"I hear they want more Bovril. My place is at the front" (Bovril poster, 1915)

"I hear they want more Bovril. My place is at the front" (Bovril poster, 1915)

Two-sheet colour lithograph poster in which a bull walks up to an army recruiting table draped with the Union Flag, where a smiling sergeant and an officer wait, under the words 'I hear they want more Bovril. My place is at the front' and the tag 'British to the backbone'. The recruiting table, the flag and the national slogan are lent to a beef-extract brand, so enlistment stands in for the product's claim.

Date
1915
Period
First World War
Made by
Bovril Ltd (London); imprint S.H.B. Ltd
Region
Western and Central Europe
Country
United Kingdom
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
Corporation
Regime
Asquith Government
Leader
Herbert Henry Asquith
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Persuade or win support
Themes
Home front, War and the military, Economy and finance
Event
World War I
Techniques
Transfer
Regime
Asquith government
Leader
H. H. Asquith
Source
Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source
Library of Congress, retrieved September 29, 2026
Rights
Public domain (published 1915; LoC: No known restrictions on publication)
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-11366 and LC-USZC4-11367 (two sheets joined)

Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

"I hear they want more
BOVRIL
My place is at the front"

BRITISH TO THE BACKBONE

S.H.B. Ltd. Regd. No. A 508

The imprint at lower right is small; 'Ltd.' is superscript.