Talbot House in Poperinge(West Flanders) has been able to acquire the complete collection of 'The Wipers Times'. The publication was an underground satirical soldiers' newspaper written at Talbot House during the First World War. Talbot House was given the collection of 23 newspapers by the family of one of the editors.
Talbot House was established by an army chaplain and an Anglican vicar. It was styled on the ‘Every Man’s Club’. All soldiers were welcome regardless of rank in an effort to provide some leisure among the horrors of war in contrast with other less lofty recreational activities in the town.
Almost 110 years after the first edition of 'The Wipers Times' was published, a complete collection of the famous trench newspaper has returned to Talbot House in Poperinge. During World War I, many of the newspaper's columnists visited the house. For British soldiers at the front Talbot House was a kind of second home, an oasis of calm in a world gone mad.
Simon Louagie, the manager of Talbot House, has been given the newspapers by the family of the former editor-in-chief, Captain Fredrick Roberts. "In 2016, I developed an historical walk to mark the paper's 100th anniversary and that's how I got in touch with the family. We are now planning an exhibition to share the newspaper's story with our visitors. We are also working on a guided walk in the footsteps of the editorial team."
The Wipers Times first appeared among the ruins of the front town of Ieper or 'Ypres' in French. Many British soldiers, not always tongue in cheek, pronounced the name of the town as 'Wipers'. During the war soldiers of the Sherwood Foresters found an old printing press and decided to publish a newspaper of their own. In the paper, they mocked staff officers and wrote funny contributions. The field hospital, for instance, was advertised as if it were a hotel with a spa.