Picturing the Great WarThe First World War Blog from Mary Evans Picture Library

Canine Collectors - Dogs of charity

 

Fundraising for good causes was hardly a new concept when war broke out in 1914, but within weeks, the British population had gone into charitable overdrive.  Concerts, bazaars, flag days, theatrical matinees, concerts, exhibitions, sales, auctions and dances were all organised in order to raise money for a myriad of worthy charities, from national campaigns such as the National Relief Fund or the Red Cross, to smaller concerns like local hospitals, or homes for convalescent soldiers.  Collection boxes began to appear on restaurant tables, upper class ladies prowled the streets of the West End selling flags to passer-bys and patriotic postcards were produced in their thousands with all profits going to charity.

Some of the most successful fundraisers however, came in canine, rather than human form.  Again, using dogs to collect money for good causes was not an original idea.  Dog care and ownership had flourished during the Victorian era, a time in which there was also an upsurge in philanthropic activity.  What better way to get the public to part with their hard-earned pennies and shillings than by utlising the endearing, and sometimes irresistible, draw of man's best friend?  Some doggy fundraisers became celebrities, such as London Jack who raised hundreds of pounds for the London and South West Railway Servants' Orphanage (his successor, unimaginatively named London Jack II carried on #1's good works after his demise).

Inevitably, the Great War saw more dogs than ever collecting for charity and doing their bit for King and Country.  In busy areas, particularly at rail stations, they were a familiar sight often with harnesses carrying collection boxes on their backs.  We picture a number of them here, from a tiny Italian greyhound being taught to pull a toy Red Cross ambulance, to the biddable Toby, who has obligingly dressed in medical-themed drag, all in aid of the Woolwich and District War Memorial Hospital fund.  'Southville Beau', is a proud looking little Yorkshire Terrier, who had collected three thousand pennies for the Wool Fund to knit socks and balaclava helmets for the boys in the trenches and then there is Laddie, the 'Tommies' Pal,' who had, by the date of this photograph, raised £130 for local wounded.

Those of you who are familiar with Mary Evans Picture Library will know that Mary, the library's founder, was a great dog-lover and we will be no doubt featuring many more dog-related First World War stories as this blog progresses.  In the meantime, click here for more canine collectors 

http://www.maryevans.com/lb.php?ref=21971

Luci Gosling

 

 

 

 

London Zoo at War

More than 30 employees at the Zoological Gardens in London (London Zoo) left behind their charges to join up in the early months of the war.  In March 1915, The Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News featured this picture, showing a zookeeper in khaki, returning to his place of work while on leave to visit the seals, and to feed them some fish in what would be a rather charming publicity photograph.

The lack of male zookeepers was rectified by the arrival of women to help out, the first being a Miss Saunders, who was featured in The Queen magazine in April the following year holding a somewhat recalcitrant chicken.  Always meticulously observant when it came to fashion reporting, the magazine was careful to describe Miss Saunders' olive green linen overall which was worn with a fetching hat of 'silver grey straw.'

Elsewhere, some of the animals were used for propaganda purposes.  This obliging tortoise, fittingly named Methusaleh, used his shell to advertise the need for more shells (of a different kind), with a  message which read, 'We can't do without our shells; but they will serve to remind you that there are others - which your country needs.'  http://www.maryevans.com/lb.php?ref=21822

 

 

Luci Gosling

 

 

Fritz changes his shop front - a very early anti-German postcard

 

The 35,000 Germans living in Britain at the outbreak of war made up the third largest immigrant group in the country.  They worked in London and in seaside towns often as hairdressers, waiters, musicians, and, frequently, shop owners.

Tony Sarg, an American illustrator born in Guatemala moved to London in 1908 and his fascination with London, and especially the East End, was borne out by his cartoons, usually with 'Cockneyesque' captions.  This postcard, showing a stereotypical German shopkeeper doing his bumbling best to de-Germanise his store front, placing accented patriotic notices in his window and changing his name to one of impeccably British origins, was drawn by Sarg and was probably typical of many businesses populating the areas of the capital he knew well.  Remarkably, the postcard's mark on the back indicates it was sent just six weeks after the outbreak of war demonstrating that as early as this, there was a growing anti-German feeling on the home front.

 

The mood, however, is still light-hearted.  Events of 1915, the following year, such as the execution of British nurse Edith Cavell and the sinking of the 'Lusitania' by German torpedoes, saw the public mood towards the enemy darken.  Following news of the latter, shop fronts in London's East End, such as the one caricaturised by Sarg in this postcard were famously  attacked by angry Londoners in reaction to what they felt were new depths of German barbarity.

  Luci Gosling