Dorothy Lawrence (4 October 1896 – 29 August 1964) was an English journalist who posed as a male soldier to report from the front line during World War I. In 1915, she went to France, where she managed to obtain a military uniform and a false identity. Upon her arrival in
Albert, Somme
Albert () is a Communes of France, commune in the Somme (department), Somme Department in France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
It is located about halfway between Amiens and Bapaume.
History
Albert was founded as a Roman ...
, she found a soldier who took her to the front lines. However, trench life affected her health, and after ten days, she revealed her sex, afraid that if she needed medical attention her true identity would be discovered and those who helped her would be punished. She was arrested and interrogated, suspected of being a spy or a prostitute. She was then sent home under a strict agreement not to write about her experiences.
After the war, Lawrence published a memoir, but it was highly censored and not very successful. Her health began to fail, and she was committed to a mental institution, where she died 40 years later. In 2003, her story was rediscovered. Her book was reprinted and the Imperial War Museum included her experiences in an exhibition on women at war. Since 2015, several plays and films have been produced based on her story.
Early life
Lawrence was born in
Hendon
Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...
,
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
,
[ to parents unknown. Probably illegitimate, she was adopted (at an unknown age) by a guardian of the ]Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
.
There is discrepancy in her parentage. The ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
'' (which at time of publication in 2004 did not mention details of her life after 1919) reports that Lawrence was born on 4 October 1896 in Polesworth
Polesworth is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. It is situated close to the northern tip of the county, adjacent to the border with Staffordshire. It is eas ...
, Warwickshire, and was the second daughter of Thomas Hartshorn Lawrence and Mary Jane Beddall.. This cannot be the case, as their daughter, 14-year-old Dorothy Lawrence, appears in the 1911 census with her parents, including Thomas Hartshorn Lawrence, while a 23-year-old Dorothy Lawrence, born in "Shepherd's Bush" in the 1911 census, is a journalist boarding with other lady boarders in West Kensington. Although variously described n 1915as "early-twenties", or "aged 20", it is more likely Lawrence was older and born circa 1888. For example, in 1911 census she is 23; 1939 WW2 Ration Register she is 51, and her death age in 1964 was recorded as 76 on her death certificate.
When her mother died in 1909, Lawrence was adopted by wealthy and respected church guardians Mrs Josephine Fitzgerald and her husband in Salisbury. However, this is also a moot point, as per Lawrence's age in the 1911 census (23), she would not have been a minor in 1909.
War correspondent
Wanting to be a journalist, she managed to have some articles published in ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' and in ''Nash's Pall Mall Magazine''. When the war started, she wrote to a number of the Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...
newspapers offering her services as a war correspondent. She believed that this would be the best way to gain recognition for her talents, but no paper would send a woman to the front lines. In fact, they couldn't get access for even experienced male correspondents.
Travelling to France in 1915, she tried to join the Voluntary Aid Detachment
The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...
but was rejected.[ While attempting to enter the war zone via the French sector as a freelancer, she was arrested by ]French Police
Law enforcement in France is centralized at the national level. Recently, legislation has allowed local governments to hire their own police officers which are called the ''Municipal Police (France), police municipale''.
There are two nation ...
in Senlis, short of the front line, and ordered to leave.[ Spending the night sleeping on a haystack in a forest,][ she returned to Paris, where she concluded that only by disguising herself as a man could she get her story:]
Transformation
Lawrence persuaded two British Army soldiers she met in a Paris café to smuggle her a khaki uniform, piece by piece, within their washing; she called the ten men who eventually shared in this exploit her "khaki accomplices". She then practised transforming herself into a male soldier by flattening her figure with a home-made corset, using sacking and cotton-wool to bulk out her shoulders and persuading two Scottish military policemen to cut her hair in a short military style. She darkened her complexion with Condy’s Fluid, a disinfectant made from potassium permanganate
Potassium permanganate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula KMnO4. It is a purplish-black crystalline salt, which dissolves in water as K+ and ions to give an intensely pink to purple solution.
Potassium permanganate is widely us ...
; scraped the pale skin of her cheeks to produce a shaving rash; and added a tan using shoe polish. Then she asked her soldier friends to teach her how to drill and march.
Wearing a blanket coat and no underwear so no one could discover her abandoned petticoats, she obtained forged identity papers as Private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...
Denis Smith of the 1st Bn, Leicestershire Regiment
The Leicestershire Regiment (Royal Leicestershire Regiment after 1946) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. The regiment saw service for three centuries, in numerous wars and conflicts such as both ...
and headed for the front lines.
