Trench Art

[James Russell]

Dear community,

Here is what I suppose is called trench art - a little greeting card. Perhaps these are pretty common. This is the only art project left of the treasures my grandmother's brother sent home from Mesopotamia.

It was made of a standard army postcard folded in two. The "fine" art obviously came courtesy of Messrs Libby, McNeill, and Libby. According to the accompanying letter jam was used to affix the coloured paper. The pink string holds a little piece of stationery in place between the postcard covers. It must have been made in the cool season - I can't imagine working with jam plus the Mesopotamian heat and the flies!

Has the string become pink with time or is this some peculiar army stationery supply? I know it may be simply a bit of pink string but I have wondered off and on for the last 40 years whether the British army shipped miles of pink string to Mesopotamia for official War Department purposes.

These sorts of things are pretty common, right?

[Soren]

Hi James,

There is a rather big trench art conference here in Ieper shortly

[James Russell]

Dear Soren1915,

Thank you for the reply. I was suspecting that these cards are altogether common judging by the lack of reply to my post. Considering the sophistication of some trench art - metal and leather work for instance, this mightn't rate high. I'd be interested in knowing whether any such greeting cards appear or are considered in the Ieper conference.

My impression of the Mesopotamian campaign is that there wasn't a lot of material to work with. Almost any industrially manufactured object had been imported. Thus, any practical secondary use for objects no longer fit for their primary work would be sought before discarding. The local population was also extremely interested in and desirous of any army discards. I did notice a shell base fashioned into an ashtray that was claimed to have come from the MEF, on ebay a few months ago.

I hope the trench art conference is a success.

[Seadog]

James I would think that your card is uncommon. I believe that the majority of Trench Art items were made after WW1 whilst of course some items would have been made by soldiers on active service like your relative. Certainly an object to treasure.

Norman

[TimCatherall]

James - interesting piece of trench art. As a fan of corned beef I'm happy to see it being made into art although I can't image what it was like in Mesopotamia. Must have been lovely once it had heated up inside the tins...

[James Russell]

I'm not sure if I read this in A J Barker's Mesopotamian classic The Neglected War (sold in the USA by the way under the title The ******* War) but during the hot season the bully beef would burst out of the tins once the seal had been broken. It all sounds very messy to me.

Here in Philadelphia the summer temperatures can get above 100°F (38°C?) and corned beef, left to sit in our ambiance, can take on the properties of pudding. I too enjoy corned beef, still the Mesopotamian heat, flies, and sand must have made it rather unappealing on the march up the Tigris.

[James Russell]

The forum's filtre seems to be more puritan than the American publishing industry - there's a feat. The title referred to a Government Paper after the war that said the Mesopotamian Campaign was no one's child.