Down County Museum opens WWI exhibition

Down County Museum opens WWI exhibition

18 May 2016

DOWN County Museum has officially launched its newest exhibition — Answer the Call  — which is on loan from National Museums Northern Ireland.

The  exciting display includes a range of items from World War One including various posters encouraging enlistment as well as ‘home front’ activities.

Following the first flush of enthusiasm for the war effort, thousands of men signed up to the army to join the fight in Europe. In 1914, enlistment campaigns appealed to patriotic and moral values as well as a sense of adventure. One year later, over 89,000 Irishmen had joined the army.

During 1915, recruitment had become a major problem with enlistment numbers in Britain and Ireland declining dramatically. The government increased its sense of urgency which caused a large scale push in their recruitment drive through the use of the power of advertising and persuasion to encourage enlistment. Nearly six million posters, of more than 140 different designs, were commissioned. 

Belfast-based firm, David Allen and Sons, succeeded in winning orders for an estimated 1.5 million copies of 40 different posters. At the same time, the population at home was being encouraged to contribute to the war effort by taking part in war savings schemes and purchasing war bonds.

The new exhibition features an intriguing display from highly artistic representations of fighting on the western front alongside colourful, eye-catching drawings to text based appeals by politicians and humorous attempts to relate the conflict to sport. 

Some also relate to the conion crisis of 1918 when the government, which had introduced conscription into Britain in 1916, attempted to do the same in Ireland in 1918. 

Newry, Mourne and Down Council chairman, Mickey Ruane, who opened the exhibition, said the  posters provide a wealth of detail on recruitment during World War One and show how artists, publishers and politicians used highly sophisticated techniques to encourage men to join up and people at home to contribute to the war effort. 

He added: “The posters provide a fascinating insight into recruitment during the war and show a great diversity of techniques used to draw different people into the war effort.”

Mr Ruane also thanked National Museums Northern Ireland for loaning the exhibition to Down County Museum and is sure many people will visit while it is in Downpatrick.