The Monocled Mutineer: The First World War’s Best Kept Secret: The Etaples Mutiny

In 1917, as British troops were preparing for the Battle of Passchendaele, a mutiny broke out among the 100,000 soldiers at the Etaples training camp in Northern France. This mutiny was one of the most guarded secrets of WW1. Private Percy Toplis, a survivor of the Battle of Loos, had deserted from the Army Medical Corps before re-enlisting and he was accused as the ringleader of the mutiny. By this time he was back in England where he was living in disguise and was the most wanted man in England (suspected of murder and fraud) before being killed by a policeman in 1920. Drawing on extensive interviews with survivors of the mutiny as well as with friends and relatives of Percy Toplis, this updated edition includes a new introduction and epilogue that expand on newly discovered information about the events of the mutiny and the government's response to it.