Body and mind: a comparison of photographic depictions of physically and mentally wounded British soldiers during The Great War

Perhaps the most heart wrenching legacy of the First World War is the profound, lasting impact the conflict had on its participants. Hundreds of thousands of British men returned home from the Western Front with bodies and minds torn by the new weapons of industrialized warfare. While both severely physically and mentally wounded men were left debilitated by their experiences in the trenches, and were thus dependent on government pensions for survival, these two groups of wounded veterans were not represented in a similar manner to the British civilians at home. This thesis examines the photographs of physically wounded men and soldiers suffering from shell shock from the Great War. Using masculinity and disabilities studies as tools of analysis, the positive regard surrounding newly disabled veterans becomes clear. The images of wounded men deliberately paint a picture of plucky, stoic, and independent individuals: the defining characteristics of a true man in this historical moment. These positive presentations of physically disabled men were created to be widely circulated to the British public, often as fundraising tools for the hospitals where they received care. Other pictures of the disabled tell a slightly different narrative, that of broken men being restored to their role as potential breadwinners through the healing treatments administered by the British government. In this manner, the government that sent these men to their dismemberment is also responsible for making them whole again.