Дороти Лоуренс: Журналист, соққан әйел және соғысқа қатысушының тарихы

English journalist and wartime crossdresser (circa 1888 1964)
the American politician

There is discrepancy in her parentage. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (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, 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 [in 1915] as "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. Her mother died in 1909 {citation needed}, the teenage {citation needed} girl 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 Dorothy's age in the 1911 census i. e., 23, she would not have been a minor in 1909.

Wanting to be a journalist, she managed to have some articles published in The Times and in Nash's Pall Mall Magazine. When the war started, she wrote to a number of the Fleet Street newspapers offering her services as a war correspondent.

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 set out for the British sector of the Somme by bicycle. From Calais she was taken to Saint Omer 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 National Archives 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.

In 1919, she moved to Canonbury, Islington, and published an account of her experiences: Sapper Dorothy Lawrence: The Only English Woman Soldier. Although well received in England, America and Australia, She was buried in a public (pauper's) grave in New Southgate Cemetery. On further investigation, East Sussex historian Raphael Stipic found a letter written during World War I by Sir Walter Kirke, 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. then foundUnreliable source: date=April 2023 a copy of Lawrence's book at the REM and started collecting notes to write a biography. Her story later became part of an Imperial War Museum 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. 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 (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.