Bairnsfather’s ‘Old Bill, the influence on Tommy Atkins, and the Better ‘Ole Video Game

In terms of surviving, processing and enduring the environment that Tommy Atkins faced during the war, humour played a vital role, one which should never be undervalued for its contribution. Lord Moran (1882-1977), President of the Royal College of Physicians, Winston Churchill's personal doctor, and author of The Anatomy of Courage (1945), summed it up best when he wrote: 'It took a bite out of the fear of death'.¹ Modern historians have gone further, convincingly making the case that Tommy Atkins' humour was 'a war-winning quality'.²

One of — if not the — biggest influences on soldiers' humour was the cartoons of Captain Bruce Bairnsfather (1887-1959) and his creation Old Bill, which first appeared in 1916. When I initially started researching Bairnsfather for my MA, I have to confess, I was a little sceptical, and I remember a conversation I had with Mark Warby, the authority on Bairnsfather , where I said I thought his cartoons have both been over and understated. Part of the reason for my belief that the influence may have been overstated is that this was a period that saw the 'rise of the celebrity'. A time of manias, where the latest craze would rapidly elevate individuals into the spotlight and sweep the public along with them until the next craze came along — which was often rapidly. One month it could be cyclists riding the limelight, the next it was boxers.³ I believe when looking at the rise of any popular individual of the period, it needs to be weighed against the obsessive nature of the time. Secondly, I was aware that Bairnsfather had been recruited by Mi7 to work on propaganda, both within Mi7 and for the Ministry of Information.⁴

In terms of understated, I've mentioned footnote inception before on this site — where rather than a reference to the original source, a historian refers to another historian, and if you dig down it turns out they have referred to another and so on. In Bairnsfather's case, there is a similar occurrence which leads to the American Brigadier, and senior officer of the United States Army Medical Corps Edward L. Munson (1868-1947), who in his 1921 book The Management of Men wrote, 'The value of such cartoons as those of Bairnsfather, in raising fighting spirit, can scarcely be overestimated'.⁵

From my research, I am in full agreement with Munson's statement, there is a mountain of evidence from contemporaries, who found such value in Bairnsfather cartoons — some highlighted below, and not wishing to make any accusations of lazy writing — over time it has rightly become accepted and regurgitated as fact, but at the same time taken for granted. What I mean by this is that, on discussions of morale and endurance, writers will include a sentence or two in reference, for example mentioning the 'Bairnsfather Spirit' or a paraphrase of Munson's statement, but then they gloss over the why.

As it turns out the answer to why his cartoons were so powerful is extremely simple. In his cartoons, Bairnsfather captured perfectly the zeitgeist of Tommy Atkins. There is plenty of evidence in support of this: contemporaries variously described his cartoons as a 'a testimonial of the psychology of the British soldier', 'The immortalisation of Tommy's Humour', and in the words of Sergeant Noble, writing in the 3rd Wandsworth, they 'Caught the spirit so skilfully, his delineatory [sic] analysis will be found to be an incalculable benefit to the future historian'.⁶

While the why is simple, the how is a lot more complex — and you could fill pages on the subject — but I believe at the centre of this is the sense of relatability Bairnsfather created that is best summarised by paraphrasing an unnamed runner commenting on his experiences on navigating muddy trenches: 'we were in the same position as "Old Bill"'.⁷

The influence of his cartoons changed the language of Tommy Atkins. In Words and the First World War, Julian Walker mentions that Bairnsfather 'reinforced and reflected the troops' language', while I would argue that this went further through soldiers' redeployment of soundbites from Bairnsfather's cartoons.⁸ Soldiers related these catchphrases to their own experiences. Gunner Bluett, EEF, described how the use of 'When the 'ell is it going to be strawberry?' became a semi-institution when dealing with the monotony of flies at mealtimes.⁹ In his letters, Sergeant-Major Keeling, 6th Battalion DCLI, writes that the phrase 'Where did that one go?' could be heard from the men across the Western Front with every shell burst, noting darkly that it was even funnier 'if you reflect the "next one" may by force majeure prevent you from making any inquiry at all'.¹⁰

Such catchphrases were reused and repurposed not only in soldiers' cartoons but in other forms such as poetry, verse and concert-party sketches.¹¹ A 2009 psychological study on social movie quoting, which the authors likened to telling a joke, concluded that people use catchphrases both for their own amusement and of others, and is comparable socially to the function of gossip.¹² The evidence of my wider research suggests that quotes from both Bairnsfather and cartoons, in general, were used in a similar manner.

