There are several points which should be examined further:

·       date of publication 

·       foundation of the Anti-German Union (later British Union?)

·       the role of Sir John Simon?

 

The Anti-German Union, No. 2. No German Labour, No German Goods, No German Influence, Britain for the British. Available through: Adam Matthew, Marlborough, The First World War, http://www.firstworldwar.amdigital.co.uk.bishopg.idm.oclc.org/Documents/Details/WRC.35a.492 [Accessed March 11, 2022].

Robb, George. British Culture and the First World War, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bishopg/detail.action?docID=4763830.

Fashions for women cartoon

Author: William Haselden

Published: The Daily Mirror 08/06/1915

I started analysis of this primary source as Jordanova (2012, p.45) suggests, by first looking at the ‘technical basics’. The cartoon was designed by English cartoonist and caricaturist William Haselden (1872–1953), who worked for the Daily Mirror newspaper from 1903 (its founding year). Haselden’s work was greatly admired, Little (2007) states that he was ‘the father of the British newspaper strip cartoon’ and that his work was a ‘social commentary…in which he reflected on the different fads, fashions, manners, and modes of the average middle-class householder in a single frame divided into a number of panels.’ The Daily Mirror was initially launched as a middle-class women’s newspaper, ‘reflection of women’s interests, women’s thought, women’s work’ (Harmsworth, 1903)

I was drawn to this source, as its layout is familiar to me. I have a personal interest in ladies’ fashion in the Victorian and Edwardian era, and the cartoons format is that of a ‘fashion plate’ that commonly appeared in ladies’ magazines and newspapers, showcasing the fashions of the time, see example on the connected post from the  Ladies home journal, September 1904.

The cartoon shows six different women dressed in uniform / clothing for the roles of a; dustman, a porter, a chimney sweep, a messenger, a sailor, and a postman, and in small print at the bottom of the cartoon is ‘The taking on of men’s jobs by women in all classes of life just now ought to provide them with some useful and not unbecoming ideas for new fashions’

The cartoon addresses gender and class roles, but I will focus on gender for this analysis. All the roles portrayed, were at the time in 1915 male dominated roles, (unfortunately, it is fair to say that 107 years later, they still are!)

This source shows support for women’s changing gender roles at the time, the source was created less than a year after the outbreak of the first world war, showing there was already an awareness that women were going to need to be utilised in filling positions of men who have gone away to war, and the author indicates that this is a good thing, and he is supportive of this change in gender roles. I do feel however that this message is sent through a very ‘gendered’ format, using the medium of fashion, something women were believed to be very interested in. Interestingly shortly after during the interwar period, women’s fashion experienced the biggest change it would ever see, changing from restricted corsetry and long skirts to the looser and shorter styles of the ‘flapper’ in the 1920’s. 

I think we could use Connell’s theory to analyse this source, as one of the three areas that he used to understand gender in society was production relations; how labour was divided in the workplace and at home, depending on a person’s gender.

Finding information on the author and the newspaper helped me to achieve a richer analysis of this primary source, as it all added to the context of the source. Also checking at what point in the war it was published was important, to try to avoid using hindsight when viewing the source, and focus consider only events that have happened up until its publication. 

Connell, R. (2005). Masculinities (2nd ed.). Polity Press.

Jordanova, L. (2012). ‘Approaching Visual Materials’ in Gunn, S. and Faire, L. (eds.) Research Methods for History. Edinburgh University Press, pp. 30-47. https://bishopg.on.worldcat.org/oclc/795711413.

Harmsworth, A. (1903). The Daily Mirror. https://www.historic-newspapers.co.uk/blog/daily-mirror-history/