Children, propaganda and war 1914-18: an exploration of visual archives in English city

Since 2014 there have been across Europe programmes of commemorative events to mark the Great War, 1914-18, and early amongst these events was an exhibition of photographs Paris 14-18, la guerre au quotidien at the Galerie des Bibliothéques de la Ville de Paris. The photographs were all taken by Charles Lansiaux, and record daily life in the city, from the recruitment and departure of French soldiers to victory celebrations in 1918. The exhibition importantly pointed to the fact that the Great War was the first conflict where the experiences of civilians were extensively visually documented. Further, as publicity for the exhibition noted: “La présence récurrente de groupes d’enfants dans ces photographies révèle la place nouvelle qui leur incombe, à l’aube du xxe siècle”. Taking a lead from this exhibition this paper will investigate the wartime experiences of children in one English city, namely Birmingham, and how they were visually captured. In particular we will focus on documenting and analysing the connections between the representation of children at war, propaganda and the promotion of patriotism.