Original programme and ticket for the Horse Show (Concours Hippique) held in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage on Sunday September 9th, 1917. The competitors were all cavalry officers of the British, Belgium and Portuguese armies. This event took place on the very day of the Mutiny of Etaples, which started when a New Zealand infantryman was discovered returning across the bridge from Le Touquet to Etaples, the neighbouring town, and was imprisoned. This prompted a large mob to congregate near the bridge and as tempers flared a corporal was killed and the mutinous crowd rampaged through the town.
The army base at Etaples was a notoriously harsh environment and resentment of the officers, many of whom were based over the river in Le Touquet, often ran high. Conditions in Etaples were stark compared to Le Touquet, where the officers enjoyed comparative luxury and were free to pursue their own leisure activities, including the show jumping competition on that very afternoon. Gunner Healy, the infantryman who was caught returning from Le Touquet at about 3pm on that Sunday, may well have seen the horse show in passing, and the officers and dignitaries who attended the show would undoubtedly have become aware, as the afternoon progressed, of what was occurring just across the river.
The programme contains a full list of competitors to the centre spread, and an original ticket from the day is attached to the top right corner.
28 x 22cm. Single folded sheet with light folds. There is some paper transference to the back of the ticket where it has been removed from an album.
This is an extremely rare piece of memorabilia from the very day that the Mutiny of Etaples began.
- Date
- 1917
£250.00 (Code: 86829)
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