Friday 12 March 2021

A little souvenir of Woolwich from the Great War?

Now here is the challenge.

HMS Manchester, 1914-18
Has anyone got a similar piece of crested porcelain?

It might have the coat of arms of Woolwich Borough Council or the title Eltham.

This one is an example of those porcelain souvenir ones which were made and sold in huge quantities during the Great War.

It made perfect sense for the ceramic industry to switch from porcelain models of Blackpool Tower and Ann Hathaway’s cottage to war time themes.

The actual figures were pretty standard but wither it was a tank, or an ambulance, or even a battleship they could be marketed in towns and cities across the country with just the addition of a transfer coat of arms.

Manchester Tank, circa 1917-18
These ones come from the collection of David Harrop and feature in my new book, but I would love to find similar ones from where I grew up.

The closest so far is a replica of the Cenotaph with coat of arms of the City of London.

And there must be others.

But what would be really exciting is one from Woolwich and better still of Eltham.

It is just possible that some where carefully stored away is an ambulance with a local name or badge

Cenotaph, 1920
Now that would be something!

Location; Manchester

Picture; crested souvenirs,  1914-1918, from the collection of David Harrop

Manchester Remembering 1914-18 by Andrew Simpson was published by the History Press in February 2017

A new book on Manchester and the Great War, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20and%20the%20Great%20War

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