The Cheerful Tommy

[Home]

 

Publisher Gaultier   Location Boulogne Card numbers have been added for the purposes of cataloging only. Date Jan 1918   Cards               Set n/a Card Banners Napoleon said “I am France”… 1 Thinking of you all! It gives you a comfortable feeling  … 2 From somewhere in France Here I am! Still well and enjoying life … 3 I am thinking of you Sorry! But I must not let you know … 4   We had our tea in the garden today … 5 Your health! I’ve got a cushy job now … 6

 

CT 1 Napoleon said: “I am France”.         I feel the same way, with all this French mud on me.         The Allied trenches were generally lower and wetter than the German trenches. The constant water was not only uncomfortable for the men, but also caused the trench sides to subside. The full quote that Napoleon made to his Foreign Minister, Talleyrand was: “Today, I am France, and France is me. How can there be any dissent?”
CT 2 It gives you a comfortable feeling to be under shelter!         Note the rum jar, duck board, chicken wire, periscope.
CT 3 Here I am! Still well and enjoying life.         Gas Mask      Tommy is wearing a large box respirator, the first serviceable gas mask invented by Edward Frank Harrison. Harrison served in the 23rd Royal Fusiliers, the same battalion as Fergus Mackain.
CT 4 Sorry! But I must not let you know whereabouts I am in France!         Spurs      Tommy is wearing a bandolier, jodphurs, and spurs over his boots, which indicates that he is part of a mounted unit, possibly a sapper, signaler, or Army Service Corps. Note the windmill and haystacks in the background.
CT 5 We had our tea in the garden today, as we used to do at home.         Plum & Apple jam was the most common flavor found in the trenches. Initially when demand for grenades was at its greatest, engineers were encouraged to improvise their own grenades from the tins containing the soldier's ration of jam, hence the name “jam tin grenades”. The tin was packed with shredded gun wadding & nails, a detonator added & the tin sealed with clay & Bickfords No8 fuse added. The 'would be bomber' normally kept a pipe or cigarette lit in order to light the fuse.
CT 6 I’ve got a cushy job now!         “Cushy” is derived from the word Khush (“pleasant”) in Hindi, a remnant of old BEF hands that had served in India. In this instance, the use is sarcastic, based on Tommy’s expression. Rifle cover

                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheerful Tommy Cards	Banners	Gaultier
		Long (A)	Long (B)
Napoleon said : “I am France”…	Thinking of you all !	1	1
It gives you a confortable feeling to be under shelter !	From somewhere in France	2	2
Here I am ! still well and enjoying life.	I am thinking of you	3	3
Sorry ! but I must not let you know whereabouts I am in France !		4	4
We had our tea in the garden to day, as we used to do at home.	Your health !	5	5
I’ve got a cushy job now !		6	6
Card Thickness (inches)		.0145”
Reverse
Imp. P. Gaultier, Boulogne-s-Mer. – Ed. P. G. Visé 18-1-18		Center	Center
Errors / Inconsistencies
“Comfortable” is misspelled as in “a confortable feeling”		2	2
“but” is misspelled as in “fut I must not”			4