Lord Derby Scheme comic postcard 1

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CPC

1915

Overview

Colourful comic postcard featuring the lower half of a woman wearing a blue dress with a ruffled cream petticoat, black ribbed stockings and black pointed shoes with bows. The main focus is her garter, which appears on her lower leg and is coloured light brown with a red heart in the centre. From a distance, it resembles the Lord Derby Scheme armband which has a similar brown colour and a red crown.
A multicoloured dog (white, brown and black) wearing a gold studded collar has commented 'I'd like to be in her group' - the black writing contained within a white thought bubble bordered with black.
The background of the card has alternating layers of blue-green and gold.
The reverse of the card shows the printer's details and states that the card is from 'Series 479'. The name, service number and location of a soldier are written in pencil.

Historical information

The Lord Derby Scheme armbands were worn by men who had formally volunteered for Army Service but who had yet to be issued with a uniform.
The scheme was introduced in November 1915 by Lord Derby, Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby (1865–1948) after which it was named. He was Lord Kitchener's choice for Director General of Recruiting.
The scheme represented a final attempt to avoid full-scale Conscription.
Men aged between 18 & 41 were asked to attest their readiness to serve in the British Army, on the understanding that all single men would be called up before the youngest married volunteers.
Unfortunately by the scheme’s closing date of December 1915, more than a million men had failed to come forward, resulting in compulsory military service being introduced in January 1916.

Many humorous postcards were released around this time to encourage men to enlist. Several, such as this card, compared the khaki and red Lord Derby armband to garters on the legs of attractive ladies.

Pte George Amiel was born on 24 May 1882 in Deal, Kent. He enlisted with the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force, service number 107053 in December 1914. According to his attestation paper, he had previously served 2 years in the Imperial Yeomanry.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-119-RoW00250

Item type

Collectibles

Ephemera

Postcards

Themes

Social History
War and Conflict
War and Conflict > World War 1

Material

Card

Ink