麻豆社

Use 麻豆社.com or the new 麻豆社 App to listen to 麻豆社 podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Episode details

麻豆社,16 mins

HMP Winchester, Hampshire: The Objectors' Secret Newsletter

World War One At Home

Available for over a year

Many conscientious objectors were jailed at Winchester Prison during World War One. One, Harold Bing, started a secret newsletter called 鈥楾he Winchester Whisperer鈥�. It was written on toilet paper stitched to pieces of mail sack and passed furtively between inmates. The surreptitious magazine was a source of news and entertainment for inmates who were not officially allowed to converse with warders and were sometimes subjected to periods of solitary confinement. Writing materials were borrowed or created from everyday objects. Ink from the inmates鈥� regular allocation was poured into thimbles sealed within blocks of wax to create inkwells. The 鈥榩en鈥� was the hollow end of a needle and the editor bound the 鈥榩ages鈥� together with canvas from mailbags. Despite many searches, no copy of the 鈥榃inchester Whisperer鈥� was ever captured by the warders. Location: HMP Winchester, Romsey Road, Hampshire SO22 5DF Image of Harold Bing, a conscientious objector who created The Winchester Whisperer Photograph courtesy of Imperial War Museums Presented by 麻豆社 Reporter, Marcus White

Programme Website
More episodes