Keep the Home Fires Burning

TILL THE BOYS COME HOME
(KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING)

Words by Lena Guilbert Ford, Music by Ivor Novello
 
Printed in colour on cream fine weave fabric. Size:19x20” (48.3x50.8 cm.) Floated & museum matted, glazed (needs replacing) Cherry-wood frame. Size 29 ½ x 30 ½”
Ref. GC11(210)/DNN/a.anae>ELN    PRICE CODE B

A RARE item of WW1 memorabilia, a colour printed cream fine weave linen or cotton fabric, featuring the words and music of 'Till the Boys Come Home' (Keep the Home Fires Burning) which was published in October 1914.
The center score is surrounded by a border of the flags of the regional British Isles (top & bottom) and colonial empire flags (right & left sides) and surmounted by a union wreath with imperial crown and the national flags of the allies in late 1914. British Union flag in the center, flanked by those of the allies including Japan, France.

Below the score a young child sings the patriotic song to his parents and sister before a fireplace, beside which hangs a portrait of their serving elder brother. To the left, is a vignette of a platoon of Scots Guards amid spent shell casings and to the right, a vignette of field artillery in action. Images of early bi & mono-winged warplanes also are visible.
 The song bears the imprint of the publishers from whom the sheet music may be obtained.

 

The fabric is made of very fine weave cream linen or cotton and is in surprisingly good condition given that it is almost 110 years old, with only three small age spots. It is quite possibly a ‘Memento Mori’ for a family member who was killed in the Great War, or a patriotic treasure of one of the most famous anthems of the first World War.