Down County Museum Launches New Exhibition ‘Answer the Call’

Down County Museum Launches New Exhibition ‘Answer the Call’

Down County Museum has officially launched its newest exhibition, ‘Answer the Call’ which is on loan from National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI). The exciting display includes a range of items from World War One such including various posters encouraging enlistment as well as ‘home front’ activities.

Following the first flush of enthusiasm for the war effort, thousands of men signed up to the army to join the fight in Europe. In 1914, enlistment campaigns appealed to patriotic and moral values as well as a sense of adventure. One year later over 89,000 Irishmen had joined the army.

During 1915, recruitment had become a major problem with enlistment numbers in Britain and Ireland declining dramatically. The government increased their sense of urgency which caused a large scale push in their recruitment drive through the use of the power of advertising and persuasion to encourage enlistment. Nearly six million posters, of more than 140 different designs, were commissioned. The Belfast-based firm David Allen and Sons, succeeded in winning orders for an estimated 1.5million copies of 40 different posters. At the same time the population at home was being encouraged to contribute to the war effort by taking part in war savings schemes and purchasing of war bonds.

This exhibition features an intriguing display from highly artistic representations of fighting on the western front alongside colourful, eye-catching drawings to text based appeals by politicians and humorous attempts to relate the conflict to sport.  Some also relate to the conscription crisis of 1918 when the government, who had introduced conscription into Britain in 1916, attempted to do the same in Ireland in 1918. 

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Mickey Ruane opened the exhibition and said, “These posters provide a wealth of detail on recruitment during World War One and show us how artists, publishers and politicians used highly sophisticated techniques to encourage men to join up and people at home to contribute to the war effort. They provide a fascinating insight into recruitment during the War and show a great diversity of techniques used to draw different people into the war effort. As well as launching this exhibition, I am very pleased to thank NMNI for loaning this exhibition to Down County Museum and I am sure many people will visit while it is here in Downpatrick”.