Mutiny at the Bull-Ring

[Guest Hill 60]

I've just started reading Men of 18 in 1918 by Frederick James Hodges.

He mentions the mutiny at the Bull-Ring at Etaples in 1917, and refers to the book, The Monocled Mutineer, how accurate is this book? Is it the same as the TV show of the same name?

Are there any books, or articles, that deal with this mutiny accurately?

Thanks for any advice.

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

Lee,

The Monocled Mutineer book, and the series starring Paul McGann, was based on the supposed exploits of Percy Toplis. However Toplis never served in France during WW1, he served in Salonika and so never took part in the mutiney at Etaples. This part of the story is 'bull'

Ian

[Andrew Hesketh]

Lee,

There was a discussion of this a long time ago - it may be worth searching the forum, but it may possibly have been on the forum before this one. Anyway, to answer your questions simply -

How accurate - not very (horribly bad in places), but quite 'entertaining'.

TV show - one and the same, starring Paul McGann as the eponymous 'hero' - screened in about 1986 but I can't recall it being repeated for many years.

Books / articles - can't recall where but there's something online by Putkowski which explodes the book by William Allison and John Fairley (1979) in spectacular fashion. Try searching on Percy Toplis.

All the best,

Andrew

P.S. Believe it or not, my late Grandmother, aged about 5 at the time, was part of the huge crowd that gathered at Blackwell Cricket Ground (Derbyshire) to witness the 'war hero' put the home volunteers through their paces. In the TV series they stage this on the side of a colliery slag heap, when in actual fact the cricket ground was occasionally used to host County matches at this time! Anyway, I remember asking her about him shortly after the TV series, and she said everyone thought he was a horrid, arrogant man. If you knew my Grandmother you would know that this implied the same kind of venom that a youth of today would express with multiple 'F' words.

[Guest Hill 60]

Andrew - Thanks for that. I did look for the mutiny and there was a mention of it in another thread about another mutiny.

Ian - Thanks for that.

This is just a bit of what Mr Hodges says about Topliss.

'The leader was Private Percy Topliss (The Monocled Mutineer), a deserter from his battalion who used many disguises and assumed many ranks from Corporal to Colonel, sometimes wearing an officer's uniform and monacle. He was sentenced to death, but made a daring escape, swimming a river to freedom, and returned to England posing as a medical orderly looking after wounded men. He continued his brazen impersonations as a decorated and wounded officer or a senior NCO even after the war ended, and was the leader of a petrol racket, selling Army petrol to civilian firms during the rationing period.

Eventually, he was hunted by armed police, shot dead near Carlisle and buried secretly at Ullswater.'

He then goes on to mention seeing policemen armed with Lee-Enfields in Northampton, hunting Topliss.

Sounds a little far fetched to me. I suppose he has heard the stories and myths and carried them on in his book?

[Kate Wills]

I don't think so , Lee. Fred Hodges was not a man given to sensationalism. We are all subject to lapses of memory, but Fred would never tell a lie, let alone publish one. The Toplis story prompted banner headlines at the time, Toplis having achieved a notoriety way beyond that of his petty criminal beginnings.

[Mark Hone]

An old issue of 'Stand To' had an interesting article by Julian Puttkowski in which he explained why he resigned as historical adviser to the TV series. Perhaps another pal can give the reference. There was quite a rumpus surrounding the production at the time, similar to that about the recent series 'Cambridge Spies', as the BBC advertising claimed that it was a true story. The script was by Allan Bleasdale

[CROONAERT]

Does anyone know whether there is a headstone on Toplis' grave in Penrith yet? I know that someone was planning to erect one a few years ago but I haven't heard anything since,nor have I visited his grave site for a few years.

Dave

[Guest Hill 60]

I don't think so , Lee. Fred Hoodges was not a man given to sensationalism. We are all subject to lapses of memory, but Fred would never tell a lie, let alone publish one.

Kate - I wasn't implying he'd lie. I was just wondering if the stories he'd heard about Topliss had got mixed up with what he'd actually seen and he'd got them confused.

I've seen this sort of thing happen with new officers I've worked with who joined our watch sometime after a major incident. They hear about this incident from others who were involved, many times a day. Then, years down the line, they relate the story to the new men and it sounds like they were actually there.

[Paul Reed]

I don't think so , Lee. Fred Hodges was not a man given to sensationalism.

Quite agree, but this is one of the problems with oral history; old men (and women) do forget, and what they tell you has to be checked. One RFA veteran once told me about an execution he had witnessed of a "... Major in the ASC who hated the war, and refused to fight"; the same gunner had been warned for the firing squad but had got off as he was "ill". It is not a deliberate lie; they are more likely repeating an old soldiers story heard many years before.

Julian Putkowski proved beyond doubt that the Percy Toplis shot in the 1920s by the Police had only served with the RAMC at Gallipoli and in Salonika; he never reached the Western Front. However, I found another Percy Toplis for Julian who HAD served in France, and was (and is) buried in Felpham Churchyard, West Sussex - and died in the 1950s. Whether there were two Toplis', we shall never know...