The Little Mother Letter

[Grinseed]

I wonder if any forumite can help me with this slightly off topic question?

An anonymous letter was printed in the English newspapers during the Great War in answer to concerns about dwindling army recruits and the argument against conscription. In it a mother tells of her great pride in producing sons willing to die for her country and assures readers that whenever an English soldier goes over the top should he look behind him he will see the little mothers of England urging him on. Or something very similar. It was signed 'a little mother' or 'little mother'.
I always suspected the author was a man, maybe Northcliffe himself or Christabel Pankhurst who was as avidly keen on prosecuting the war as she had been trying to win the vote.

I have lost my reference to this letter and am hoping someone might be able to steer me in the right direction with a link or a book title....I have so many and cant recall which I read it in....<shakes head 'surely not another senior moment?' :blink: >

Thanks in advance for any help.

[NeilE]

I wonder if any forumite can help me with this slightly off topic question?

An anonymous letter was printed in the English newspapers during the Great War in answer to concerns about dwindling army recruits and the argument against conscription. In it a mother tells of her great pride in producing sons willing to die for her country and assures readers that whenever an English soldier goes over the top should he look behind him he will see the little mothers of England urging him on. Or something very similar. It was signed 'a little mother' or 'little mother'.
I always suspected the author was a man, maybe Northcliffe himself or Christabel Pankhurst who was as avidly keen on prosecuting the war as she had been trying to win the vote.

I have lost my reference to this letter and am hoping someone might be able to steer me in the right direction with a link or a book title....I have so many and cant recall which I read it in....<shakes head 'surely not another senior moment?' :blink: >

Thanks in advance for any help.

The "Little Mother" letter is perhaps the most famous of probably hundreds of such subjects published throughout the Commonwealth during The Great War. Many of them followed the same formats and themes. Usually they were the product of some sub-editor in whatever newspaper it was placed in. Occasionally they were genuine. I know of one author here in Australia, who, sceptical of such a letter's provenance, was able to trace it to a local woman who had sons at the front. Most he looked at, however, either couldn't be sourced beyond the newspaper concerned, were found to be syndicated from a larger newspaper, or were sourced from members of the local recruiting committee.

The effectiveness of these recruiting devices waned as the war drew on. The is a fair bit of evidence from memoirs and diaries that they were common objects of derision by the soldiers at the front. They were even lampooned in the soldier's trench newspapers.

I doubt whether Northcliffe or Pankhurst wrote it. More like it was the product of some nameless sub-editor, responding to his editor's directive.

Cheers

Neil

[Grinseed]

Thanks for the extra information Neil, I do appreciate it.
I did another google search and turned up the following
Once Upon a Time...: War Madness, Propaganda, and the "Little Mother" (http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2006/02/war-madness-propaganda-and-little.html)
which includes the letter and some contemporary responses.
The book in which I first read of it was Graves's Goodbye to All That.

[Jenny]

Here's some information according to my copy of GBTAT, 1998 edition with an introduction by Paul Fussel. Check out the introduction pages x-x1. It is then printed in full with commentary on pages 228-232. The letter apparently ran first in the Morning Post. You might check out the Morning Post archives, or what we in the US journalism call the morgue. It's certainly a maniacal piece of writing, and may or may not be of questionable veracity. I believe that at the time it first ran, it was regarded as a legitimate piece of writing. Actually, I'd like to know whether it was written by a bereaved mother.
FYI, for those of you who are fans of Lu Hsun, I can't think of a better example of Lu's maxim, "All literature is propaganda, but all propaganda is not literature", than "A Mother's answer...."
Good luck, Jenny

[NeilE]

Here's some information according to my copy of GBTAT, 1998 edition with an introduction by Paul Fussel. Check out the introduction pages x-x1. It is then printed in full with commentary on pages 228-232. The letter apparently ran first in the Morning Post. You might check out the Morning Post archives, or what we in the US journalism call the morgue. It's certainly a maniacal piece of writing, and may or may not be of questionable veracity. I believe that at the time it first ran, it was regarded as a legitimate piece of writing. Actually, I'd like to know whether it was written by a bereaved mother.
FYI, for those of you who are fans of Lu Hsun, I can't think of a better example of Lu's maxim, "All literature is propaganda, but all propaganda is not literature", than "A Mother's answer...."
Good luck, Jenny

Hi Jenny;

What is "GBTAT"? We don't all have the same banter you know....

;)

cheers

Neil

[Jenny]

I'm sorry Neil. GBTAT is "Goodbye to All That". It's a whole lot easier to abbreviate it, than to write it out in full. May I ask you some questions about Aussie-speak? Jenny

[Grinseed]

Hi Jenny, unfortunately my 1960 Penguin paperback lacks any comments by Fussell, but I have followed the leads to Fussell's Great War and Modern Memory, which makes two books I've read of Little Mother and could not recall....:rolleyes:
And thanks for the Morning Post archive headup.

Cheers