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'18004 gdsn John B Edward
Coldstream Guard
Fought with honour and was disabled in the Great War.
Honourably discharged on 23rd August 1918
George RJ'

This object serves as a reminder to us that in times of war there are consequences other than death. What happens to those wounded during a conflict is often forgotten and left from the history books. Guardsman Edwards was lucky in this respect as he appears to have been a resident at the Enham Village Centre (set up in 1919 in Hampshire) which specialised in the rehabilitation of wounded ex-servicemen back into work.

The certificate also raises the idea of Empire and how great powers see themselves. Commissioned during the height of British Imperial power this picture represents a powerful Britannia being saluted by the soldiers of Britain and the Empire (represented by a British infantryman and Australian mounted infantryman). It is interesting that the classical style has been chosen to imitate the power of ancient Rome and Greece; a theme common in the art of European empires, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries.