Kitchener, kings and virginal colleens

Although the most celebrated recruiting posters of World War I featured the Listowel-born Herbert Kitchener, it seems they didn’t feature prominently in Kerry or Ireland generally and it seems that Kitchener did not regard the Irish as his countrymen and women.

From what I can gather, a different approach was adopted by the “United Kingdom’s” recruiting agents in Ireland.

“God Save the King” does not seem to have been widely featured on the posters. The trams in Dublin were festooned with the exhortation to fight for Ireland. Truly, the past is another country!.