A RARE original recruiting poster dating from 1914 recalling the outrage following the Imperial German Navy bombardment of Scarborough has been discovered at an antiques valuation day.

The Parliamentary Recruiting Committee poster, headed “Remember Scarborough Enlist Now” will now be among a group of five Great War posters to be offered in a sale of fine art, antiques and collectors’ items at The Canterbury Auction Galleries on October 3-4.

The Scarborough poster is conservatively estimated to fetch £300-500 – but could sell for more.

The bombardment of the North East coast just after 8am on December 16 was the first time bombs had ever fallen on Britain.

For around one-and-a-half hours, German battleships the Von der Tann and Derfflinger sent shell after shell into the town, wreaking havoc and killing 18 and injuring dozens more.

Scarborough Castle, the Grand and other hotels and guesthouses, three churches, shops and family homes in the Esplanade were all damaged, while terrified locals fled for their lives, crowding railway station platforms and clogging roads leading out of town. Four people died in one house alone.

From Scarborough, the battleships moved on to shell Whitby, while others hit Hartlepool, leaving a total of around 135 dead and almost 600 wounded.

The attack caused outrage among the public and British press, many citing it as a war crime. Winston Churchill publicly called the Germans “baby killers”.

It also proved to be a catastrophic miscalculation, fuelling a huge British recruitment drive in which thousands joined up to fight, spurred on by posters like the one to be sold.

For further information about the auction, contact militaria specialist Dave Parker on 01227-763337.