An old soldier shakes a young soldier's hand at a railway station, and the medals pinned to his civilian coat say the rest.
Lawson Wood (1878 to 1957) drew it in 1914 as Parliamentary Recruiting Committee Poster No. 18, printed by Dobson, Molle and Co. of Edinburgh and London. Wood was published regularly in The Graphic, Punch and The Illustrated London News, and he made multiple designs for the PRC's opening recruitment campaign. The Committee commissioned over a hundred poster designs between August 1914 and the introduction of conscription in January 1916.
The Imperial War Museum holds copies of the poster.
On the poster
A khaki-uniformed British infantryman clasps the hand of a stooped elderly veteran at a railway station. The old man's campaign medals are pinned to a dark civilian coat, and his free hand rests on a walking stick. Behind them a railway carriage door marked "THIRD" dissolves into the cream ground. Beneath the central illustration panel, small black serif type reads "A CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK". A cadmium red border frames the illustration, with bold white serif lettering above and below.
About this print
A digitally restored reproduction, printed on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art paper with pigment inks.
