First World War Poetry Digital Archive

Tipperary Handkerchief

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SubjectUnknown
TitleTipperary Handkerchief
NotesThe attached image is of a large handkerchief, 47Cm (18.5 inches) square, possibly silk, which includes the music and words of It's a long, long way to Tipperary. For a number of years it was used to wrap my Grandfather's medals which were kept in a Princess Mary Christmas Gift Box (possibly the one he was given).

Probably designed pre '17 as the Allied flags includes that of Russia, but not that of the USA.
The text below the music (in red) gives: By kind permission of B. Feldman Co 2, 3 4 Arthur St. New Oxford St. London WC. (Feldman was a British music publisher who bought the rights).

The outer boarder is of interlinked shamrocks, and each corner contains a Victoria Cross. The flag boarders, which contains several flag designs which are no longer in use, are, I believe, as follows (some of the detail, even on the handkerchief itself ,is, unfortunately, not that clear):

Bottom row (Left -Right):
New Zealand Canada (or South Africa), British Naval Ensign India, South Africa (or Canada) Australia which is then repeated.

Top row:
As bottom row, but order reversed.

Left hand side (Top to bottom):
Ireland, Wales, England (English Standard) and Scotland (Scottish Standard) repeated twice.

Right hand side:
As left hand side, but order reversed.


Crossed with the Union Flag to the right left of the music words are:
To the right: France and Belgium.
To the left: Japan and Russia.
Item Date1914 - 1917
Creation placeUnknown
File typeMixed
Item sourceArtifact
Item mediumOther
ContentMemorabilia
CataloguerRichard Marshall
CopyrightThe Great War Archive, University of Oxford / Primary Contributor
Digital repositoryThe Great War Archive, University of Oxford
Contributor NameNigel Searle
Reference URLhttp://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa/document/9243