Elsie Knocker
| Elsie Knocker | |
|---|---|
One of "The Madonnas of Pervyse"
|
|
| Born |
29 June 1884 Exeter, Devon |
| Died | 26 April 1978 (aged 93) Ashtead, Surrey |
| Education | St. Nicholas's, Folkestone Château Lutry, Switzerland |
| Years active | September 1914 - March 1918 |
| Medical career | |
| Profession | Nurse |
| Institutions | Children's Hip Hospital, Sevenoaks Queen Charlotte's Hospital Munro Ambulance Corps |
Elsie Knocker, MM, OStJ (29 July 1884 – 26 April 1978) was a British nurse and ambulance driver in World War I who, together with her friend Mairi Chisholm, won numerous medals for bravery and for saving the lives of thousands of soldiers on the Western Front in Belgium. Dubbed "The Madonnas of Pervyse" by the press, the two became the most photographed women of the war.
She was born Elizabeth Blackall Shapter in Exeter, Devon on 29 June 1884, the youngest of five children to Dr. Thomas Lewis and Charlotte Shapter (née Bayly). During her childhood she picked up the nickname, "Elsie". She was orphaned at an early age. Her mother died when she was four years old and her father died from tuberculosis two years later. She was subsequently adopted by Lewis Edward Upcott, a teacher at Marlborough College, and his wife Emily who sent her to be educated at St. Nicholas's, Folkestone, and then at the exclusive Château Lutry in Switzerland.
After training at the Children's Hip Hospital at Sevenoaks, she married Leslie Duke Knocker in 1906, with whom she had a son, Kenneth Duke, a year later. But the marriage failed and soon after she was divorced she began training as a midwife at Queen Charlotte's Hospital. Since being divorced was a status frowned upon in Edwardian England, Knocker invented the myth that her husband had died in Java, leaving her a widow.
Being a divorcee/widow and single mother, however, hardly kept Knocker away from her passions. She became an ardent amateur motorbike enthusiast and when riding wore a dark green leather skirt and long leather coat buttoned all the way down with a belt "to keep it all together" designed by Dunhill. She earned the name "Gypsy" because of her love of the open road and membership of the Gypsy Motorcycle Club. She possessed a number of motorbikes including a Scott, a Douglas solo, and a Chater-Lea with a sidecar which would travel with her to the Western Front.
...
Wikipedia