Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins:
British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
Helen Tripp
For many years the name ‘Tommy Atkins’ has been associated with the image of a ‘typical’
English soldier of the First World War in both academic and popular histories. ‘Tommy’ had
been born prior to the First World War,1 with this name being first recorded as a generic
name for army troops in 1743, and subsequently frequently used by the Duke of Wellington.
However, the immense expansion in both the size of the army and public awareness of and
ownership in its deeds meant that between 1914-18 his name attained a greater significance
and depth of meaning. Accordingly, Tommy has been attributed a dichotomy of
contradictory characteristics, being simultaneously deemed to be ‘an obstreperous creature’,2
the exemplification of devotion, duty and courage,3 or, disparagingly, as a separate species.4
Despite the recent work by historians to expose the disparities between the front line soldier
of the First World War and his mythologized image,5 the representation of ‘Tommy Atkins’
between 1914-1918 has remained largely unexamined. It has therefore yet to be fully
considered that the ‘Tommy Atkins’ so unquestioningly referred to in popular and academic
histories was an artificial construct of wartime society. Accordingly, a deconstruction of his
popular iconography reveals some of the discursive processes and motivations that
formulated, created and re-defined social identity during and after the First World War.
Whilst the image of ‘Tommy’ was also evocative during the nineteenth century, it
was the events and peoples of the Great War that nurtured the identity of the ‘Tommy’
featured within contemporary writings. The image which has thus transcended the post-war
years, whilst purporting to be a depiction of the typical, ordinary soldier, may be deemed to
be essentially a representation formulated from middle-class attitudes and perceptions, for it
was predominantly this group within society that recorded and published the imagery of
‘Tommy Atkins’ in the literature now comprising the foundations of contemporary
understandings. This can be seen, for example, in the wealth of material written by the officer
class as opposed to the number of texts readily available by men who served as private
soldiers. This, as Bourne suggests, has had the effect of ‘embalming the war in the image of
the public school subaltern’.6 The successful utilisation of popular imagery by the officer, or
middle-class, allied with its lack of analysis on the part of historians, evokes Scott’s concern
that history should endeavour to:
... understand the operations of the complex and changing discursive processes by
which identities are ascribed, resisted or embraced, and which processes themselves
are unremarked and indeed achieve their effect because they are not noticed.7
Consequently, to understand how, why and with what result the social identity of
‘Tommy’ was appropriated by the middle-classes requires an analysis based upon a popular
media pertaining to this social group.
The most evident forms of media that encapsulate the opinions and perceptions of the
middle-classes towards the ‘typical’ soldier are the narratives and descriptions contained
within the wealth of literature produced during, or in response to, the Great War. Yet it has
remained largely unconsidered by historians in general, and First World War historians in
particular, that the stories, editorials and images of Punch, or the London Charivari,8 present
an as yet untapped source for deconstruction that has thus far failed to be systematically
utilised. This magazine, first published in July 1841 by Lemon and Mayhew, had initially
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
2
reflected its creator’s liberal ideals, and took a radical stance towards politics and authority.
However, by the war years, Punch had shed its radicalism, being deemed to be a ‘national
institution’,9 and was primarily aimed at and purchased by the middle-classes. Its pages
reveal a complex interplay between textual and visual analysis, news and commentary,
contributed and commissioned features, which reveal not only a representation of middleclass understandings of ‘Tommy’, but also a discursive dialogue between the contradictory
contentions and concerns of Punch’s contributors. However, an examination of Punch’s
conception of the social significance of ‘Tommy’ between 1914 and 1918 does not reveal a
neatly consecutive, linear continuum of ideological debate, for these are the dates of the
conflict, not the boundaries of social deliberation. Instead, the broad range of contradictory
thoughts expressed simultaneously by a diverse range of authors and cartoonists reflects the
deliberations of a middle-class society faced with the enigma of a figure who was a ‘“riddle
unto himself” and a stranger to the “men and things” of his former life'.10
It should be considered that the representation of 'Tommy Atkins' within the pages of
Punch is not, however, the sole comic representation of the First World War soldier available
for analysis. In addition to his prolific appearances in the genre of advertising and adventure
stories, he appeared as ‘Old Bill’ in the drawings of Bruce Bairnsfeather, published in The
Bystander (Figure 1). Whilst the images of 'Tommy' published within Punch reached a wide
audience through, for example, their appearance on leaflets and posters, Christmas cards and
recruitment posters,11 ‘Old Bill’ and his companions in arms, 'Alf' and 'Bert' (Figure 2) had
far greater resonance within society due to their popularity with the working-classes. This is
despite the severe criticism that the image faced from middle-class reviewers:
Nothing so quickly lowers moral as slovenliness, and nothing is more difficult to
check than the gradual degeneration due to trench life; ... Bairnsfather’s Alf and Bert
are disgusting because they are two horrible ... he standardises ... almost idealises a degraded type of face.12
'Old Bill', was a ‘person’, rather than a type, and with his companions depicted a
comforting imagery of a harmonious, classless society in which the results of military action
were dependent upon fate, rather than character. In contrast, Punch’s ‘Tommy Atkins’ was
an energetic ‘type’, metamorphosing too frequently to be degraded by trench life, but used
too broadly and with too many different faces to promote popular identification. Whilst ‘Old
Bill’, 'Bert' and 'Alf' were always depicted in similar military settings, Punch’s ‘Tommy
Atkins’ led a nomadic existence of traversing training camps and battlefields, military
hospitals and trenches in the endless search for opportunities to further develop moralising
messages upon the conduct of the war, and the social identity of those that participated in it.
Tommy Atkins and Social Stratification
Numerous historians, subscribing to a variety of theoretical ideologies, have
popularly conceded that the nature of the First World War created a period of ‘total’ conflict.