Front line
She set out for the British sector of the Somme __NOTOC__
Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places
*Somme (department), a department of France
* Somme, Queensland, Australia
* Canal de la Somme, a canal in France
*Somme (river), a river in France
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Somme'' (book), ...
by bicycle.[ On her way towards ]Albert, Somme
Albert () is a Communes of France, commune in the Somme (department), Somme Department in France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.
It is located about halfway between Amiens and Bapaume.
History
Albert was founded as a Roman ...
, she met Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
coalminer
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extrac ...
turned British Expeditionary Force (BEF) tunnel-digging sapper
A sapper, also called a combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses ...
Tom Dunn, who offered to assist her. Fearing for the safety of a lone woman amongst female-companionship starved soldiers, Dunn found Lawrence an abandoned cottage in Senlis Forest to sleep in. During her time on the frontline, she returned there each night to sleep on a damp mattress, fed by any rations that Dunn and his colleagues could spare.[
Dunn found her work as a sapper with the 179 Tunnelling Company, 51st Division, ]Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
, a specialist mine-laying company that operated within of the front line.[ Lawrence wrote that she was involved in the digging of tunnels.][ But later evidence and correspondence from the time after her discovery by British Army authorities, including from the files of Sir Walter Kirke of the BEF's secret service, suggest that she did not undertake this highly skilled digging work, but was at liberty and working within the trenches.] Historian Simon Jones, an expert on the Somme tunnels, believes that Dorothy was not actually tunnelling under the front line but thinks there is no doubt that she was in the trenches disguised as a man.
Due to the stress of the situation, Lawrence developed constant chills and rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...
, then fainting fits. After 10 days of service, to protect the men who had helped her, she revealed herself to be female and the commanding sergeant promptly placed her under arrest.
Return to England
Taken to the BEF headquarters and interrogated as a spy by a colonel, she was declared a prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
. From there she was taken cross country by horse to Third Army headquarters in Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...
, where she was interrogated by six generals and approximately twenty other officers. She was ignorant of the term camp follower
Camp followers are civilians who follow armies. There are two common types of camp followers; first, the spouses and children of soldiers, who follow their spouse or parent's army from place to place; the second type of camp followers have histori ...
(one meaning of which is "prostitute") and she later recalled "We talked steadily at cross purposes. On my side I had not been informed what the term meant, and on their side they continued unaware that I remained ignorant! So I often appeared to be telling lies."
From Calais she was taken to Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer (; ; Picard: ''Saint-Onmé'') is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France.
It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Sa ...
and further interrogated. The Army was embarrassed that a woman had breached security and was fearful of more women taking on male roles during the war if her story got out. Fearing that she might divulge sensitive intelligence, a judge ordered that she remain in France until after the Battle of Loos
The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used Chemical weapons in World War I, ...
.[ Held within the Convent de Bon Pasteur, she was also made to swear not to write about her experiences and signed an ]affidavit
An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or ''deposition (law), deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by la ...
to that effect to keep from being sent to jail. Sent back to London, she travelled across the English Channel
The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
on the same ferry as activist Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst (; Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was a British political activist who organised the British suffragette movement and helped women to win in 1918 the women's suffrage, right to vote in United Kingdom of Great Brita ...
, who asked her to speak at a suffragette
A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
meeting.[
Once in London, she tried to write about her experiences for '']The Wide World Magazine
''The Wide World Magazine'' was a British monthly illustrated publication which ran from April 1898 to December 1965. '', but had to scrap her first book on the instructions of the War Office, which invoked the 1914 Defence of the Realm Act to silence her. She later commented:
The National Archives
National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention.
Conceptual development
From the Middle Ages i ...
have two medal index cards for Lawrence confirming her participation in the war: one showing her rank of Sapper with the Royal Engineers and another showing her as a Worker in the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps.
Later life
In 1919, she moved to Canonbury, Islington
Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...
, and published an account of her experiences: ''Sapper Dorothy Lawrence: The Only English Woman Soldier''. Although well received in England, America and Australia, it was heavily censored by the War Office
The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...
, and it did not become the commercial success that she wanted.[
By 1925, her increasingly erratic behaviour was brought to the attention of the authorities. After confiding to a doctor that she had been raped as a teenager by her church guardian Mr Fitzgerald, and with no contact from Mrs Fitzgerald or other family to look after her, she was taken into care and later deemed insane.] Committed first to the London County Mental Hospital at Hanwell in March 1925, she was later institutionalised at the Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum in Friern Barnet
Friern Barnet () is a suburban area within the London Borough of Barnet, north of Charing Cross. Its centre is formed by the busy intersection of Colney Hatch Lane (running north and south), Woodhouse Road (taking westbound traffic towards No ...
