Progress report, and some news

Two more pages have been completed, which is why the "*" has now disappeared from the associated links on the left. "Greetings" Set includes examples of all the Fergus Mackain festive illustrations published by Savigny in both long (10) and short (8) sets. This page took a little longer to construct as it includes a detailed table of all known permutations of captions and banners. Emphasis on "known" because it is very possible there are some Greetings cards that have not yet been identified (and so if you spot any errors or omissions, please do let us know). Hopefully this information will be helpful for Mackain collectors.

Somewhat simpler was The Cheerful Tommy, published by Gaultier as a short set of six cards. Many thanks to collector Marika Pirie for providing examples of all six cards. Usefully, Marika's complete set contains used cards that were all written with a message for home within days of each other by the same soldier. In the absence of numbering or a helpful wrapper, this is the best indication to date that these are the same six cards advertised on the Tommy's Life cover wrapper.

On the subject of used cards, if you haven't read it already, Marika's introduction to this blog does a great job connecting Mackain's cards to the very human experiences of the soldiers who purchased and wrote on them, providing a glimpse into their state of mind. For example, Marika writes:

Standing out from the usual patriotic type with fearless heroes, as produced in quantity by other artists, another drawing showed Tommy behind a row of sandbags. The caption was: “Waiting for the barrage to lift. It makes you feel small and sort of lost!” (Up the line – No. 8). Before Tommy is a fierce bombardment, shells flying, explosions and destruction. Mackain has coloured the card with muted colours – pinkish sandbags, orange red flames, and a bright blue sky. This soldier stares bewildered into the face of the recipient of the postcard. The sender has marked his name on the back of the card, S. W. Doney, and just one word - France.

Staying on this subject, the table "Earliest and Latest Known Dates of Use" has been updated. There are still quite a few gaps, so please let us know if you have any cards with dates on them before or after the ones in the table, whether they were handwritten, or stamped by the Army Post Office.

The website First World War Postcards has very kindly added a link to this blog from their Fergus Mackain page, and as a result traffic to FMSketches has increased, so it seems only appropriate to return the favor.

Speaking of traffic, in the last month visitors have been landing at FMSketches from all over the world, notably: Canada; UK, USA, Austria, New Zealand, France, and Germany. It's very exciting to know that there is global interest in Fergus Mackain and his cards. If you'd like to be notified of updates, a gadget has been added to the right of the web page so that you can receive email notifications or subscribe to changes. 

Last but definitely not least, one reader from the UK sent in a previously unknown Fergus Mackain card, which will be included in a future post. One of the primary goals for this site is to locate and catalog rare Mackain cards, so we are truly grateful when this kind of thing happens!

Regards to all, and stay warm!

FMSketches

About this website

If, like the gentleman here, you are scratching your head and wondering what this blog is all about, then this is a good place to begin. The purpose of this website is to catalog online the wartime sketches of Fergus Mackain, who served in World War One and documented his experiences through illustrations, most of which were used on postcards. The hope is that this website will promote awareness of, and serve as a source of knowledge for, this less celebrated artist, and encourage the sharing of information about his life and works.

The website will include his best-known – and some less well-known – pictures, and will be updated as new facts and sketches are uncovered. The timing of the site precedes the centenary of the start of the war in 1914, and hopefully serves in some way to recognize all of the soldiers who gave their lives for their country. It is not the purpose of this website to provide a detailed biography of Mackain and an analysis of his life before and after the war, nor to catalogue all of his lifetime’s artwork.

Fergus H E Mackain was born in Canada in 1886, the second of seven children of a civil engineer who emigrated from England to North America at the age of 16, became a naturalized American, and died in Augusta when his son Fergus was just 10. At the start of World War One, Fergus left his job and young family in New York and sailed to England to enlist, initially serving with 30th (Reserve) Battalion, and then 23rd (Sportsman’s) Battalion, of the Royal Fusiliers regiment.

Mackain sailed to France in 1916 and fought with 23rd as part of the Somme offensive, was wounded at the Battle of Delville Wood, and was later transferred to the Army Service Corps as a result of illness. After demobilization, Fergus published a children’s book before returning to his family in New York in 1920. In 1923, Fergus contracted pulmonary tuberculosis, and died at the age of 38 in Oteen Veterans Hospital (Asheville, NC).

While serving in France, Fergus Mackain published a series of illustrated postcards that documented the experiences of a soldier who goes through training before being shipped out to the front to fight in the British Expeditionary Force. At least 70 unique illustrated cards were created by Mackain, possibly as many as 100. The cards were produced by two printers, Gaultier and Savigny, with many cards being reprinted as they gained in popularity.

In addition to the postcards, Mackain created an illustrated letter for his son back at home, and it is believed he also provided drawings for a soldier’s French phrase book. It is unknown whether he created other artwork while serving in the army, but there is always hope that other examples will come to light as a result of websites like this.

The blog is organized with static pages accessed by links in the menu on the left of the page:

Introduction	An Introduction to Fergus Mackain’s “Sketches of Tommy’s Life” series of postcards by guest writer Marika Pirie.
Tommy’s Life	Four series of Mackain’s best known postcards, “In Training”, “At the Base”, “Up the Line”, and “Out on Rest”, with an index of the cards printed by Gaultier and Savigny, plus a supporting commentary for each card.
“Greetings” Set	A series of 10 Mackain postcards that were printed by Savigny with winter or festive themes.
The Cheerful Tommy	A further series of 6 Mackain postcards printed by Gaultier in 1918.
Other Postcards	Some other Mackain postcards from World War One that were not part of the above series.
Familiar French Phrasebook	A small French phrasebook that contains a Mackain advertisement and, it is suspected, some illustrations by him as well.
Illustrated Letter	The “Dear Mackie” letter from Mackain to his son in New York that was published in Scribner’s magazine.
Supporting Pictures	Relevant photographs and other pictures from World War One that serve to provide a context for Mackain’s time in France and his sketches.
Timeline	A summary timeline of Mackain’s life and his service in 23rd Royal Fusiliers.
Bibliography / Reading List	Recommended books, articles, and other sources of information on Fergus Mackain and World War One.
Help Needed!	What you can do to help improve this site!

More information is being added all the time. Comments and questions are always welcome, either directly through the comments sections in the blogs and pages, or by email to fmsketches@macbrem.com.