military garrison and training depot for a Regular Infantry Battalion of the British Army. It is currently home to the 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland.
Set in what was formerly the Lieutenant Governor’s house, the Highlanders’ Museum was founded over 60 years ago. The museum houses more than 5,000 gallantry awards and campaign medals won by the fighting men of the regiment as well as silver and personal artefacts. It also contains a set of Colours carried at the Battle of Waterloo and King Edward VIII’s regimental uniform.
Opening Times: 10.00am - 3.15pm / closed at weekends Dec & Jan
Admission to the Highlanders’ Museum (Queen’s Own Highlanders Collection) is FREE but you must pay an admission charge to visit Fort George. Adult - £9.00 Concession - £7.20 Child aged 5–15 - £5.40 Under 5 - FREE
I’m midway through the research stage of my residency at Fort George, a large 18th-century fortress near Ardersier, to the north-east of Inverness, Scotland. Working out of the Highlanders’ Museum (Queen’s Own Highlanders Collection), the museum covers three floors of Fort George’s former Lieutenant Governors’ House.
Project Aims:
To respond creatively to the World War 1 displays and archives at The Highlanders’ Museum (Queen’s Own Highlanders Collection).
To engage with local children and communities
To produce a finished artwork/exhibition to be exhibited at The Highlanders’ Museum (Queen’s Own Highlanders Collection) for 6 months (October 2017 - March 2018)
So far I’ve been working here for three months and completed 5 primary school workshops which have resulted in a wall-based battlefield mural, a series of imaginary medals, a collection of Trench Poetry and a series of letters home to loved ones.
‘We are absolutely delighted to welcome artist Robyn Woolston to The Highlanders’ Museum as our Artist in Residence and are excited about the work she has already been doing. The project will help bring our First World War archive to life featuring some of the interesting stories and characters which exist in the original letters, diaries and photographs kept by Highland soldiers during the conflict.’
Gill Bird / Education and Outreach Officer
From personal, hand-drawn, love letters to military orders, each visit provides a proliferation of compelling avenues for investigation.
It’s a time of immersion and editing, of reflection and navigation through a collection that houses thousands of objects, photographs, paintings, uniforms and reference texts.
‘God bless my DEAR DADDY at the WAR and keep him safe. With little Duncan’s love.’ / SGT DAVID J MCRAE 240180
‘Take this for your mascot’ / SGT DAVID J MCRAE 240180
It’s also a time of contemplation in terms of the ‘axis’ that embodies ‘where’ creative response meets military rigour. Of considering how suitability and juxtaposition may highlight-and-handle harrowing conflict-based narratives. I’m conceiving of plans which will both comment and illuminate with the intention of partially pushing aside many of the traditional conventions, or norms, in terms of museum display. Questions arise as to ways in which one can effectively honour tradition whilst reigniting/reframing perceptions.
S U M M E R H A S B E E N
T U R N E D T O
W I N T E R B Y T H E
G U N S
(A label found below a photograph housed deep within a section of the photographic archive not open to the general public)
I’ve been exploring WW1 medals, honours and awards with a group of local primary school children. We’ve taken inspiration from medals found within the collection at the Highlanders Museum, Inverness.
The workshop also considered shape, design, context & colour when creating our imaginary awards.
Highlanders’ Museum (Queen’s Own Highlanders Collection) / The Princess Mary 1914 Christmas Gift
The design depicts the head of Princess Mary in the centre, a laurel wreath surrounds her and she is flanked by the ‘M’ monogram. A decorative cartouche contains the words “Imperium Britannicum” at the top with a sword, bayonet and scabbard (for the Army) either side. On the lower edge, another cartouche contains the words “Christmas 1914”, which is flanked by the bows of two Dreadnnoughts (for the Royal Navy) forging through deep seas.
The corners display the names of the Allies: Belgium, Japan, Montenegro and Servia; France and Russia at the edges, each superimposed on their furled flags or standards.
The Princess Mary’s Christmas Gift Fund was launched on October 14th 1914, with subsequent advertisements placed in the national press inviting monetary contributions to a “Sailors and Soldiers Christmas Fund”. Created by the 17 year old Princess Mary, daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, its purpose was to provide everyone on Active Service on Christmas Day with a “gift from the nation”.