Consequently, the Great War is frequently perceived as not merely a time of military conflict,
but also a period of social reconfiguration. Change, rather than continuity, is frequently
identified as the dominant force, as is illustrated by Leed’s belief that ‘the war experience
was nothing if not an experience of radical discontinuity on every level of consciousness'.13
After the war, statements by commentators such as Hankey imparted the message that the
conflict had occasioned a greater degree of social intermixture between the classes, inducing
a levelling, and a redefinition of social divides:
They donned the grey skirt and ready-made khaki of the new era, and deposited
emblems of class distinction on a common ragheap ... It was the formal beginnings of
a new life, in which men of all classes, starting with something like equality of
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
3
opportunity, should gain what they might by the merit of their inherent manhood or
by the seduction of their native tact. Henceforth all were alike ...14
In the early years of the war Punch’s writers, rather than it’s cartoonists, showed
greater awareness that the impending intermixture of the different levels of society could
hold the potential for social reconfiguration. This is illustrated in the comment made by
Knox, of September 1914, that the outbreak of hostilities had provoked greater social
interaction than known before the war, because 'We were not one class in those days'.15 To
take this random and isolated statement, however, as a conclusive endorsement of the theory
that there was a ‘social truce of 1914’,16 would be to underestimate the complexity of the
social situation. Contentions that the war would provoke a greater degree of social
intermixture between the classes - on the battlefield, within training camps and throughout
English society at large - were not so simplistically represented and resolved, and such initial
proclamations did not command any particular attention within subsequent issues of Punch.
It was not until the middle years of the war that the significance of social
intermixture, and the role of ‘Tommy Atkins’ in engendering this, began to appear
consistently within cartoons as a potential topic for humour and social theorising. An initial
supposition in studies of the relationship between the Great War and social change is that the
war necessitated a greater level of contact between people of different classes. Within Punch
commentary upon and depiction of this phenomenon formed a context for analysis of the
reorientation of social stratifications. It was initially envisioned within ‘The Watch Dogs’17
that, whilst the army would broaden to integrate recruits from a more diverse range of social
backgrounds, classes would not intermingle within the ranks:
You will remember that those recruits are from all classes, and the presence of the
so-called Non-manual is clearly marked in the daily conversation overhead. Thus in
good old B company you will hear: “’Ere, Bill, where’s me pull-though?” “I ain’t
seen yer ruddy pull-through.” … In F company as now constituted it runs: “Angus,
have you seen my pull through anywhere?” “No, Gerald, I have not”.18
Yet this initial hypothesis - that although classes would be brought into closer
proximity, existing social distinctions would be perpetuated - came to be increasingly
questioned within Punch as the war progressed.
Illustrating the reluctance of Punch’s cartoonists to directly address social mixing
between the troops, the first instances of cartoonists directly depicting this appeared as late as
May 1917, in two cartoons entitled ‘Our Mixed Army’ (Figures 3 and 4). These two cartoons
initially appear to commentate upon the radical changes in the social composition of the
army, and could therefore be perceived as an endorsement of Beckett’s claim that the erosion
of distinctions was inevitable.19 Closer examination, however, reveals judgements upon
whether such a situation was advantageous for the middle-class ‘camouflaged civilians’. In
Reynolds’s depiction of a ‘mixed army’ (Figure 3), artistic techniques are used to invite a
sense of identification with the middle-class recruit. This recruit is centrally placed, thereby
drawing the attention and the sympathies of the reader, whilst the ‘Tommy Atkins’ figure is
located on the right of the cartoon, away from the main focus and shadowed to ascribe him a
menacing role. His careless dress and aggressive, colloquially phrased interruptions depict
him as an uncivilised influence, an intruder within polite society. In Figure 4, however, the
interpretation and presentation of the topic is reversed - the working-class figure is centrally
located, and his expressive face contrasts the bland countenance and patronising manner of
the ‘refined ex-journalist’. It is the working-class ‘Tommy’ for whom sympathy is invited,
implying that opportunities of greater social intermixture should be welcomed. It is indicative
of the disparities of opinion on social stratification that two cartoons, with the same titles,
same theme and published only a week apart, should contain such contrasting ideologies
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
4
about whether the opportunity to associate with Tommy Atkins was to be embraced or
repudiated.
Whilst the two representations of ‘Our Mixed Army’ are indicative of Bourke’s
statement that ‘the threat that was posed to the ‘nation’ did not result in any diminishing of
‘class’ as a focus for identification’20 analysis of Punch also reveals a co-existing,
contradictory notion that the war fostered an environment of class unity. Such views were
illustrated in, for example, the description in 1916 of trench life as a ‘beneficial form of
socialism called military routine’.21 It is important, however, not only to examine
representations of, and commentaries upon, social intermixture within the military, and
Punch also needs to be analysed to determine how Tommy Atkins was assimilated into the
social environment behind the lines and on the ‘home front’.
Bernard Waites, whilst conceding the lack of a systematic analysis of the impact of
the war, tentatively suggests that any potential cultural dissolution of class barriers may have
been procured through ‘emancipation’ or ‘polarisation’.22 By his use of the term
‘emancipation’, Waites implies that the First World War initiated a spontaneous, universal
relaxation of social barriers at all levels. This translated into recognition and acceptance of
the specific characteristics of different social classes. Therefore, according to such
understandings, inter-class interactions would have been characterised by easier interaction
between not only the middle- and working-classes, but also between the working-classes to
the ‘upper echelons’ of society.
Representations of the purported socialisation between the upper-class, social elites,
and the working-class 'Tommies' became a popular topic for representation in the mid-war
years, as illustrated in Figures 5 to 8. Whilst these cartoons initially appear to endorse Waites'
understandings of greater social mobility during the war years, closer analysis reveals not a
unity of purpose, or a sense of spontaneity, but a fundamental imbalance in the attitudes of
the classes towards the opportunity and desirability for cross-class intermingling. Eksteins
has argued that:
The British mission … at home among her own populace was principally one of
extending the sense of civic virtue, of teaching … the uneducated Briton the rules of
civilised social contact, the rules for ‘playing the game’. The British mission was to
introduce ‘lesser breeds’ ... to ‘the law'
.23
Consequently, Figures 6 and 7 may be reinterpreted not as a relaxation of social
boundaries, but as representative of an attempt to civilise ‘Tommy Atkins’, to teach him
respect for authority whilst assimilating him into a society from which he had previously
been excluded. Such an attitude therefore indicates not change but continuity, albeit on a far
larger scale, of the charitable, yet self-serving, approach towards the Victorian army.
Steedman argues that:
These were psychologically useful moments for [the] middle- and upper-class …
allowing them to feel the dimensions of their own charity, and to use the misfortunes
of the lower orders as a glass in which to read their own goodness.24
Closer analysis reveals that ‘Tommy’, whilst degraded to the position of a social
inferior, is conversely empowered through his ability to call attention to the incredulity of the
upper-classes (Figure 6), his rejection of social elevation (Figure 7), and his censorial voice
on the pretensions of the rich (Figure 8). Consequently, although Eksteins suggests that both
the middle- and upper-classes aimed to patronise the labouring classes, Punch employs
carnivalisation, thus, according to Morris ‘exemplifying in a readily understandable manner
an overarching opposition between an official culture and a popular culture that inverts and
mocks it’.25 This undermines an element of Eksteins’ theory.
