A LATE addition has been made to the new exhibition at Scarborough Art Gallery, Remember Scarborough, which opened last month.

Museum staff were delighted to spot a Bombardment propaganda cross for sale at David Duggleby’s Scarborough auction house, and bought it for £65. It will now be a permanent part of the Scarborough Collections.

On December 16, 1914, German warships fired hundreds of shells on Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool, an offensive which became known as The Bombardment. Hundreds died and many were injured.

The death of so many innocents sparked an impassioned recruitment drive by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, but also led to other propaganda opportunities.

For some time, an unknown person, who some have suggested may have been Gordon Selfridge, founder of the famous department store, had been producing spoof iron crosses bearing the names of cultural sites damaged by the German army to ridicule the enemy.

Shortly after the 1914 Bombardment, crosses with the names of the three towns attacked appeared – Hartlepools [East and West Hartlepool, conflated later in the 20th century to the singular Hartlepool], Scarboro and Whitby.

“We couldn’t believe our luck when we spotted the cross in Duggleby’s sale,” said Debbie Seymour, chief executive of Scarborough Museums Trust. “We just had to have it for the Scarborough Collections – it’s such an important part of the town’s history.”

The cross is on display as part of Remember Scarborough, which can be seen at Scarborough Art Gallery, until January 4.

The gallery is open from 10am to 5pm every day except Monday.

For more information, visit scarboroughmuseumstrust.org.uk