BBC Radio 4 2016-06-15

Good morning. Yesterday marked 100 years since the funeral of Horatio Herbert Kitchener, Lord Kitchener of Khartoum. On the 5th August 1914, the day after Britain declared war on Germany, Kitchener was made Secretary of State for War. He was already a national hero, a Field Marshall and former Colonial Administrator. He realised – as few did at the time – that there would be no easy victory ahead, but a long and gruelling campaign. What he is most famous for is his image. It was his stern face that stared down from recruiting posters in 1914 demanding: ‘Your country needs you’. Recruitment was already high and by the end of the following year two and a half million men had signed up, making the largest volunteer army the world had ever seen.

The image of Kitchener has become something of an icon of advertising. It’s been imitated, parodied and often ridiculed. But in its time the poster struck a chord. This was no doubt because it conveyed authority in an age when there was more respect for it than there is today. The groomed moustache, the unsmiling gaze, the pointed finger seeking you out. But the familiar face also gave the poster a personal quality. Kitchener personified the country, not as a nation of strength but as a nation in need. There is the shadow of the preacher in his appeal, the pointed finger recalling the finger of God and God’s plea to every human heart to respond with faith and courage.

Lord Kitchener did not live to see the victory. He was drowned on the 5th June 1916 on a diplomatic mission to Russia. His ship, HMS Hampshire hit a German mine and sank with its 600 men just off the coast of Orkney. His funeral in St Paul’s Cathedral was a great event. Correspondents at the time described the congregation as a sombre two-tone sea of black for mourning set off by the khaki uniforms of the military. The national mood towards him was one of gratitude, though he was a flawed hero; difficult and abrasive.

But it’s the poster image of Kitchener that has lived on. The effect of his stare is partially explained by the fact that he had a cast in one eye and he really does look through you. But he also asks for help. We all want to be needed, we want to feel we are not just passive recipients of whatever fate hands down to us, but active agents in shaping the future. Reflecting on that I wonder what a poster saying ‘Your country needs you’ would evoke today? Who would make the appeal and who would respond? If there were to be such an appeal it would surely be asking us to unite, to search our souls for the values we hold in common, the values which lead to freedom, peace and justice. There are important debates about how we get there, but more important is the goal.

First broadcast 15 June 2016