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
5
An analysis of Punch reveals, therefore, that not all of its contributions believed that
the war would engender social ‘emancipation’. Their refutation that social power, inherent in
class structures, could so suddenly and evenly be redistributed, instead channels
interpretations of the realignment of social stratification towards an affirmation of the
‘polarisation’ of classes. This term can be construed as the means by which a stronger group
identity and cohesiveness is promoted, whilst simultaneously preserving and reinforcing
distinctions from other social groups. Waites26 and Joyce27 have suggested that this
‘polarisation’ effected a transformation of Britain from a three-tier society – upper-, middleand working-classes – to a dichotomous system of social alignment, with groups
subsequently being divided into the ‘labour’ class and the ‘capital’ class. Yet Waites dates
this realignment to between 1914 and 1920, and does not elaborate upon whether the middleclasses ‘collapsed’ into the working-classes, or whether the latter gained sufficient
acceptance to be ‘elevated’ towards middle-class society. Whilst there is some evidence of a
belief in the advancement of the working-classes within the writings of Punch, this occurs
only sporadically, and within the confines of the early war years writing.28 There is, instead,
a far greater consensus of opinion that, if interaction between the middle- and workingclasses did reconfigure the nature of their stratification, then it was the middle-classes that
were inexorably altered, acquiring humility through broader contact with the ‘rougher
elements’ of society. Such a view was voiced particularly strongly in poems, such as this
example depicting the ‘humbling’ of a middle-class poet:
Transformed by hourly contact,
With heroes simple-souled,
He no longer looks sourly
On men of normal mould,
But, purged of mental vanity
And erudite inanity,
The clay of his humanity
Is turning fast to gold.29
This sentiment was also voiced by front-line contributors who reported that the army
produced ‘a queer, pungent, wholly unsuitable and astonishingly natural atmosphere of rough
jesting – topping, honest, garlicky stuff that people like archdeacons affect to consider
coarse, but very, very good for us’.30
The stories, poems, and reports contributed to Punch by enlisted men frequently and
decisively voiced understandings of social polarisation, yet cartoonists were far more hesitant
about overtly representing this potential alteration of social realignment. Whilst many writers
in Punch overtly commented upon the processes that engendered social change, as the war
progressed cartoonists tended to focus not upon the process of social change, but on
envisaging the potential signs and effects of a re-ordered society. Both writers and cartoonists
suggested that, rather than power relations being harmonised through emancipation, or
focused through polarisation, the changing priorities of an increasingly militarised society
could affect the traditional hierarchical structure of society, thus inverting the balance of
power. This was seen to have the potential to disenfranchise elites whilst promoting the
previously humble ‘Tommy’ to an infinitely superior social status. There is some, albeit
marginal, approval of this potential situation in the poem of C.L. Graves about an employee
returning from the front:
This war has done many wonderful things;
It has altered our views of Kaisers and Kings
For instance, the other day there came
To see me, the same, but not the same,
A former office boy, whom once,
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
6
I wholly misread as a Cockney dunce, ...
Humbled and shamed to my inmost core
I wished I could drop clean through the floor.
For the tables were turned; I stood at zero,
And the office boy was a full-blown hero.31
The consensus of opinion among Punch’s authors, however, was that the supremacy
of military rank over social origin was to be treated with the utmost suspicion:
“Pretty good rot,” he said, “talking like that to a man in my position. Cursing a
married man with a family as if he were a rotten schoolboy. If I met him in ordinary
life he’d say ‘Sir’ to me – probably ask me for a job, and go about in holy fear that I
was going to sack him”.32
Visual representations became increasingly focused upon premonitions of social
inversion, and role reversal cartoons became a perennial adage (Figures 9 to 13). A
contradiction is discernable, however, between the representations of the writers and
cartoonists, indicating that cartoonists found it more difficult to negotiate the notion of
inversion. Accordingly, the ‘under-gardener’ who superseded the boss was made invisible
(Figure 11), and the horror of Tommy becoming empowered was tempered through depiction
of less socially problematic roles, such as junior clerks (Figure 12) or medical officers
(Figure 13) acquiring pre-eminence in military society. It could be contended that such a
focus within the cartoons merely represents the humorous technique of hypercarnivalisation33
- the inversion of traditional roles - which Morris cites as a popular tool of cartoonists. This is
counteracted, however, by the frequency of such cartoons, indicating that such a focus was
not a comic device, but rather an ideological preoccupation. Additionally, a parallel series of
representations of 'Tommies' depicting their occupational or societal role before enlistment,
demonstrates the depth of concern about how the reconfiguration of 'Tommy Atkins' would
mould social stratifications.
In 1918 there was only limited speculation as to how the volunteer and conscript
troops were to be reintegrated within society (Figure 14). It is impossible, therefore, to
identify any consensus as to how their reviewed status had been assimilated into, and
influenced English understandings of social stratification. Although the military conflict had
ended, deliberations upon, and interpretations of, 'Tommy Atkins’' social position continued
to evolve and be represented, explicitly or unwittingly. Yet the final overt comment of Punch
in 1918 upon the status of 'Tommy' is significant, related through a metaphorical account of
the journey and decisions of two newly repatriated soldiers. It unveils a view that whilst the
war had offered the opportunity for 'Tommy’s' empowerment, the potential for elevation to a
higher social standing would never be realised. Instead, 'Tommy' would be barred from any
ascendancy, not by the protestations of the upper or middle-classes, but his own entrenched
understandings of the society’s boundaries, and an inherent unwillingness to change:
Heroes they may have been, but beneath that heroism was cast-iron tradition. It is
one thing to fight for England, risk one’s life for England, risk one’s health for
England, endure every hardship for England, even to die for England; it is much less
natural to forget tradition. The air is filled today, as never before, with rumours of
the new life that is set in peace – the new aspirations and projects, the new creeds
and ideals. An army of Candidates is making England noisy with Utopian promises
and pledges. Splendid. But I wonder how long it will be before two tired British
soldiers … will cease to baulk fearfully at an empty first-class compartment.34
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
7
Tommy Atkins - a 'national character'
A discussion of the ‘social identity’ of 'Tommy Atkins' relates not only to the way
that he was represented and constructed with regard to class structures. This term also
requires an investigation of how he elucidated the ideas of the middle-classes in respect to
their fears for, and understandings of, ‘the nation’. Boerner has stated that ‘attempts to define
a national identity generally originate with the intellectual elite of a people or, viewed in
social terms, with the upper and middle-classes'.35 Accordingly, 'Tommy Atkins' - by far the
most prolific and malleable of Punch’s characters between 1914 and 1918 - became
empowered beyond the level of a social commentator to become an arbiter of ‘English
national identity’. The work of Samuel and Thompson36 has placed the evolution of national
identity within the context of symbolising and mythologizing processes. Consequently,
'Tommy Atkins', as the symbolic representative of the male working class between 1914-18,
clearly fits within the boundaries of such an interpretation of the signifiers of identity. It must
be considered, however, that to deem 'Tommy' to be the representative of the nation would be
an over-simplification, whilst simultaneously over-estimating the significance and power of
those that created, moulded and represented him. As Smith suggests: ‘a national identity is
fundamentally multi-dimensional; it can never be reduced to a single element, even by
particular factions of nationalists'.37 He goes on to state that, in Western thought, individuals
are united within a ‘national identity’ by common memories, myths, symbols and traditions.
