The Wipers Times — its story and humour immortalised in a 2013 BBC film of the same name, based on the stage play by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman — is one of the most famous of trench journals to appear during the First World War.¹ However, there exists a mania around these publications, that began as soon as they first appeared, and arguably continues to the present day — especially the common belief that they were all produced and distributed at the front, by soldiers, under fire. One of the worst offenders for fuelling this myth, both during and after the war, was the Wipers itself. As this article will show, one of its contributors, the writer behind the spoof column in the magazine 'Violet's Chronicle of Fashion', was safely 230 miles away from the front, and was certainly not, as John Ivelaw-Chapman imagined them to be in his 1997 book The Riddles of Wipers, 'A hairy-arsed sergeant of the Pioneers with a gruff voice'.² The writer was in fact 34-year-old Dorothy Hall from Nottingham.­

Discussion about the identity of the writer behind 'Violet' began in 1917, and the identity slipped out in a 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' photo published in Tatler in 1928 — more on that below.³ While it is understandable that this flash of information has been overlooked, at least in earlier works written about Wipers it was acknowledged that the writer behind Violet's Chronicles was a mystery­­ (including Chapman's) — something later writers and researchers have overlooked.⁴ Having identified who I think Dorothy was, I believe it is only right that she gets the proper credit for her contribution.

The intention of this article is not to take away from the Wipers place as an example of trench journalism, nor to diminish the fact that there were publications produced at the front and that this involved some risk. It is more about bringing some perspective to what have become commonly known as trench journals, where the story of Wipers fits in, and why it became so well known — which starts with it relations to Tatler magazine, who gave it a great deal of press at the time, and is also the link between the magazine and Miss Hall.

Just a quick note before diving in: the Wipers Times actually had several names during its existence. It appears the original intention was to change the title to reflect the movement of the battalion, and it was therefore renamed on several occasions, for example, the Kemmel Times, and the Somme-Times. The name also had to be adapted to reflect various changes in censorship rules that took place, one of them being that journals were no longer allowed to use placename in their titles. Hence the publication later changed its name to the BEF Times. For the purposes of clarity, Wipers will be used throughout this article.

Trench Journals

The first soldier-newspapers of the war began appearing in the autumn of 1914; two of the earliest were the French Army Journals L'Echo D'Argonne and L'Echo des Marmites, which received much press coverage both at home and abroad*.*⁵ They were described as 'trench newspapers' and this was a phrase that instantly captured both the public and military imagination across all nations and kickstarted much of the mythmaking on the subject. Newspapers would publish stories explaining how they were produced under gunfire at the front and were delivered to their readers by armoured cars and aeroplanes.⁶ By the middle of 1915, journals themselves — the Lead-Swinger was one of the earliest examples — would start to describe themselves as 'trench journals' that were 'written and drawn in the trenches' and the mania would reach fever pitch in the same year, with the number of journals growing exponentially.⁷

However, the truth is rather more mundane: trench journals did not 'just appear' out of nowhere. There was a long army tradition of producing regimental magazines, with one of the earliest modern examples being the Suffolk Regimental Gazette which debuted in 1863. Magazines out in the field were not uncommon — the 25th Battalion, Kings Own Royal Border Regiment maintained a weekly newspaper, the Borderers Chronicle, printed in Jubbulpore, India, where they were stationed in 1873, and a soldier's newspaper was created during the Boer War. In fact, it was such a common practice, that the Kings Regulations included specific instructions for such publications and there was a practice of depositing them with the British Museum which dated back as far as the Indian mutinies.⁸

As for being delivered by armoured car and aeroplane, in the case of the Command Gazette, an issue could be picked up from Corporal Rogers in Hut B.2., the Chronicles of the NZEF could be found from Miss Baron in the soldiers-canteen, while the Gasper was available from Church of England institutes, or sent by post for 1½ d.⁹ Finally, and an often overlooked aspect of these publications was that they were available from local newsagents, regardless of whether readers were in the army.¹⁰ They provided both a way of supporting a battalion or regiment, and of being kept up to date on news overseas, as well as inspiring some collectors — one of them being Sir J. W. Fortescue, historian and Royal Librarian, who wrote in 1917 that collecting such publications was impossible as 'Scores of them pop up and then become extinct overnight'.¹¹

The reason for this mass availability is that most of these publications were printed by commercial printers either overseas or more commonly back home. The aforementioned Lead-Swinger, for example, was printed by J.W. Northend Printers Limited in Sheffield, who also produced collected volumes of the magazine, both during and after the war.¹² This is not to say that there were no publications printed at the front; there were many examples, the Wipers included, and most were normally printed on a cylcotype or mimeograph machine, such as in the case of the Spit and Polish and the Salient. Nor does this deny that the writing and editorial staff were often in the trenches and in the line of fire. In 1916, the Outpost staff suffered several casualties; also affected were the Minden Magazine, and the Red Feather — which would lose two of its editors during its six months' existence.¹³

However, this is a tiny fraction of casualties, and a small number of publications were effected — it is not enough to substantiate the claim that these magazines were produced under fire, a myth that still causes confusion today and as a consequence means that journals remain both underutilised and misunderstood.¹⁴ As John Pegum (Trench Journal Bibliography) has noted, there was no commonality about how these journals were produced or distributed, and the levels of professionalism behind them varied immensely.¹⁵ What is clear, however, is that the phrase 'trench journal' is a misnomer given that most publications were produced behind the lines with support from a commercial printer.