, north London.[ She apparently did not have any visitors] and died of cerebral thrombosis aged 67 on 29 August 1964, at what was by then known as Friern Hospital. She was buried in a public (pauper's) grave in New Southgate Cemetery
New Southgate Cemetery (also known as Brunswick Park Cemetery) is a 22-hectare cemetery in Brunswick Park in the London Borough of Barnet. It was established by the Colney Hatch Company in the 1850s and became the Great Northern London Cem ...
. Plot ref: AH202, an area which since the 2000s has been reused for further burials on top of the earlier public grave interments.
Legacy
In 2003, Richard Bennett, the grandson of Richard Samson Bennett – one of the soldiers who had helped Lawrence in France – found her autobiography while researching his family history at the Royal Engineers Museum
The Royal Engineers Museum, Library and Archive is a military engineering museum and library in Gillingham, Kent. It tells the story of the Corps of Royal Engineers and British military engineering in general.
History
The museum is housed in ...
(REM) in Chatham, Kent.
On further investigation, East Sussex historian Raphael Stipic found a letter written during World War I by Sir Walter Kirke
General Sir Walter Mervyn St George Kirke, (19 January 1877 – 2 September 1949) was the Commander in Chief of the British Home Forces at the beginning of the Second World War.
Military career
Born the second son of Colonel St. George Mervyn K ...
, head of the secret service for the British Expeditionary Force. The letter mentioned a woman who dressed in men's clothing in hopes of becoming a war correspondent, pointing clearly to Lawrence.[
Freelance historian Simon Jones then found a copy of Lawrence's book at the REM and started collecting notes to write a biography.] Jones later found that Lawrence's rape allegations were included in her medical records, held in the London Metropolitan Archives
The London Archives (previously known as the Greater London Record Office 1965–1997, and London Metropolitan Archives 1997–2024) is the principal local government archive repository for the Greater London area, including the City of London ...
of Saint Bernard's Hospital, but not available for general access.
Her story later became part of an Imperial War Museum
The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...
exhibition covering women at war. Curator Laura Clouting stated that Lawrence was included because she was the exception to the rule that women were not included in any branch of the military.
Several plays and films have been produced based on Lawrence's story:
* ''The Disappearance of Dorothy Lawrence'' (2015), play written by Julie McNamara
Julie McNamara (born 26 March 1960) is a theatre director, playwright, producer, actor and poet. She is artistic director of touring theatre company Vital Xposure. Patron of disability arts organisation DaDaFest and a political activist for human ...
and directed by Paulette Randall
Paulette Randall, MBE (born 1961) is a British theatre director of Jamaican descent. .
* ''Blue Pen'' (2016), film by McNamara based on the stories of Lawrence and other women journalists whose voices were silenced through censorship, confinement in institutions, and abuse.
* ''Over the Top: the true-life tale of Dorothy Lawrence'' (2016), play written and directed by Lizzie Crarer, a production of theatre company The Heroine Project Presents, which offers stories of women who have been overlooked in history.
* After a trustee of the Historical Association
The Historical Association is a membership organisation of historians and scholars founded in 1906 and based in London. Its goals are to support "the study and enjoyment of history at all levels by creating an environment that promotes lifelong lea ...
(HA) saw a performance of ''Over the Top'', the HA commissioned the theatre company to create three short films about Lawrence to use in classroom discussions about World War I. The films were posted on the HA website in May 2017.
Sources
* Dorothy Lawrence (1919), ''Sapper Dorothy Lawrence: the only English woman soldier, Late Royal Engineers 51st Division 179th Tunnelling Company BEF'', London:Lane. Available in-full online, includes additional pictures. Reissued in hardcover and paperback as ''Sapper Dorothy: the Only English Woman Soldier in the Royal Engineers 51st Division, 79th Tunnelling Co. During the First World War'' by Leonaur, 2010.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Dorothy
British women in World War I
People from Hendon
English adoptees
20th-century English journalists
English expatriates in France
British women war correspondents
Female wartime cross-dressers
Royal Engineers soldiers
English autobiographers
1896 births
1964 deaths
Women soldiers
English women autobiographers
British Army personnel of World War I
Royal Leicestershire Regiment soldiers
Burials at New Southgate Cemetery
Military personnel from the London Borough of Barnet
20th-century English women writers
20th-century British women journalists
English war correspondents