Whilst an analysis of the representation of 'Tommy' within Punch shows that each of these
elements were incepted, developed or ‘discovered’ during the war, none of them were
sufficiently established or resonant across a broad range of societal groups for 'Tommy' to be
the sole signifier of national identity. Instead, the ‘Tommy’ portrayed in Punch may be
deemed a ‘national character’, a means through which the middle-classes could express and
negate their fears for the physical and moral well-being of the nation, and identify and
undermine potential threats to the established community.
An immediately apparent concern of some of Punch’s contributors was based upon
the physical and moral inadequacies inherent within the working-class, and the potential
damage posed to the future of the nation. Awareness of the physical and social defects of
Britain’s army had been thrust upon the middle-classes during the Boer War. The initial
realisations were further compounded by subsequent reports, such as The Report of His
Majesty’s Commissioner on the War in South Africa (1903) which reported that, although on
paper the army’s strength was nearly 340,000 regular and reserve troops, only 70,000 were
fit for overseas service.38 Subsequent deliberations on these findings did not view the
statistics merely as indicative of recruitment problems, and the anxieties that the Report
produced were not addressed simply by a determination to strengthen the army. The growing
acceptance of social Darwinist theories, aligned with the belief that the state of the army
reflected the future prospects of the nation,39 led to trepidation within the ruling classes that
Britain, and its Empire, was in terminal decline. Fears about the decline of ‘national
efficiency’ continued to be nurtured through the pessimistic tone of the reports of the
Inspector-General of Recruiting, which frequently asserted or implied that ‘the one subject
which causes anxiety in the future as regards recruiting is the gradual deterioration of the
physique of the working classes’.40 The comments upon the poor character of recruits, high
desertion rates, and the numbers of soldiers ‘discharged with disgrace’ also served to
intensify fears that not only was 'Tommy Atkins' physically incompetent, but also morally
corrupt, incapable of performing his duty to protect and advance the standing and character
of the British nation.
Many contemporary theorists deemed this threat to the future of the nation to
originate with the increased urbanisation of the people, from which proceeded a degeneration
of mental and physical ability. It has been noted of Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, a
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
8
contemporary magazine of Punch, that its success lay in the ability of the editors to ‘preserve
gemeinschaft in gesellschaft’.41 Punch editors also sought to deny or undermine the trend
towards urbanisation, an ideology easily identified in the perennial subjects of pre-war text
and cartoons. Under the editorship of Seaman, Punch became characterised by
representations of an idealised, middle-class rural life style. This was depicted as founded
upon the traditions of hunting and riding, the maintenance of time-honoured community
relations, and contained allusions to the perceived innate nature of rural society. Yet, the
outbreak of war meant that the writers and cartoonists of Punch could no longer limit
themselves to such an idealised, class-specific eulogy upon rural life. Seaman’s conception of
his ‘war-work’ was to extend Punch’s status as a ‘national institution’ - this meant that
Punch had to both refer and appeal to a broader range of societal groups. Accordingly, this
necessitated the acknowledgement of urban existence, and the forging of an ideological
reconciliation with the 'Tommy Atkins' it had, and was about, to produce. An illustration of
this is apparent in Figure 15, depicting Derby leading both urban and rural recruits, united
under a common purpose, across a landscape simultaneously demarcated with village
cottages and industrialised buildings.
The commissioned cartoons of Ravenhill, Partridge, and Townsend represented a
direct, non-humorous approach to the inclusion of the urbanised 'Tommy'. His investigation
and analysis was also facilitated through the ‘Humours of a Remount Depôt’ series of
cartoons, through which Punch’s traditions of depicting scenes of horses and country life was
maintained, whilst affecting a patriotic focus. 'Tommy’s' inability to learn to ride, and his
incomprehension of how to deal with horses (Figures 16 and 17) enunciated the stupidity of
the 'Tommy' and highlighted the disparity between the ‘refined’ middle-classes and the
urbanised private. Such cartoons also reconfirmed the commitment of Punch to the ideology
of contemporary literature that ‘country youths’ and agricultural labourers made the best and
keenest soldiers.42 Even after it became accepted that the nature of warfare had changed, and
that this was a conflict based upon technology rather than a ‘dangerous’ traditional emphasis
upon the ‘moral qualities’ of the combatants43 (Figure 18), 'Tommy' continued to be depicted
in a never-ending, hopeless struggle to learn to acquire the skills of rural society. There was
now, however, a sense of tolerance towards 'Tommy’s' incompetence, and changes in the
definitions of war aims meant that he had been forgiven for his industrialised origins.
