The character achieved a great deal of popularity during World War I where it was considered a major morale booster for the British troops.

The success of the piece led to a West End sequel, Old Bill, M.P., which opened at the Lyceum Theatre, London on 12 July 1922.

Bill & Alphie's, the Royal Military College of Canada on-campus cadet pub in Kingston, Ontario is named after Bruce Bairnsfather's Great War cartoon characters.

[6] Captain Bruce Bainsfather in an interview in the London Weekly Despatch 1917 identified the image of Thomas Henry Rafferty as the original Old Bill.

[citation needed] A North British Railways locomotive, of NBR Class C, number 661, was named Ole Bill in 1919 in recognition of service overseas in The Great War.