WW1 Original “BEF TIMES” (Wipers Times) Magazine Notts & Derby Regt.

WW1 Original “BEF TIMES” (Wipers Times) Magazine. Notts & Derby Regiment

Three very rare editions of the “BEF Times” and “The Better Times”, these were offspring publications which incorporated the Wipers Times.

Comprising:

The BEF Times No4 Vol 1 March 5th 1917

The BEF Times No5 Vol 1 April 10th 1917 (Cover Detached)

The Better Times No2  Vol 1 December 1918. This being the final “Goodbye” edition

The overall condition is good and clean.

A letter of provenance accompanies the magazines this states were the property of a MR A C Webb CBE

'The BEF Times' was the title of a First World War (1914-1918) trench publication. Better known as 'The Wipers Times', it was the brainchild of Captain Fred Roberts and Lieutenant Jack Pearson of 12th Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment).

Amidst the ruins of the heavily shelled city of Ypres (called 'Wipers' by the soldiers) they found a damaged but serviceable printing press. A sergeant in the regiment, who was a printer in civilian life, was able to get it working and from it they produced 100 copies of the paper.

As the 12th Sherwood Foresters were moved around at the front, so the title of the newspaper changed too - being at various stages 'The Wipers Times', 'The "New Church" Times', 'The Kemmel Times', 'The Somme Times', 'The BEF Times' and finally 'The Better Times'.