{"id":11422,"date":"2015-06-10T05:00:57","date_gmt":"2015-06-10T09:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.royalmontrealregiment.com\/?p=11422"},"modified":"2015-06-10T05:00:57","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T09:00:57","slug":"old-bill-featured-in-fragments-from-france-cartoons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/old-bill-featured-in-fragments-from-france-cartoons\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cOLD BILL\u201d Featured In \u2018Fragments from France\u2019 cartoons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday, June 10, 1915<\/i><\/p>\n

Trenches,\u00a0Givenchy<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Battalion War Diarist wrote for this day: “Relieved late in the afternoon by 3rd<\/sup> Battn. (Lt.-Col. Rennie) and marched to billets in Bethune, on north bank of canal, arriving at 8:30 p.m.”<\/em>\u00a0[1]<\/p>\n

\n
\"Captain<\/a>
Captain (Charles) Bruce Bairnsfather<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY:\u00a0\u201cCaptain (Charles) Bruce Bairnsfather<\/strong> (9 July 1887\u00a0\u2013 29 September 1959) was a prominent British humorist<\/a> and cartoonist<\/a>. His best-known cartoon character is \u2018Old Bill<\/a>.\u2019\u00a0 Bill and his pals Bert and Alf featured in Bairnsfather’s weekly \u2018Fragments from France\u2019<\/em> cartoons published weekly in \u2018The Bystander\u2019 magazine during the First World War<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Old<\/a>
\u201cWell, if you knows of a better \u2018ole, go to it.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1914 he [Bairnsfather] joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment<\/a> as a\u00a0second lieutenant and served with a machine gun<\/a> unit in France<\/a> until 1915, when he was hospitalised with shellshock<\/a> and hearing damage sustained during the Second Battle of Ypres<\/a>. Posted to the 34th Division<\/a> headquarters on Salisbury Plain<\/a>, he developed his humorous series for the Bystander<\/em><\/a> about life in the trenches<\/a>, featuring “Old Bill”, a curmudgeonly soldier with trademark walrus moustache<\/a> and balaclava<\/a>. The best remembered of these shows Bill with another trooper in a muddy shell hole with shells whizzing all around. The other trooper is grumbling and Bill advises:<\/p>\n

Many of his cartoons from this period were collected in Fragments From France<\/em> (1914) and the autobiographical Bullets & Billets<\/em> (1916).\u00a0\u00a0 Despite the immense popularity with the troops and massive sales increase for the Bystander<\/em>, initially there were objections to the “vulgar caricature”. Nevertheless, their success in raising morale led to Bairnsfather’s promotion and receipt of a War Office<\/a> appointment to draw similar cartoons for other Allies<\/a> forces.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [4]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Old<\/a>\"Old<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOld Bill<\/strong> was depicted as an elderly, pipe-smoking British “tommy” with a walrus moustache. The character achieved a great deal of popularity during World War I<\/a> where it was considered a major morale booster for the British troops. Old Bill and his younger troop-mate little Alphie were private infantrymen in the British Expeditionary Force<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many claims have been put forth as being the model for \u2018Old Bill\u2019 but the most likely appears to be Thomas Henry Rafferty, a lance corporal from Birmingham<\/a> in Bairnsfather’s regiment, the Royal Warwickshires<\/a>, who was killed in the same action<\/a> that invalided Bairnsfather in April 1915. Rafferty was featured in the Weekly Dispatch<\/em><\/a> in 1917, referred to as \u2018Old Bill,\u2019 along with a photograph taken by Bairnsfather.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [7]<\/a><\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 War Diary, 14th<\/sup> Canadian Battalion, The Royal Montreal Regiment<\/em>, June 10, 1915.\u00a0 Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa\u00a0http:\/\/data2.collectionscanada.ca\/e\/e044\/e001089758.jpg<\/a><\/pre>\n
[2]\u00a0\u00a0 Wikipedia contributors, \"Bruce Bairnsfather,\" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,<\/em> http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Bruce_Bairnsfather&oldid=649113961<\/a> (accessed March 7, 2015).<\/pre>\n
[3]\u00a0 http:\/\/theshakespeareblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/better-ole.jpg<\/a><\/pre>\n
[4]\u00a0\u00a0 Wikipedia contributors, \"Bruce Bairnsfather,\" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,<\/em> http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Bruce_Bairnsfather&oldid=649113961<\/a> (accessed March 7, 2015).<\/pre>\n
[5]\u00a0 http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/e\/ec\/OldBill.jpg<\/a><\/pre>\n
[6]\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/0\/08\/-Old_Bill-,_by_Bruce_Bairnsfather.jpg<\/a><\/pre>\n
[7]\u00a0\u00a0 Wikipedia contributors, \"Old Bill (comics),\" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,<\/em> http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Old_Bill_(comics)&oldid=638944714<\/a> (accessed March 7, 2015).<\/pre>\n
 <\/p>\n
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