The Wipers Times & Tatler

The story goes that the inspiration for starting the Wipers was the discovery of a printing press in a bombed-out building in the square of Ypres in 1916. However, 'trench paper fever' was well underway by this time, and there are some striking familiarities between the Wipers and the aforementioned Salient, especially the spoof adverts associated with the former.¹⁶ The Salient, it is believed, was produced by Captain George Renton Dunlop, Rifle Brigade, who was also behind the 6th Division entertainment troupe 'The Fancies'. There is circumstantial evidence that he moved in the same social circles as Captain Fred Roberts (editor of the Wipers) and that they knew each other. The similarities between the Salient and the Wipers were also noticed by society sportswriter Sabretache of the Tatler in 1916. Sabretache was the nom-de-plume of Albert Stewart Barrow, a former calvary officer in India, who wrote a regular column for Tatler between 1915 and 1956, as well as being the writer of books with titles such as A Gentleman and His Hound (1935), and the film starring Violet Hopson, A Gentleman Rider (1920).¹⁷

Sabretache had written for the Salient in his feature 'Pictures in the Fire' in January of 1916, and in March, having received a copy of the Wipers, he reviewed the magazine.¹⁸ The following month, he stated that the Wipers was a reinvention of the Salient and credited them both to Captain GR Dunlop and the 6th Division.¹⁹ This did not go down well with the Wipers staff (who were 24th Division), and on 6 May 1916, the following poem, 'The Right Barrel' appeared in Wipers.

This exchange is actually referenced in Ian Hislop's and Nick Newman's play, in which Roberts' character says his wife has sent a clipping from the Tatler, to which Pearson (Lieutenant Jack Hesketh Peason, sub-editor) replies excitedly, 'Really? Fame at last!' before going on to point out the incorrect credit to the sixth division.²⁰

There are two important things to note about this poem. The first is that it was written by Gilbert Frankau, who was a popular writer of the day, and before the war he had several books published, including the amusing One of Us (1912), a rhyming novel in the style of Byron's Don Juan, which tells the story of a young man travelling around the world.²¹ When war broke out, he initially joined the East Surrey Regiment, before later transferring to the Royal Field Artillery, and would later serve in the propaganda bureau.²² As well as writing regularly for the Wipers, he was at the same time a contributor of poetry to the publication Land and Water, and from March 1918 his work would regularly appear in Tatler — a serialised sequel to One of Us entitled One of Them.²³ Wipers was not alone in having professional writers and artists providing content for publication, nor was the Wipers the only journal to have Frankau's work appear.²⁴

The second aspect is it marks the start of regular correspondence between Sabretache and the Wipers staff. He responds with an apology (in the form of a poem) and an apologia appeared in the Wipers the next month — calling off the plan to assassinate Sabretache.²⁵ Whether this was a 'stunt' or not is impossible to conclude, but Sabretache would go on to mention the Wipers nearly two dozen times throughout the war, and would later describe himself as the 'London Godfather of the Wipers times', on more than one occasion mentioning that he was good friends with its staff.²⁶ Post-war, he would repeat the 6th division anecdote, and would infrequently mention the Wipers and its staff. ²⁷ This coverage, especially considering the readership of Tatler, certainly cemented Wipers into the public conscious. In addition, the first facsimile version (composed of the first 15 issues) of Wipers was published by Herbert Jenkins Ltd in the autumn of 1917; it was heavily advertised in regional and national titles, appearing on several books for Christmas lists, and several reviews were published, including in Tatler.²⁸

It should also be noted that the publisher Herbert Jenkins was an informant for the Official Press Bureau, providing information on the book trade, and the individuals involved, in a clandestine manner for the authorities. He obtained permission from the Bureau to reproduce the Wipers and even approached General Haig to write the foreword, although he declined.²⁹ This leads into a much larger topic about publishers and propaganda during the war. Given the magnitude of the topic, it would be wrong to try and squeeze it in here, however, a good starting point can be found in Publishing in the First World War: Essays in Book History (2006).³⁰

