Very British! Memorable Images 53: Your Country Needs You!

Lord Kitchener

Lord Kitchener “Your country needs you!”

Horatio Herbert Kitchener, better known as Lord Kitchener, is most famously remembered for being the face in the recruiting poster of the British people, in the First World War. But as we shall see, his accomplishments were many more than that single, yet enormously important, campaign.

Lord Kitchener was born in 1850, on a farm in southern Ireland (Eire). His father had enjoyed a successful career in the armed forces, and with his retirement funds had bought the farm as both a home and business venture. When his two sons were in their early teens, Kitchener senior decided to send them abroad, no doubt telling them that it would be an educational experience. More likely, the wily old father saw it as an ideal chance to concentrate solely on his business opportunities…