As the war progressed, public acceptance increased that it would not be a short-lived
conflict, and a revision of the purposes and aims of the war was prompted. Despite the
agitations of the National Service League, which had been calling for conscription since
1901, the enactment of the National Service Act on 27th January 1916 has been viewed by
Coetzee as the destruction of a principle central to the beliefs of the nation: ‘the inviolability
of voluntarism in preference to coercion was a principle so firmly established that to dispute
it was tantamount to heresy'.44 The compensation required for the imposition of this ‘heresy’,
and its endorsement by magazines such as Punch,45 was that the war should result in an
outright victory, rather than mere negotiated settlement. Understanding of the purposes of
war also underwent revision, and in Punch the war was fought not merely for military
conquest, but for an ideological triumph of English national spirit and determination over a
militarised, alien ‘Other’. The representation of 'Tommy Atkins', and the interpretations of
his national significance, changed accordingly. The moral determination of 'Tommy' was
now perceived as more significant than his physical prowess as a soldier – this can be seen
particularly in representations of Bantam soldiers, who, sustained by courage and anointed
with moral superiority, not only matched but also outstripped even the most hardened
German soldier (Figure 19). Depictions of the 'Tommy Atkins’' of the volunteer Kitchener
armies increasingly tended to invert social Darwinist fears of the physical inferiority of the
nation, and the techniques of comparison and contrast were perennially used to evoke
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
9
understanding of 'Tommy' as a gallant, yet determined and ultimately victorious underdog
(Figure 20).
'Tommy’s' depiction, therefore, evolved from that of a mere combatant to a
representation and examination of national character. Contemporary literature and the
imagery of Punch did not deny the previous distrust of the Victorian military, or pronounce
all soldiers as flawless simply because they had enlisted or been conscripted. Instead, the
conflict was fashioned as an opportunity for the ordinary English citizen to cast aside
previous physical weaknesses (Figure 21) and recognise his innate heroic qualities (Figure
22):
The soldiers of the new army will come back to their ordinary avocations bearing the
stamp of military training, stronger physically, and different in many ways … 46
Analysis of Punch also reveals an attempt to define and understand the character of
'Tommy Atkins' through the evocation of classical mythology and national symbolism.
Soldiers were described as ‘sons of a greater motherhood than ours’47 and the deeds, as well
as the origins, of 'Tommy Atkins' were glorified – he was depicted as the companion of
Liberty (Figure 23) and represented as the reincarnation of St. George:
Saint George he was a fighting man; he’s here and fighting still,
While any wrong is yet to right or Dragon yet to kill;
And faith! He’s finding work this day to suit his war-worn sword,
For he’s strafing Huns in Flanders to the glory of the Lord!48
The endeavour to comprehend the phenomenon of 'Tommy Atkins' was also
facilitated through his quick acquisition of symbolism, and the transposition of this imagery
onto national symbols that were still evolving, adaptable, and consequently powerful.
Accordingly, the British lion was shown with the insignias of a private soldier (Figure 24),
and John Bull was dressed as a ‘Tommy’ in the latter stages of the war (Figure 25).
Representations of 'Tommy Atkins' assimilated with, or shown as, an idealised hero,
were predominant within the cartoons of Ravenhill, Townsend, and Partridge. In their
depictions, 'Tommy' was stripped of his humorous tone, trivial preoccupations, and physical
anomalies, becoming transformed into the charismatic national voice of wisdom on, for
example, peace negotiations, enlistment, and civilian support for the conflict. By far the most
prolific characterisation of 'Tommy' in this genre, however, was in opposition to unionism
and strike action (Figures 26 to 28). Bauman49 has suggested that it is identification of ‘the
Other’ that is the most fundamental element of defining national identity. Accordingly, these
depictions of, and pronouncements by, 'Tommy' may be interpreted as the censorial voice of
the middle-classes upon the working-class ‘Other’, echoing fears of the government that
strike action on the part of the labouring classes would bring a halt to the war effort. Such
cartoons can also, however, be read in terms of a device to subjugate the voice of the
'Tommy', undermining his subversive, radical potential and regulating the behaviour of his
own societal groups.
Despite the frequent comic depictions of the loyalty, steadfastness but foolishness of
'Tommy' in cartoons such as ‘The Bulldog Breed’ (Figures 29 and 30), it is also possible to
discern, among the contributors of Punch, his perception as a potential threat to the industrial
stability of society. Although presented in a humorous article about a character that fears
being mocked upon appearing in a platoonist’s uniform, Lehmann represents an underlying
fear that radical, empowered 'Tommy Atkins’' were more dangerous to the nation than the
allied German powers:
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
10
“But Tommy Atkins is a hero, and no hero could be so cruel as that.”
“Oh yes, he could,” I said. “It wouldn’t cost him a thought … I feel as if I could face
fifty Germans, but just at present I’m not going to chance it with Tommy Atkins”. 50
Bateman’s cartoon (Figure 31) also articulates these fears, illustrating an alignment
with, and augmentation of, what Leed has subsequently termed the ‘drive-discharge
model’.51 This term identifies war and revolution as a natural means through which the
inevitable tensions of modern societies are released. Yet the inevitable question raised by
Bateman at the end of the cartoon is, at the end of the war, where, or upon whom, 'Tommy
Atkins' will expend his newly discovered, inherent aggression. Such questions were
pessimistically answered by Langley:
… another trade, more sinister and exciting will be open to him when Peace arrives
for the rest of us. His advertisement will read: - “All authority, monarchical,
aristocratic or democratic, and all other tiresome restrictions on individual liberty
removed with secrecy, ability, and despatch. All ceremonies attended to and dealt
with. Coronations extra”.52
Behind Punch’s commissioned representations of 'Tommy Atkins' as a national
character, therefore, an ideology of inversion and suppression is discernable. Winter has
suggested that ‘the men and women of 1917 and 1918 owed a debt of gratitude to the men
and women of ’14, who supposedly joined up with songs on their lips and a vision of national
grandeur in their eyes’.53 Ravenhill, Townsend and Partridge’s representation of 'Tommy
Atkins', as a constructed ‘vision of national grandeur’, was calling in this debt of gratitude.
Through calling upon the people to echo his sentiments towards strike action, and to
condemn its supporters as back-stabbers (Figure 32), 'Tommy Atkins' had thereby been
manipulated into regulating the behaviours and attitudes of the labouring groups from which
he had emerged.
After the end of the war, representations of and elaborations upon the national
character and social significance of 'Tommy Atkins' declined rapidly. By Christmas, John
Bull had triumphantly shed his private soldier’s uniform (Figure 33), indicating that his
wartime association with 'Tommy Atkins' was based upon a temporary alignment of
understandings rather than a permanent fusion of ideals. Whilst understandings of 'Tommy
Atkins' and his influence upon class represented a discourse of contradictory opinions, the
variety of representations of 'Tommy Atkins' as a national character peacefully co-existed
within the pages of Punch, representing the multifarious needs of its contributors and readers.
Leed has suggested that ‘the reigning ideologies of the war worked for the integration of the
common soldier into a national and communal project’.54 From an analysis of Punch, it may
be contended that 'Tommy Atkins' had no independent character or voice, only the
characteristics that the ‘nation’, or the purported ‘voices of the nation’ ascribed to him.
