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Private Louis William Ollier, 8th (Service) Battalion Cheshire Regiment (later 12th Combined Depot) Service Number: 59312 Born: 7 March 1898, Crewe, Cheshire. Died: 16 May 1979, Waterloo, Liverpool (aged 81) Ollier was born in 1898 in Crewe, Cheshire, the son of Richard Ollier, a Railway Clerk, and Nellie.1 He attended …
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I mentioned in the last entry in this series that I had been experimenting with a photography set-up. I chose this book from my collection next, which is considerably larger than a typical autograph book, to see if the set-up would still work. The result was so-so, with a bit of rejigging needed. I have been unable to …
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In my last piece, about the Printer and the Presses , I mentioned that I had come across a signpost in the second to last issue of the Wipers,now named the Better Times, in relation to the printing of the final two issues. This was the signpost: Our new paper is born in very different circumstances to the old Wipers …
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This is the first 'Mystery File' relating to the soldier-cartoonists who had their contributions published in Blighty but, at this moment in time, the trail has gone cold as I have been unable to find any further information about them — though I am not ready to give up. First, getting published in Blighty brought more …
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Following on from the previous article, I got my first lead regarding tracking down the identity of Violet, of 'Violets Chronicle of Fashion', in the form of letters written by Thomas Moore Emmanuel Ward (1895-1947). Ward was a Lieutenant in the 12th Battalion (Pioneers) Sherwood Foresters as well as a contributor to …
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The Wipers Times, Tatler, and the Identity of ‘Violet’ from Violet’s Chronicle of Fashion: An Exposé
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 …
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Lance Corporal Gilbert Tom Webster 26th Battalion (Bankers) Royal Fusiliers Service Number: 19799 Born: 17 July 1886, Bilston, Staffordshire Died: 21 June 1962 (aged 75) Tom Webster by Howard Coster, National Portrait Gallery, Public Domain. Better known as Tom Webster, and one of the more well-known names to …
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