Museums Victoria holds several postcards from World War I that feature 'official photographs' in the Daily Mail Battle Pictures series, also called the Daily Mail War Pictures series. They are 'Crown Copyright Reserved' and 'Passed by Censor', and were printed in England.

The Daily Mail Battle Pictures series comprises 176 numbered postcards, issued in 22 series of eight cards each. Most depict scenes from the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Some of the series re-use photographs from earlier series, as seen in Museums Victoria's collection: Series 5 No. 40 (MM 90948) uses the same image, and largely the same inscription, as Series X, no. 80 (ST 039405). 

The series is based on 105 photographs taken by the few 'official photographers' on the Western Front during World War I, when personal photography by servicepeople was not permitted. This meant that public perception of the war could be carefully managed, as Museum's Victoria's collection indicates: removing challenging or distressing content, focusing on bravery ('Highlanders Pipe Themselves Back from the Trenches', MM 90951), prowess ('A British Heavy Gun in Action', MM 90950), and suitably respectful behaviour should the worst happen ('The Burial of Two British Soldiers on the Battlefield', MM 90943).

The cards were produced in three formats: photogravure, silver-print and colour.

The Daily Mail Battle Pictures series postcards in Museums Victoria's collection were sent between 1914 and 1917.  Four were sent by Private Albert Kemp, #6800, who served in the 6th Battalion in France and Belgium in 1917. He uses the photographs as conversation prompts in two of them: in a postcard to his son, depicting 'A British Heavy Gun in Action', he notes: 'These give fritz some hurry up don't you think' (MM 90950) and in a postcard to his family, 'The Burial of Two British Soldiers on the Battlefield', he writes: 'it is a very solemn postcard to send but it is quite true and I have done some of this work while under heavy fire of our enemies but neverless it touched your heart a bit but we feel quite pleased with ourselves when we can get to our dead comrades & boys to buried the dead and give them a decent grave' (MM 90943). Tragically Albert himself was killed soon after, and his body was never found. He never had 'a decent grave'. He is remembered on the Menin Gate, Belgium.

The Imperial War Museum holds a postcard album containing 168 postcards of the series (LBY 50575).

References

'Daily Mail Battle Pictures', Imperial War Museum, https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1502017214, accessed 8 Dec 2020.
Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2133119, accessed 8 Dec 2020.

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