Wimereux (; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of FranceINSEE commune file north of Boulogne-sur-Mer, on the banks of the small river Wimereux. The river Slack forms the northern border of the commune and the English Channel the western.
History In March 1899 the first radio link between France and England was established at Wimereux by Guglielmo Marconi.
During the First World War a number of hospitals were created at Wimereux:
The Women's Hospital Corps (WHC), founded by Flora Murray and Louisa Garratt Anderson, opened its second hospital at Chateau Mauricien in Wimereux. WHC was the first women's hospital to be recognised by the British Army. Lady Hadfield set up and ran the 'Anglo-American' Red Cross hospital in Wimereux under the Anglo-French Hospitals committee of the British Red Cross; the Matron was Mrs De Winton. 'The British Hospital' was established by Sir Henry Norman and his wife Priscilla Norman who became the Lady Superintendent of the hospital, which had 102 beds and was at the Hotel Belle Vue, Wimereux. Dr Grey was in charge of the hospital supported by Matron Mary Foster-Elliot. The 'Australian Hospital' was on the sea front. Colonel Eames was the Commanding Officer, and the Matron was Miss Ida Greaves; it had an x-ray department and a high number of ambulances - about thirty.
In 1916, Solomon J Solomon set up a Royal Engineers establishment, the Special Works Park, in a disused feldspar factory and developed new military camouflage techniques and equipment for the British Army.
People
William Morrison Wyllie, English artist Lionel Percy Smythe (Wyllie's stepson), English landscape artist, lived there from 1879 to 1918 Alfred Mathieu Giard, director of the marine research establishment at Wimereux Alexandre Acloque (1871-1941), naturalist and scientific journalist, lived there before 1914. John McCrae, author of "In Flanders Fields", is buried in the CWGC cemeteryThe CWGC cemetery Rosalie Lowie (1969-), author of detective novels, lives in Wimereux Jack Lang, politician Maurice Boitel, artist, exhibited there in the 1980s and 1990s
Twin towns Wimereux is twinned with the following towns: Herne Bay, Kent, England Schmallenberg, Germany
Population
Gallery
See also Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department
References
External links
Website about Wimereux (English only) Official town website (French only) Official Tourist website (French only) Official website: Tourism in Boulogne and the Boulonnais region