Visual language also needs to be considered. Bairnsfather's work is similar to that of artist L.S. Lowry: just as elements of a Lowry painting are instantly recognisable as a 'Lowry Lamppost', or 'matchstick man', the same applies to Bairnsfather's work — so much so that it can be found in contemporary accounts and memoirs to describe features such as a 'Bairnsfather Barn', 'Bairnsfather Shelter', or a 'Bairnsfather Shack'.[^13] These elements were also reused by soldier-cartoonists in their own creations — often when a dugout, shell, or ruined village was drawn, it was in the style of Bairnsfather, such as in Figure 4.

Editors of trench journals such as the Linseed Last and the Periscope tried to get Bairnsfather to draw pictures for them, but contractual obligations prevented him from doing do so.¹³ Thus, the next best thing was to ask for cartoons 'a la Bairnsfather', but it appears the men did not need extra motivation to ape his style — a topic worthy of a post of its own, which I hope to cover in due course.¹⁴

The war poets still tend to dominate our narrative of the experience of the war, but if you want to get closer to Tommy Atkin's own narrative, picking up a used copy of one of the compilations of Bairnsfather's cartoons*,* such as Fragments of France, is not a bad start.

The Video Game

The idea for this game came about at 4am, struggling to sleep on one of the rare hot summer nights we had this year. Normally, ideas like this vanish with the twilight, but I have been meaning to take a look at the Godot Game Engine for some time, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to not only check it out but also to revisit some of Bairnsfather's cartoons.

The game is, of course, based on Bairnsfather's most famous cartoon 'The Better 'Ole', drawn by Bairnsfather after he was injured in the Second Battle of Ypres. It was initially published in the 1915 Christmas Edition of the Bystander (originally titled 'One of Our Minor Wars'), for which he was paid 4 guineas.¹⁵ The cartoon was an instant smash, both at home and on the Front, being reproduced in various publications and formats, and spun off into many parodies (including from Bairnsfather himself). 'The Better 'Ole' would also become the name of a musical, penned by Bairnsfather himself, along with Arthur Elliot (1874-1936), in 1917.

For the sake of simplicity, I decided to use a pen and ink-wash version of the cartoon, done later by Bairnsfather. I've also borrowed elements from two of his other cartoons: 'A Proposal in Flanders' and 'Miners Success', both from the 1916 Fragments from France book. For the title screen, I copied the front of a 1917 leaflet advertising the stage play. The background music, which was a lot of fun to put together, is also from the stage play titled 'Plum and Apple'. And for anyone wishing to sing-along, the words are below.

As for the game itself, it’s a Simon clone, but instead of remembering which coloured button has been illuminated, there are artillery barrages. You have to remember which ‘oles have been hit, and which ones were missed — that is to say, the Better ‘Ole…

The game can be played (on desktop browser) by clicking the link below.

Plum and Apple

Captain Arthur Elliot & J.P. Harrington. Arranged by Herman Darewski, 1917

Verse 1

Twenty little soldiers, were sitting in a row
Grousing at the Whizz-Bangs, Swearing at the Foe
Oh! For just a rump steak!
Wish I had the chance!
Seems to me the only thing they ever grow in France is...

Chorus

Plum and Apple, Apple and Plum
Plum and Apple, we have always some
The A.S.C. get strawberry jam, and our rations of rum;
But all we poor blokes ever get is Apple and Plum!

Verse 2

Twenty little soldiers, they heard the 'rooty call'
Got their serviettes out, in the dining hall
What you got today Bill?
Chicken and Champagne?
Strike me up an apple tree! Well, here we are again!

Repeat chorus.

The music can also be listened to, without the game: