---
title: Mr. John Dillon, M.P., on recruiting in Ireland. Join an Irish regiment to-day
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/john-dillon-on-recruiting-in-ireland-1915/
description: 'An all-text poster, without a picture, gives a named Irish Nationalist MP''s words as its whole argument: enlisting is ''a patriotic act'', and to say a…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Mr. John Dillon, M.P., on recruiting in Ireland. Join an Irish regiment to-day](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/john-dillon-on-recruiting-in-ireland-1915.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/john-dillon-on-recruiting-in-ireland-1915.jpg)

# Mr. John Dillon, M.P., on recruiting in Ireland. Join an Irish regiment to-day

An all-text poster, without a picture, gives a named Irish Nationalist MP's words as its whole argument: enlisting is 'a patriotic act', and to say a Nationalist who joined the Army 'betrayed Ireland' is 'a lie'. The named speaker vouches (testimonial), and the word 'patriotic' is stretched to cover service in an Irish regiment of the British Army, a meaning that rival Irish movements of the same years contested.

- **Date:** 1915
- **Period:** [First World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwi)
- **Made by:** Recruiting campaign in Ireland, United Kingdom (issuing committee not printed on the sheet); printed by Alex. Thom & Co., Ltd., Dublin
- **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe)
- **Country:** [United Kingdom](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-kingdom)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [Mixed](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=mixed)
- **Regime:** [Asquith Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=asquith-government)
- **Leader:** [Herbert Henry Asquith](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=herbert-henry-asquith)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Recruit](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=recruit)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Empire and colonialism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=empire-colonialism)
- **Event:** [World War I](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-i)
- **Techniques:** [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/) [Semantic hijacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/semantic-hijack/)
- **Regime:** [Asquith government](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/asquith-government/)
- **Leader:** [H. H. Asquith](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/asquith-government/#herbert-henry-asquith)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2003668420/), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (published 1915, before 1931; LOC: no known restrictions) Alex. Thom & Co., Ltd., Dublin, printer. [1915]. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-10990.

## Text on the object

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

```
MR. JOHN DILLON, M.P.
ON
RECRUITING
IN IRELAND

"It was a lie to say that any Nationalist who went into the Army betrayed Ireland; on the contrary, the men who joined the Army and took their stand beside the Irish Guards, the Dublin Fusiliers, and other gallant Irish Regiments, who had nobly maintained the traditions of our race, were doing a patriotic act.  Any man who sought to intimidate anyone from recruiting was doing a wrong act, and acting falsely to Ireland."

JOIN AN IRISH REGIMENT
TO-DAY

[printer's line, bottom edge, small: ... ALEX. THOM & CO., LTD., DUBLIN.]
```

The printer's line at the foot is very small; only the Dublin printer's name is legible at this resolution. The photographed copy is bordered by Kodak calibration strips added for archival photography.

[← Ireland & Poland (recruiting appeal quoting the Rev. William P. Burke)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ireland-and-poland-1915/) [Kriegs-ABC (German children's war alphabet, letters A and B, 1915) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kriegs-abc-hachez-glaser-1915/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Seljuq gold dinar of Sanjar, dated 493 AH, with the Abbasid caliph named on one face](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/seljuq-gold-dinar-sanjar-caliph-name-1099/) (1099 · Testimonial)
- [Bande Mataram (Paris), memorial page to Madan Lal Dhingra, 17 August 1909](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bande-mataram-paris-dhingra-memorial-1909/) (Aug 17, 1909 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Ein Volk in Waffen gegen eine Welt in Waffen (A People in Arms against a World in Arms), Red Cross welfare postcard](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ein-volk-in-waffen-haeseler-red-cross-postcard-1914/) (Sep 11, 1914 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Australia's imperishable record. Australians! The empire needs you (Farmer's, Sydney)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/australias-imperishable-record-1915/) (1915 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Ireland & Poland (recruiting appeal quoting the Rev. William P. Burke)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ireland-and-poland-1915/) (1915 · Fear appeal, Testimonial)
- [La France / L'Allemagne: même dans le timbre-poste (France / Germany: even in the postage stamp)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/la-france-l-allemagne-timbre-poste-1915/) (1915 · Testimonial, Name-calling)
- [Wer Kriegsanleihe zeichnet, macht mir die schönste Geburtstagsgabe! (Whoever Subscribes to the War Loan Gives Me the Finest Birthday Present!)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hindenburg-geburtstagsgabe-1917/) (1917 · Testimonial)