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 Major and Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide Books And Maps
Major and Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide Books And Maps

Captain Bruce Bairnsfather

 

This page is being reconstructed. Aug 2011.
Old Bill

One of the most popular representations of Old Bill was as a car mascot - Bruce had one on his own favourite Sunbeam car. They were made in chrome, brass and bronze

 

 

 

Old Bill was the archetypal WW1 Tommy created by the inspired cartoonist, Capt Bruce Bairnsfather of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He served in the muddy trenches of 'Plugstreet Wood' in the bitter winter of 1914-15 and out of his misery was born one of the world's most famous cartoon characters - the stoical soldier from the Midlands that he decided to christen 'Old Bill'.
Bruce Bairnsfather
Captain Bairnsfather in his studio

Old Bill and his comrades Bert and Alf soon appeared in cartoons in the Bystander magazine where they became such an instant success that their images were reproduced on pottery, postcards, in his studio playing cards, prints etc. They even appeared on the stage and on the screen bringing world-wide fame to their creator, who was described by Gen Sir Ian Hamilton as 'The Man Who Won the War'
Coiffure in the Treches
Old Bill Stands By
Jeeps and Jests
Coiffure in the Trenches
Old Bill Stands By
Jeeps and Jests

When WW2 broke out Bairnsfather revived Old Bill in magazines and on the screen (with John Mills as Young Bill). He was then 'adopted' by the USAAF as their officer cartoonist and wore a US uniform.
More details of Bairnsfather's amazing rise and fall career through two World Wars is described in Tonie and Valmai Holt's acclaimed biography, In Search of the Better 'Ole which includes listings of his works.

 

 biography
 
Cover of the biography

 

2. HELLFIRE CORNER DEMARCATION STONE

After the First World War the Touring Clubs of Belgium and France commissioned the sculptor Paul Moreau-Vauthier to design a suitable stone to mark the position of the Germans' advance towards significant towns and villages. Some 220 precise sites were chosen by Gen Pétain. and his staff but it is thought that 96 were actually erected in France and 22 in Belgium, the money to fund them being raised by public subscription and with donations from the Ypres League.

Expert Demarcation Stone researcher Rik Scherpenberg has identified 72 in France (placed on the front line of 18 July 1918) and 19 in Belgium still in existence.
Contact: http://www.wra.be e-mail: rik.scherpenberg@telenet.be

The first French Demarcation Stone was placed in Château Thierry and the first Belgian Demarcation Stone was unveiled in the Trenches of Death at Diksmuide on Easter Sunday 1922 by King Albert of the Belgians. Their Touring Club had raised the necessary 250,000 Francs for the erection of the Belgian stones. It was a glorious occasion, with flags and garlands, a huge crowd including many veterans and war wounded, and, according to the magazine, Le Courrier de l’Armée, ‘vibrant’ speeches from the representatives of the French and Belgian Touring Clubs.

However the most famous Demarcation Stone was that erected at the infamous Hellfire Corner in the Ypres Salient.

The metre-high marker was made by the stone mason Léon Telle in pink Alsace granite and bears a Tommy's helmet.

Around its sides the words
'Here the Invader was brought to a standstill 1918' are repeated in English, French and Flemish.

 

 

The Demarcation Stone
 

St. Mihiel
Villers Bretonneux Stone
St.Mihiel: Camp des Romains
Villers Bretonneux Stone
 
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