Lise de Baissac
| Lise de Baissac | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Agent Scientist, Odile, Irène, Marguerite, Adèle |
| Born |
11 May 1905 Mauritius |
| Died | 28 March 2004 (aged 98) |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom, France |
| Service/branch | Special Operations Executive, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry |
| Years of service | 1942–1944 (SOE/FANY) |
| Unit | Scientist |
| Relations | Claude de Baissac |
Lise Marie Jeanette de Baissac MBE (11 May 1905 – 28 March 2004) was born in Mauritius of French descent and British nationality. She was a heroine of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War, a special agent who risked her life running her own operations; she was awarded several gallantry awards after the war.
The third of three children, Lise was born to a French family in Mauritius, but was a British subject as all Mauritians then were. Her parents taught her and her siblings French from an early age and they moved to Paris in 1919.
In 1940, Paris was occupied by the Germans. Her eldest brother, Jean de Baissac, joined the British Army. Lise and her other brother, Claude, travelled to the South of France in an attempt to reach England. She obtained help with travel arrangements to England from the American Consulate and crossed into Spain and went to Lisbon, where she waited for five months for permission to travel to Gibraltar and on to the UK. The ship docked in Scotland and she made her way to London where she made contact with Lady Kemsley, who helped her get a job at the Daily Sketch. Her brother, Claude, was recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE). As soon as the SOE began recruiting women, Lise applied to join. She was interviewed by Selwyn Jepson, and was speedily accepted for training, however not as a courier or a wireless operator but to set up her own small circuit.
Her training took place at Beaulieu, Hampshire, where she trained with the second group of women recruited by the SOE including Mary Herbert, Odette Sansom and Jacqueline Nearne. She was commissioned in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry in July 1942. The commandant at Beaulieu wrote that De Baissac was "quite imperturbable and would remain cool and collected in any situation ... [s]he was very much ahead of her fellow students".
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