Wetaskiwin District Heritage Museum Centre & City of Wetaskiwin Archives

This so-called Bairnsfather Ware is a commemorative plate of WWI that was on display in the cottage of Elton and Carrie Merner at Ma-Me-O Beach. It depicts a cartoon of soldier getting a hair cut in the trenches as a shell goes buzzing past. It is titled ‘COIFFURE IN THE TRENCHES’ and captioned “KEEP YER ‘EAD STILL, OR I’LL ‘AVE YER BLINKIN’ EAR OFF’”. Surrounding the cartoon are a variety of personal items including helmets and hats, canteens, pots, buckets will bullet holes, cans of plums, as well as two mice breaking into a box of food. On the back are the words “A Souvenir of the Great War, Commenced Aug 4th, 1914, Armistice Nov 11th 1918, Peace Signed June 28th 1919”. It is signed by Bruce Bairnsfather, a cartoonist and Captain for the British Army who served on the front line in France. His series of Old Bill sketches were published weekly in “The Bystander” magazine and helped to boost morale and lift spirits both at home and on the front line. In 1917 the owners of The Bystander granted Grimwades Pottery permission to reproduce a limited number of these cartoons on items then in production. This plate is an excellent example of one of the first of thousands of pieces that were made.