Country Life
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March 13, 2021
The iconic First World War recruitment poster, featuring Lord Horatio Kitchener asking British citizens to "join up" i 1914. Drawing by Alfred Leete.
Credit: Photo 12/ Universal Images Group via Getty Images
It's one of the most famous images of the 20th century, copied and parodied countless times. But who created the famous image of Lord Kitchener calling his countrymen to arms? Nicholas Hodge takes a look — and discovers a dog-loving cartoonist who'd 'rather win a medal at golf' than be elected to the Royal Academy.
It has been said that the ‘Your country needs you’ image of Lord Kitchener entreating men to join the British Army and fight in the First World War has entered our DNA. Certainly, if the field marshal’s moustache were to grow like Pinocchio’s nose every time a cartoonist parodied the 1914 poster, we would already be contending with a marvel the length of Hadrian’s Wall.