What souvenir did you buy in the Great War?

Now I remain fascinated by those small porcelain figures from the Great War.

They were made by companies who specialized in tourist knick knacks, including key rings, models of places like Blackpool Tower, Ann Hathaway’s Cottage and heaps of other porcelain things.

Often, they included a place name and could be found in seaside resorts and tourist centres up and down the country.

And when the Great War started those same porcelain companies switched to making objects associated with the conflict, ranging from tanks, ambulances and aircraft to bull dogs and battleships.

Not to be outdone, the companies also added the names of towns and cities to the objects, and the public bought them in their thousands.

What of course always surprises me is how many of them have survived in perfect condition, and so it is with this one of a tank from Scarborough.

I am indebted to David “posty” Harrop who has a vast collection of these porcelain figures along with lots of memorabilia from both world wars as well as a huge collection of Post Office material.

To some the figures may seem a peripheral aspect of that war, but they do show the willingness of the population to be engaged in the conflict, and to have treasured them long after peace had returned.

That said the companies did sometimes get it wrong, like the model of the battleship HMS Manchester, which David has in his collection.  It is a lovely figure, made all the more interesting because during the war there was no battleship of that name.

Still it hasn’t stopped David giving it pride of place in his permanent exhibition of wartime memorabilia at the Remembrance Lodge in Southern Cemetery.

Location, 1914-18

Picture; porcelain figure of a tank, circa 1916-1918, and HMS Manchester, circa 1914-18, from the collection of David Harrop