Further shoring up Wipers' place in memories of the war, in 1921, the Ypres Times appeared, printed by the Ypres League, an organisation for veterans and a remembrance society, which ran until 1938. It was reported in the press at the time as being the Wipers' successor.³¹ It has not been possible to establish whether Roberts, or any of the other Wipers staff, had any involvement in Ypres Times, but Roberts was involved in the re-released 1930 facsimile version of Wipers, now self-declaring itself as 'The Famous Wartime Trench Newspaper' which was also serialised in the daily papers. The Observer made the claim it was the 'First Trench Journal', which was rightly pointed out to be false, and this reissue stirred up much debate and nostalgia in the press at the time.³²

To reiterate, it is not the intention of this article to diminish Wipers as an example of trench journalism, but the fact of the matter is that the biggest noise made about Wipers was done by those involved to sell facsimile copies to the public — in the process pushing its name into the collective memory of the war. Copies of the 1930 version have been reissued since (in 1973, 1988, 2006), and Wipers was used as the backdrop for a BBC special titled Songs in the Trenches (1964), as the subject of a BBC Radio 4 special (1987), and the 1997 book The Riddles of Wipers, and of course, Ian Hislop and Nick Newman's play and later film further ensured that its name has not been forgotten.³³

The Letters of Eve, and Violet's Chronicle of Fashion

Turning our attention to Violet provides another link to Tatler: 'The Letters of Eve' was a humorous feature in Tatler composed of letters purported to be from 'the hon Evelyn Fitzhenry' to her friend 'Lady Betty Berkshire', relaying society life and its trappings. The feature was written by Olivia Maitland Davidson and accompanied by the sensational drawings of Anne Harris Fish. When Britain went to war so did Eve, and the feature became about her and her friends helping on the home front.³⁴ It was extremely popular, especially, it seems, with the troops. From a cursory search I have found a dozen or so examples of the feature being imitated (including the Anne Harris Fish art) in trench journals, including in the Pow-Wow, the Fearless Observer, the Vics Patrol and the prisoner-of-war journal the Prisoners Pie.³⁵ It is therefore understandable that Wipers would do something similar (journals, and for that matter magazines in general of the period, were notorious for copying each other). In the following month, in Sabretache's column, the following letter from Roberts appeared:

Many thanks for yours, and as you will see in next number, copy of which I will send you, you are forgiven. Glad you like our effort, which has provided us with a constant source of amusement and at "Wipers" with every necessary counter-excitement. There is little going on over here, but I can assure you there's little need for cold feet. Old Fritz's frightfulness has now a big element of doubt behind it all. If it ever should happen that you take a runover, then we shall be delighted to show round the works. The invitation also extends to "Eve,"' who weekly delights us. By the way, we are offering enormous salaries to a suitable young woman (or women) to run our "Fashions" column. You might mention it. By the way, the cheery Brig-Gen, you mention has been "straffed." He's a good lad. Cheer oh! Best of Luck. The war cannot last more than fifteen years more as the Huns are starving.

To which Sabretache added:

There would appear to be an opening here for someone who can do "Fashions in the Fire,"' or "Frocks and Shocks,' or something like that.³⁶

Then, in the 3 July 1916 issue of Wipers, Violet made her debut.

Violet's Chronicle began to appear regularly until January 1917. Whether she wrote any other features for Wipers is unknown, especially given the frequent use of aliases used throughout — the subject of the 1997 book Riddles of Wipers. It is known that she mentions Sabretache, both in the article pictured, and later in December 1916 where she wrote that she had received a letter from him about dealing with the numerous luncheon offers she was receiving from officers — his advice was to 'never go out with soldiers-devils — one never knows!'³⁷ Sabretache himself mentions Violet twice, first in July 1916, saying 'One is glad to note that one has been the means of providing the hard worked staff [of Wipers] with a coadjutor in the person of Violet' adding that her identity is N.C.T. (never can tell).³⁸ He further mentions her in January 1917, pointing out that she is really a women and 'a very charming one' unlike — a mystery for another day — 'Anonyma'.³⁹

Violet aka Dorothy Hall

Fast-forward eleven years and, buried in the 'Notes from Here and There' column in Tatler, is a photograph of a Miss Doreen Robinson and Mr Henry Hall at the Nottingham chases. The caption to the photograph reads:

At the Nottingham 'Chases last week. Miss Robinson is the daughter of Dr. G. A Robinson, the well-known Nottingham surgeon, and Mr. Hall, the brother of the clever lady, Miss Dorothy Hall, who was the only woman contributor to that famous journal, "The Wipers Times," during the war. ⁴⁰

There is no reason to doubt the caption; the society section that provided this snippet regularly featured photographs of people at social events with a fact about the person underneath. Sabretache had not mentioned Wipers in his own features for three years at this point (and would not mention it again till 1939), and it is two years too early to have anything to do with the relaunch of the facsimile editions.⁴¹ Therefore, I believe it has to be taken at face value as a society photograph with an interesting fact about a person underneath. With that being the case, the ability to identity of Dorothy lies in identifying Henry.

