Toupie Lowther
This week, we cover a gender non-conforming lesbian who was a fencer, a tennis player, WWI ambulance driving unit leader AND a key player in a 20s lesbian book scandal...the unpredictable Toupie Lowther. Show notes! Images: Toupie Lowther in breeches in The Sketch, 1900 Toupie in a tennis outfit, c. 1900, Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. Late 19th/early 20th century postcard of a woman fencing with the caption "just you try and break up with her" in French (and great pictures in this French blog post in general) Members of the Hackett-Lowther unit including posing with the kitten mascot, French Army's Photography Department The Hackett-Lowther unit working on ambulances, Le Monde Illustré No. 3168, September 7, 1918. Lady Una Troubridge left and author Radclyffe Hall with their dachshunds at Crufts dog show, 1923, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas Romaine Brooks, La France Croisée, 1914, Smithsonian American Art Museum (and not "La Croisée" as stated in the podcast) Sources & more reading: Diana Souhami, The Trials of Radclyffe Hall - a must-read for anyone who wants to find out more about Hall and the book trial. And the rest of her books are just as fantastic re: historical lesbians. J. Halberstam, Female Masculinity. Katrina Rolley, Cutting a Dash: The Dress of Radclyffe Hall and Una Troubridge Laura Doan, Passing Fashions: Reading Female Masculinities in the 1920s Fencing for Ladies 1901 newspaper article Imperial War Museums Toupie Lowther timeline The Times August 5, 1919 - Englishwomen with the French army Medal card of Lowther, Toupie Corps: French Red Cross Rank: Driver, National Archives Lady fencers – transcript of an article in the Harmsworth magazine, issue July 1899 Nathalie Barney, Quelques Portraits-Sonnets de Femmes Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness - Not my fave lesbian novel but great to get the historical context for many lesbians at the time. New? Don't want to miss an update? Follow on Twitter!