Poster, 'Your King and Country'

Enlist Now!

This First World War poster was created by the British Parliamentary Recruiting Committee to encourage the enlistment of young men into the armed forces. Published as 'Poster No. 5' it was one of the first recruitment posters printed by the British government as it became increasingly eager to recruit men for the Army.

The text, titled with the 'G.R.' (Georgius Rex) cypher of King George V around the royal coat of arms, entreats the unenlisted viewer: 'Your King and Country Need You / Enlist Now'. This imperative text is set against a background of the red, white and blue Union Jack flag.

British and American Posters in New Zealand

This poster is part of a collection of First World War posters sent to New Zealand as examples of British wartime propaganda. From 1917-1919, the Dominion Museum (now Te Papa) collected such war material with the help of the New Zealand High Commissioner in London and the Department of Defence.

The museum intended to collect and display such objects in a planned national war museum in Wellington which never eventuated. Instead, the museum toured over 100 war posters around New Zealand in the early 1920s in the context of increasing commemoration of the war during peacetime. For many, the posters illustrated important aspects of the war and the history of New Zealand's part in the war. This commemorative function was far removed from their original function to encourage wartime contribution.