I came across this image first six months ago, while researching trench journals for my dissertation, but it was a needle in a haystack — there are no shortages of 'Dorothy Halls' who had a brother called Henry (more if you factor in Henry/Harry) in the census records especially without any location or age information. Nevertheless, it is something I have been searching for on and off in the hope of finding a clue. Recently, I came across another photograph of a Henry Hall in the Nottingham Guardian, taken some 40 years later and the body posture, more than anything, led me to believe it was the same person.⁴² Narrowing down my search, I then found a second photograph of Henry, taken in August 1951 in the Nottingham Evening Post, and the mouth, nose and eyebrows convinced me that the Henry Hall in the Tatler photo, is none other than Henry Cecil Hall of Nottingham.⁴³

Henry Cecil Hall (1885-1970) was an agent for Sir Thomas Shipstone — the colourful owner of Shipstones Brewery, an inventor of the illuminated kerb, and later an estate agent. In later life he was active in the art scene in Nottingham as something of an expert, involved in researching works at Nottingham Castle and he wrote the book Artists and Sculptors of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire 1750-1950 (1953).⁴⁴ He also had a sister named Dorothy, whose middle name, was interestingly enough, Violet.

Dorothy Violet Hall (1881-1962) was born to William and Annie Hall in Nottingham and, according to the 1901 census, her father was a timber merchant, believed to be the William Hall Timber and Joinery Company Ltd, Wilford Street Nottingham. She had five siblings: William and John, who worked for their father as a manger and a clerk, the aforementioned Henry then aged 16, Daisy 13, and Annie Selina 7. The census also has her living at 8 Second-Avenue Sherwood Rise and notes that the family had a servant.⁴⁵

Dorothy attended Nottingham Girls' High School, and an article in 1895 mentions that she won a school prize for her piano performance of Mendelssohn's Lider (No. 34); one year later she passed her advanced piano grade.⁴⁶ Her obituary in the Nottingham Guardian,notes that she was Head Girl, went on to become a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music, performed publicly at many concerts and was a writer of poetry and short stories.⁴⁷

Her career as a writer it seems had an early start, when she won a guinea in 1895 for a writing competition run by Dr Ridge's Food Company with the following entry:

Three "Junior members of the Pelican Club"
Had just finished having their morning tub,
And were eating their breakfast in garments light,
When two for a larger share started to fight.

The third was the judge, who took care of the food —
Dr. Ridge's it was, which is wholesome and good,
And so tempting whita!, the judge tasted a sup,
And before he called "Time," he ate it all up!⁴⁸

On the 1911 census, her occupation is listed as novelist.⁴⁹ The only lead I can find on works written by Dorothy Hall is in an advert for short stories appearing in Home Topics, a publication related to the Catholic Home Journal, titled Dream Stuff.⁵⁰ In a time of pennames and aliases this is not a big surprise, and given the sheer number of periodicals of the time, I am sure a deeper search will turn something else up. A further reference to her being a writer also appears in 1926. She was declared insolvent, over liabilities of £838 18s 1d, and the receiver notes that she had been keeping house for her brother, that she was running a small business manufacturing dentifrice, and that she was making her living through teaching and journalistic work.⁵¹

The following may also be of note: by 1921 she had moved in with her brother Henry and sister Annie Selina, to 3 Park Drive, Nottingham, an address they would remain at for some time. It also appears her brother John lived around the corner at Ribble Lodge.⁵² None of Dorothy, Henry or Annie would marry and the three lived together for the rest of their lives, later moving to Hillsley House, Clifton Lane, Nottingham.

Dorothy died in 1962, and in her funeral notice, either her brother or sister wrote 'To Live in the hearts of those we love, is not to die'.⁵³ A service took place on 13 February 1962, at St. Peters Church, Ruddington, and she is buried in Southern Cemetery, Wilford Hill. Henry would die in 1970 and Annie in 1976. Both were interred with Dorothy.

Given the photo link, and the fact Dorothy Hall was a writer, I am convinced that she was the contributor to the Wipers Times, and it is only right to give her the proper credit for this work.

The information trail is light, and the intention is to find further evidence to make the case watertight and tell her story properly. I believe Henry might be the key to unravelling more information, given his prominence in Nottingham, and I note that his papers were sold at auction by Reeman Dansie Auctioners in 2017.⁵⁴ In addition, he was also a member of the Brontë Society and went on to write the book Emily Brontë and Her Genius (1967).⁵⁵

If you have any further information about Dorothy Violet Hall, please do get in contact by either leaving a comment below or dropping me an email from the link in my bio.