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The Woman Who Fought as a Man
Only one woman 'served' with the Leicestershire Regiment in the First World War. Her name
was Dorothy Lawrence (left) and hers is a remarkable story.
She was born in Polesworth, Warwickshire, the second daughter of Thomas Hartshorn Lawrence, a drainage contractor.
According to her own account, later published, at the start of the Great War she was living in Paris and wanted
to be a war correspondent, but was unable to get employment because she was a woman.
Acoording to her autobiography she decided to "... see what an ordinary English girl, without credentials or
money can accomplish." She befriended two English soldiers in a cafe, and they agreed to give her a uniform which they smuggled
into her apartment. They also taught her to drill and march. She then persuaded two Military Policemen to cut
her hair in a military style and then dyed her skin using diluted furniture polish to give it a bronzed colour. With
forged identity papers as Pte Denis Smith of the 1st battalion Leicestershire Regiment she headed for the front line, eventually
arriving on the Somme by bicycle.
However Dorothy Lawrence's stint at the front lasted only ten days before she
handed herself over to a sergeant of the Royal Engineers. She was taken to Calais where she was initially suspected of being
a spy. However the military authorities returned her to London upon condition she did not disclose anything of what she had
done.
In later life she was declared insane, and spent many years in an institution where she
eventually died, and it is hard to know for sure how much of her account is credible.
Left: Dorothy Lawrence in uniform
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