Facsimile of Lord Kitchener's Letter appealing for more recruits

Lord Kitchener's appeal

This facsimile of a letter by Lord Kitchener, the British Secretary of State for War, 16th May 1915, appealed for 300,000 British recruits to form new armies. The letter is bound in a cartridge paper folder, the cover title of which is '5,000,000 men', referring to the 5.5 million men of military age available in 1915.

This object symbolises the major recruiting effort to strengthen the British Forces for a long war after the disastrous losses of 1914. By this time, the British public were increasingly aware of the danger and intensity of the fighting men were signing up for when they enlisted.

Patriotic commemoration

The facsimile was published solely for the benefit of the Lord Kitchener National Memorial Fund and the British Red Cross Fund. The memorial fund was established following Kitchener's untimely death in 1916.

In patriotic style, the front cover depicts Kitchener in a roundel surrounded by English oak leaves, and his portrait is flanked by idealised portraits of a war worker and soldier. The letter states that war workers, or those who were engaged in the production of war material, would not have to leave their work. It was to those who were not performing this duty that Kitchener appealed.