Accordingly, 'Tommy' became a ‘mascot’ of the First World War, a plastic, versatile puppet
who, in the hands of different cartoonists and writers, could be moulded to elucidate and give
agency to matters of military, social, and national importance. Ultimately, with the end of the
conflict, and the subsequent questioning of why, how and to what purpose the war had been
fought, the voice and character of 'Tommy' lost resonance. His imagery consequently faded,
and the figure of 'Tommy Atkins' returned to the peripheries of societal and ideological
discourse from which he had emerged.
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
11
ILLUSTRATIONS
(Please note, to facilitate reading captions are displayed below each cartoon in bold and upper case).
OUR MIXED ARMY
FIRST RECRUIT: "ERE - TELL OLD BALD-'EAD TO
BUNG THE SALT OVER."
SECOND RECRUIT: "ER - MIGHT I TROUBLE YOU
FOR THE SALT, SIR?"
Figure 1: Bairnsfather, B.,
"The Bystander's" Fragments from France
(London, 1916)
OUR MIXED ARMY
REFINED EX-JOURNALIST: "DON'T YOU
THINK THAT COOK HAS STRESSED THE
ONIONS A LITTLE IN THE STEW TO-DAY?"
OUR SPOILT WARRIORS
TOMMY: "I WENT TO A PLACE A BIT FURTHER DOWN
THE ROAD FOR SUPPER LAST NIGHT. I DON'T GO
THERE AGAIN."
LADY MURIEL BELTRAVERS-MONTMORENCY: "OH,
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH IT?"
TOMMY: "WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH IT? WHY, THEY
HAVE PAID WAITRESSES THERE."
Figure 4: Bird, W.,
'Our Mixed Army' in Punch
23.05.1917 p.271
RESOURCEFUL TOMMY (AFTER TEA AND A DULL
AFTERNOON): "WE'RE SORRY, LADY, WE MUST
GO NOW. YER SEE, WE 'AVE TO GET BACK AND
'AVE OUR TEMPERATURES TOOK."
Figure 7: Pegram, F.,
'Untitled' in Punch
12.07.1916 p.47
Figure 2: Bairnsfather, B.,
"The Bystander's" More Fragments from France
(London, 1916)
Figure 3: Reynolds, F.,
'Our Mixed Army' in
Punch (16.05.1917) p.320
TOMMY: "RATS, MUM? I SHOULD SAY THERE
WAS - AND WHOPPERS! WHY, LOR' BLESS YER,
ONLY THE DAY AFORE I GOT KNOCKED OUT I
CAUGHT ONE OF 'EM TRYING ON MY
GREATCOAT!"
Figure 5: Townsend, F.H.,
'Our Spoilt Warriors' in Punch
19.04.1916 p.271
Figure 6: Shepperson, C.A.,
'Unititled' in Punch
21.06.1916 p.408
POMPOUS LADY: "I SHALL DESCEND AT
KNIGHTSBRIDGE."
TOMMY (ASIDE): "TAKES 'ERSELF FOR A
BLOOMIN' ZEPPELIN!"
EXAMINE ARMS
OFFICER (SEVERELY): "IS THIS RIFLE SUPPOSED
TO HAVE BEEN CLEANED?"
PRIVATE: "WELL, SIR - YES. BUT YOU KNOW
WHAT THESE SERVANT GALS ARE!"
Figure 8: Pegram, F.,
'Unititled' in Punch
16.12.1914 p.505
Figure 9: Reynolds, F.,
'Examine Arms' in Punch
21.06.1915 p.70
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
12
A CHANCE SPECIMEN OF THE RARE
ONE OF THE "OLDER MEN" (REMINISCENTLY):
"CAMBERWELL BEAUTY" BUTTERFLY
"STRANGE! STRANGE! MY FORMER OFFICE BOY IS NOW A
AROUSES THE COLLECTOR'S PASSION IN
CAPTAIN; MY HEAD CLERK A FULL-BLOWN MAJOR; AND
PRIVATE BLOGGSON, LATE ASSISTANT
MY UNDER-GARDENER HAS JUST WON HIS COMMISSION
HOW SIR BENJAMIN GOLDMORE AND HIS
ENTOMOLOGIST AT A FAMOUS
ON THE FIELD."
JUNIOR CLERK USED TO PASS ONE ANOTHER IF
UNIVERSITY MUSEUM.
HIS COMPANION: "BLIMEY! AN' WIV ALL THAT
THEY MET IN THE CITY INFLUENCE AT THE BACK OF YER, YER COULDN'T
- AND HOW THEY PASS ONE ANOTHER NOW.
WANGLE A CUSHIER JOB THAN THIS."
Figure 10: Brightwell, L.R.,
'Unititled' in Punch
09.08.1916 p.113
Figure 11: Cottrell, T.,
'Untitled' in Punch
16.10.1918 p.245
COMPANY OFFICER (DURING A LULL IN A PUSH): "WE DO
MEDICAL OFFICER (LONDON PRACTITIONER IN
LOOK A RAGGED LOT OF SCARECROWS, DON'T WE,
PRIVATE LIFE): "WOULD YOU COME TO ME
SERGEANT?"
WITH SUCH A TRIVIAL COMPLAINT IN CIVIL
SERGEANT: "YES, SIR. I OFTEN THINKS TO MYSELF WHAT A
LIFE?"
JOB WE'RE GOING TO HAVE GETTIN' MEN TRAINED UP TO
PRIVATE: "NO, SIR. I SHOULD SEND FOR YOU."
PEACE PITCH AGAIN AFTER THE WAR."
Figure 13: Townsend, F.H.,
'Untitled' in Punch
21.08.1918 p.120
Figure 12: Baumer, L.,
'Unititled' in Punch
28.04.1915 p.327
DERBY'S DAY
WITH MR. PUNCH'S COMPLIMENTS TO
THE DIRECTOR OF RECRUITING.
Figure 14: Jennis, G.,
'Unititled' in Punch
26.06.1918 p.404
OFFICER (TO TOMMY, WHO HAS BEEN
USING THE WHIP FREELY): "DON'T BEAT
HIM; TALK TO HIM, MAN - TALK TO HIM."