Her public letter released by Buckingham Palace read:
“I have delayed making known a wish that has long been in my heart for fear of encroaching on other funds, the claims of which have been more urgent. I want you now to help me to send a Christmas present from the whole nation to every sailor afloat and every soldier at the Front. On Christmas Eve when, like the shepherds of old, they keep their watch, doubtless their thoughts will turn to home…I am sure that we should all be the happier to feel that we had helped to send our little token of love and sympathy…something that would be useful and of permanent value and the making of which may be the means of employment in trades adversely affected by the war”.
Every box contained a Christmas card and a picture of the Princess. Huge demands were made upon the already stretched postal service at the time yet more than 355,000 were delivered by the yuletide deadline. New Year deliveries contained a card that wished a ‘victorious new year’.
Parents of soldiers killed were entitled to boxes alongside nurses and the wounded. Prisoners of war at the time had theirs reserved until they were repatriated.
A shortage of brass also effected dispatch times and lead to many entitled personnel not receiving their gift until as late as the summer of 1916, and by January 1919 considerable numbers had still not been distributed.
When the fund finally closed almost £200,000 had been donated with more than two and a half million boxes with contents delivered by 1920.
There are a number of gift boxes held within the archive at the museum.
I’m lucky to have spent some concentrated time delving into the archives (photographic + object based) at the Highlanders’ Museum at Fort George, Inverness, over the past 6 weeks. It’s provided a fascinating, funny, and at times, incredibly poignant window onto the everyday lives of families, soldiers and regiments during World War One.
Naturally there are War Diaries, which detail strategic manoeuvres and life-saving co-ordinates, but there are also highly personal notes like the one sent from son to father which signs-off ‘Your dying son’or the postcard which reads ‘God bless my DEAR DADDY at the WAR and keep him safe’
Out of this densely woven web of narratives I’m beginning to navigate some ‘pathways for expression’ which will lead to an exhibition on-site from October 2017 - March 2018.
Image: The photographs above show my working space at the museum. It’s an ‘open-studio’ of sorts where I can communicate with people visiting the site, explore ideas and get a feel for the over-arching narratives that are emerging out of my residency.
Whilst working at the archive and museum today I was utterly struck by the embedded intricacy of this painting. Layer upon brushwork upon detail; soldier beside solder. It manages to convey an epic sense of magnitude alongside the minutiae of war. From the ragged, upstanding, flag to bare and bereft trees….
Title: ‘The Seventh Battalion at Hill 70, 1915′
Painter:Joseph Gray
Background:The painting shows the 7th Camerons after taking Hill 70, one of their objectives during the battle of Loos, 25th September 1915. The Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel JW Sandilands, is depicted rallying the survivors of nine different battalions to hold the hill against German counter attacks. The painting was presented to the Regiment by Miss Eveline Barron. Her father, Major J Barron, died of wounds at Loos on 27th September 1915 while serving with the 7th Camerons.
Biographical info:
‘Gray joined the 4th (Dundee) Battalion, The Black Watch Regiment after the outbreak of World War One and fought with them from August 1914 to March 1916, in the battles of Neuve Chapelle, Festubert and Loos.
There were a number of journalists who joined the 4th Battalion in the early stages of the war and they referred to themselves as ‘Fighter-Writers.’ Once he reached the trenches Gray’s talents as a draughtsman were quickly recognised. He was appointed an observer, a role which involved many expeditions into the firing line to make sketches of enemy positions. He was also called upon to duplicate trench maps, as he did before the Battle of Festubert, marking out the positions of the men of his battalion.
During 1915-1916 Gray sent back many reports to the Dundee Courier but was eventually invalided out of service in March 1916. Back home he was appointed official war artist at The Graphic illustrated newspaper and contributed drawings and articles about different aspects of trench life. All his drawings were based on original sketches made during his time in the firing line.’
“Here are shown no… glittering swords, and noble horses, but plain, steadfast, unconquerable men, standing with their faces to the foe and grasping their fixed bayonets in the firm determination to win or die.”
WAR AS IT IS. THE SEAFORTHS AT NEUVE CHAPELLE / The Inverness Courier, 23 September 1920.
