Poster; Back room boy - they also serve - cable maintenance, by Fred Taylor, 1942

'Back Room Boys' was a series of posters commissioned by London Transport to boost morale among passengers and staff during the Second World War. Each poster depicts London Transport staff at work behind the scenes. Many wartime workers were women, lending the title a certain irony. The layout, with a central image framed by an illustrated border, is reminiscent of a First World War poster series by Archibald Standish Hartrick. The central image of this poster was based on a photo taken in 1942. It depicts Mrs Ward, a circuit installer's mate, who worked in the signal engineer's department. She is assisting a male colleague with trackside cabling on the Underground near Uxbridge.