TOMMY (TO HORSE, BY WAY OF OPENING
SERGEANT (OUT OF PATIENCE WITH AWKWARD RECRUIT): "NEVER
THE CONVERSATION): "I COOM FROM
APPROACH THE 'OSSES FROM BE'HIND WITHOUT SPEAKING TO 'EM.
MANCHESTER."
IF YOU DO, THAT THICK 'EAD OF YOURS 'LL GET SO KICKED WE
SHAN'T 'AVE NOTHING BUT LAME 'OSSES IN THE STABLE."
Figure 16: Townsend, F.H.,
'Unititled' in Punch
09.02.1916 p.111
Figure 17: Lunt, W.,
'Untitled' in Punch
25.08.1915 p.165
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
Figure 15: Ravenhill, L.,
'Derby's Day' in Punch
17.11.1915 p.403
FORRARD AWAY!
THE DREAM
THE REALITY
Figure 18: Armour, G.D.,
'Forrard Away!' in Punch
22.11.1916 p.369
13
THE BANTAM: "AN' I DON'T WANT NONE
OF YER NARSTY LOOKS, NEITHER, OR IT'S
ME AN' YOU FOR IT."
Figure 19: Rogers, W.J.,
'Untitled' in Punch
08.08.1917 p.87
IT'S THE SAME MAN
Figure 22: Bateman, H.M.,
'It's The Same Man' in Punch
06.06.1917 p.367
TOMMY (TO HIS PRISONER): "DO YOU UNDERSTAND
ENGLISH?"
GERMAN: "I A LEEDLE UNDERSHDAND".
TOMMY: "WELL, THEN, BLIMEY! YOU TRY AN' 'OP IT,
AND YOU WON'T 'ALF BLOOMIN' WELL COP IT!"
RECRUIT: "EXCUSE ME, SIR, I FEEL GREATLY
EXHAUSTED BY THIS EXERCISE."
INSTRUCTOR: "DO YOU, DEARIE? WHAT WOULD
YOU LIKE TO PLAY AT? KISS-IN-THE-RING?"
Figure 20: Brook, H.M.,
'Unititled' in Punch
15.12.1915 p.485
Figure 21: Thomas, B.,
'Untitled' in Punch
20.06.1917 p.397
AFTER ONE YEAR
AS BETWEEN FRIENDS
BRITISH LION: "PLEASE DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE
THAT, SAM. YOU'RE NOT THE EAGLE I'M UP AGAINST."
Figure 23: Ravenhill, L.,
'After One Year' in Punch
11.08.1917 p.131
Figure 24: Partridge, B.,
'As Between Friends' in Punch
06.01.1915 p.111
THE FOURTH OF JULY
1776-1918
JOHN BULL: "DOTH NOT A MEETING
LIKE THIS MAKE AMENDS?"
UNCLE SAM: "SURE!"
SOLDIERS ALL
TOMMY (HOME FROM THE FRONT, TO DISAFFECTED
WORKMAN): "WHAT'LD YOU THINK O' ME, MATE, IF I
STRUCK FOR EXTRA PAY IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ACTION?
WELL, THAT'S WHAT YOU'VE BEEN DOING."
DIVISION OF LABOUR
TOMMY (OFF TO THE FRONT - TO SHIP-YARD
HAND): "WELL, SO LONG, MATE; WE'LL WIN THE
WAR ALL RIGHT IF YOU'LL SEE THAT WE DON'T
LOSE IT!"
Figure 25: Ravenhill, L.,
'The Fourth of July 1776-1918' in
Punch
03.07.1918 p.3
Figure 26: Partridge, B.,
'Soldiers All' in Punch
10.01.1915 p.111
Figure 27: Ravenhill, L.,
'Divisions of Labour' in Punch
13.03.1918 p.163
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
14
THE BULL-DOG BREED
OFFICER: "NOW, MY LAD, DO YOU KNOW WHAT
YOU ARE PLACED HERE FOR?"
RECRUIT: "TO PREVENT THE HENEMY FROM
SELF OR COUNTRY?
LANDIN', SIR."
COVENTRY STRIKER: "IF I WAS A SOLDIER AND
OFFICER: "AND DO YOU THINK THAT YOU
THEY TRIED TO SHIFT ME TO ANOTHER PART OF
COULD PREVENT HIM LANDING ALL BY
THE LINE JUST AS I WAS COMFORTABLE, I'D
YOURSELF?"
DOWN TOOLS."
RECRUIT: "DON'T KNOW, SIR, I'M SURE. BUT I'D
FIGHTING MAN: "NO, YOU WOULDN'T. IF YOU
HAVE A DAM GOOD TRY!"
WERE A SOLDIER YOU'D BE OUT TO DOWN HUNS."
Figure 28: Ravenhill, L.,
'Self or Country?' in Punch
31.07.1918 p.67
THE RECRUIT WHO TOOK TO IT KINDLY
Figure 31: Bateman, H.M.,
'The Recruit Who Took To It Kindly'
in Punch, 17.01.1917 p.39
Figure 29: Armour, G.D.,
'The Bulldog Breed' in Punch
03.10.1917 p.231
THE TRAITOR
Figure 32: Partridge, B.,
'The Traitor' in Punch
02.10.1918 p.217
THE BULLDOG BREED
COMPANY COMMANDER (MAKING SURE OF HIS
MEN BEFORE THE SHOW): "NOW, WHEN WE GO
OVER THE TOP TO-MORROW, YOU ALL KNOW
WHAT YOU'RE TO MAKE FOR?"
CHORUS OF TOMMIES: "YUSS, SIR."
C.C.: "WHAT IS IT, THEN?"
CHORUS: "THEY GERMANS, SIR."
Figure 30: Fougasse, C.,
'The Bulldog Breed' in Punch
03.10.1917 p.231
MUTUAL COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON
JOHN BULL: "WHY, FATHER CHRISTMAS, YOU'RE LOOKING LIKE YOUR
OLD SELF AGAIN!"
FATHER CHRISTMAS: "JUST WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY TO YOU, JOHN!"
Figure 33: Partridge, B.,
'Mutual Compliments of the Season' in Punch
25.12.1918 p.421
1.For a detailed analysis of the emergence and history of the name see; Laffin, J., Tommy Atkins: The Story of
an English Soldier, (White Lion, 1977).
2.Englander, D. & Osbourne, J., 'Jack, Tommy and Henry Dubb', The Historical Journal, Vol.21, No.3, 1978,
p.596.
3.Laffin, J., Tommy Atkins, p.146.
4.Bet-El, R., 'Experience and Identity: The Writings of British Conscript Soliders, 1916-1918', (Unpublished
PhD thesis, London, 1991).
5.For example; Bourke, J. Dismembering the Male, (Routledge, 1996) and Melman, B., Borderlines, (?, 1998).
6.Bourne, J., 'The British Working Man in Arms', in Cecil, C. and Liddle, P. (eds.), Facing Armageddon, (Leo
Cooper, 1996), p.336.
7.Scott, J.W., 'The Evidence of Experience', Critical Inquiry, No.17, Summer 1991, p.792.
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
15
8.Although this is the full title of the magazine, it was commonly referred to, both in the text itself and
contemporary comment, merely as Punch and will therefore be called this throughout the rest of this paper.
9.It is described as such in the Willings Press Guides entries during the war years. Adlard, J., Owen Seaman:
His Life and His Work, (The Eighteen Nineties Society, 1977) also states that Seaman, the editor of Punch
between 1906 and 1932, saw his role as one of upholding the publications' status.
10.Leed, E.J., No Man'
s Land: Combat and Identity in World War One, (Cambridge University Press, 1981),
p.37.
11.PUN/A/Brad/BF/21 (The Punch Secretary's Letter Book, Punch Library) records the replies to requests for
reproductions of cartoons. The impact of Punch cartoons is illustrated in that, by 16th November 1914, an
image promoting enlistment through likening soldiers to footballers that was published at the outbreak of war
had been made into 12,150 posters, 87,250 leaflets, and 2,500 lantern slides.
12.Review of 'Bullets and Billets' in Times Literary Supplement, 21/12/16, cited in Holt, T. & Holt, V., The
Life, The Works and The Collectables of Bruce Bairnsfather, (Milestone, 1985), pp.54-55.
13.Ibid., p.3.
14.Hankey, A Student in Arms, (1916) cited in Brereton, J.M., British Soldier, (Bodley Head, 1986), p.125.
15.Knox, E.G.V., 'The Silence of War', Punch, 30/09/1914, p.276.
16.Waites, B., A Class Society at War, (Berg, 1987), p.68.
17.This was a series of articles written by F.O. Langley that first appeared on 26/08/1914, and continued
sporadically throughout the war. These articles were written in the first person, from the objective of the
officer class, and featured observations upon military life and the integration of the Kitchener troops into the
regular army.
18.Langley, F.O., 'The Watch Dogs', Punch, 28/10/1914, p.353.
19.Beckett, I.F.W., A Nation in Arms, (Manchester University Press, 1985), p.21.
20.Bourke, J., Working Class Cultures in Britain 1890-1960, (Routledge, 1994), p.180.
21.Langley, F.O., 'The Watch Dogs', Punch, 08/11/1916, p.330.
22.Waites, B., A Class Society At War, p.26.
23.Eksteins, M., Rites of Spring, (Houghton Mifflin, 1989), p.117.
24.Steedman, C., The Radical Soldier'
s Tale: John Pearman, 1819-1908, (Routledge, 1988), p.47.
25.Morris, R., 'Visual Rhetoric in Political Cartoons: A Structuralist Approach', Metaphor and Symbolic
Activity, Vol.8, No.3, 1993, p.203.
26.Waites, B., A Class Society at War.
27.Joyce, P., Visions of the People, (Cambridge University Press, 1991).
28.In Langley, F.O., 'Culture in the Trenches', Punch, 15/09/1915, p.222. It is suggested, for example, albeit
satirically, that life in the trenches is refining the troops. Rather than singing 'It's a Long, Long Way to
Tipperary', the song has now, in line with the more gentile nature of the troops, been renamed 'The Distance
to Tipperary is Very Considerable'.
29.Gibson, Capt., 'Biology at the Front', Punch, 30/07/1916, p.376.
30.Brooke, R., 'The World War', Punch, 28/07/1915, p.98.
31.Graves, C.L., 'War's Revenges', Punch, 02/12/1914, p.464.
32.Milne, A.A., 'James Feels Better', Punch, 16/09/1914, p.240.
33.Morris, R., 'Visual Rhetoric in Political Cartoons', Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, Vol.8, No.3, 1993.
34.Lucas, E.V., 'The Two Soldiers', Punch, 11/12/1918, p.384.
35.Boerner, P., Concepts of National Identity, cited in Bourke, J., Working Class Cultures in Britain,
(Routledge, 1974), p.171.
36.Samuel, R., & Thomson, P. (eds.), The Myths We Live By, (Routledge, 1990).
37.Smith, A.D., National Identity, (Penguin, 1991), p.14.
38.Cited in Barnett, C., Britain and Her Army 1509-1970, (Penguin, 1970), p.341.
39.Brereton, J.M., British Soldiers, (Bodley Head, 1986), p.10.
40.P.P. 1903 Cd.1417 xi. 30.
41.Bailey, P., 'Ally Sloper's Half Holdiay: Comic Art in the 1880s', History Workshop Journal, Vol.16, Autumn
1983, p.27.
42.Vivian, E.C., The British Army from Within, (?, 1914), p.165.
43.DeGroot, G.J., Blighty: British Society in the Era of the Great War, (Longman, 1996), p.17.
44.Coetzee, F., For Party or Country: Nationalism and the Dilemmas of Popular Conservatism on Edwardian
England, (Oxford University Press, 1990), p.39.
45.The pro-conscription stance of Punch was not universally adopted, and The Bystander, for example, would
dream of wanting until everything else had failed'.
46.Vivian, E.C., The British Army From Within, p.165.
47.Grove, E.A., 'The Way of Thomas', Punch 10/05/1916, p.306.
48.Fox-Smith, C., 'The Saint George of England', Punch 19/04/1916, p.261.
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)
16
49.Bauman, Z., 'Modernity and Ambivalence', Theory, Culture and Society, Vol.7, Nos.2-3, 1990, pp.143-170.
50.Lehmann, R.C., 'The Uniform', Punch 24/03/1915, p.238.
51.Leed, E.J., No Man'
s Land.
52.Langley, F.O., 'The Watch Dogs', Punch 05/05/1915, p.345.
53.Winter, J.M., 'Nationalism, the visual arts, and the myth of war enthusiasm in 1914', History of European
Ideas, Vol.15, No.1-3, p.359.
54.Leed, E.J., No Man'
s Land, p.82.
Helen Tripp
Mr Punch and Tommy Atkins: British Soldiers' Social Identity during the First World War
University of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History, 4 (2002)