Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876 – September 22, 1958) - American writer and nurse

Mary Roberts Rinehart was born Mary Ella Roberts on 12th August 1876 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, now part of Pittsburgh. After graduating from school, Mary enrolled at the Pittsburgh Training School for Nurses at Pittsburgh Homeopathic Hospital, graduating in 1896. She described the experience as "all the tragedy of the world under one roof." After graduation, Mary married Stanley Marshall Rinehart (1867–1932), a doctor she had met during her training. They had three sons - Stanley Jr., Alan, and Frederick.

Mary began writing seriously after the stock market crash of 1903. She was 27 that year, and wrote 45 short stories. Her first mystery novel was published in 1906.  “The Circular Staircase”, published in 1907, was the novel that propelled her to national fame. According to Mary's obituary in the “Pittsburgh Post-Gazette” in 1958, the book sold 1.25 million copies.  In 1911, after the publication of five successful books and two plays, the Rinehart family moved to Glen Osborne, Pennsylvania.  Today there is a Mary Roberts Rinehart Nature Park in the borough of Glen Osborne at 1414 Beaver Street, Sewickley, Pennsylvania.

During the First World War, Mary worked as a war correspondent for “The Saturday Evening Post” on the Western Front, during which time she interviewed  KingAlbert I of Belgium, Winston Churchill and Mary of Teck, the wife of King George V.   Of that encounter Mary Rinehart wrote:  "This afternoon I am to be presented to the queen of England. I am to curtsey and to say 'Your majesty,' the first time!"   She reported on developments to the American War Department and was in Paris when the First World War Peace Treaty was signed.

Mary contributed regularly to “The Saturday Evening Post” and was a prolific writer. During her prime, she was reputed to be even more famous than Agatha Christie. When Mary died on 22nd September 1958, her books had sold over 10 million copies.

Lise Rischard (1868 – 1940) – Luxembourgish; WW1 British Secret Agent

Elise Melanie Meyer was born on 19th May 1868 in the town of Eech in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.  Her father was Jean Meyer. On 9th August 1900, Lise married Dr. Camille Rischard (1871-1939), who was the medical adviser to the Luxembourg Railway Company.

The Germany Army went into the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on 2nd August 1914.  During WW1 people from Luxembourg fought on both sides.   Luxembourg was important as, due to its geographical position and the railway system, trains from Germany to France went through there.

During a visit to see her son in Paris during the First World War, Lise was recruited by the British as a secret agent to provide valuable information about the German troop movements and trains that travelled through Luxembourg. Lise put the information into carefully worded texts which were then published in advertisements placed in the local newspaper “Landwirt”.

Lise died on 28th February 1940 in Luxembourg City.

Lise’s story is fascinating - she travelled from her home in Luxembourg in the area held by the Germans via Switzerland to Paris, which remained a free city during WW1, and then set up a network to provide vital information to the British.

I mention Lise in the book of the Inspirational Women of World War One Exhibition "No Woman's Land" but you can find out the whole amazing story in the book “The Secrets of Rue St. Roch” by Janet Morgan (London: Allen Lane, 2004).

An exhibition held at the British Embassy in Luxembourg City in 2018 remembered Lise and her contribution.

Sources: “The Secrets of Rue St. Roch” by Janet Morgan (Penguin, London, 2004).
https://lb.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Rischard

The Contribution made by Women during the First World War

In June 1918, on the occasion of the Royal Couple’s Silver Wedding Anniversary, King George V made the following public declaration:

“When the history of our Country’s share in the war is written, no chapter will be more remarkable than that relating to the range and extent of women’s participation … Some even have fallen under the fire of the enemy.  Of all these we think today with reverent pride. “

Agnes Conway, “Women’s War Work” in the Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 23, pp 1054 – 1064, 1922 in “A Lab of One’s Own: Science and Suffrage in the First World War” (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2018) p. 271.



The Congress of Allied Women on War Service was held in the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris on 18th August 1918. The following message from the British Prime Minister (by then David Lloyd George) was read out:-

"I extremely regret that it is impossible for me to fulfil my undertaking to address the great gathering of women war workers in Paris. I regret it all the more because I was very anxious to bear testimony to the tremendous part which women have played in this vital epoch in human history. They have not only borne their burden of sorrow and separation with unflinching fortitude and patience; they have assumed an enormous share of the burdens necessary to the practical conduct of the war.

If it had not been for the splendid manner in which the women came forward to work in hospitals, in munition factories, on the land, in administrative offices of all kinds, and in war work behind the lines, often in daily danger of their lives, Great Britain and, as I believe, all the Allies would have been unable to withstand the enemy attacks during the past few months. For this service to our common cause humanity owes them unbounded gratitude.

In the past I have heard it said that women were not fit for the vote because they would be weak when it came to understanding the issues and bearing the strains of a great war. My recent experience in South Wales confirmed me in the conviction that the women there understand perfectly what is at stake in this war.

I believe that they recognise as clearly as any that there can be no peace, no progress, no happiness in the world so long as the monster of militarism is able to stalk unbridled and unashamed among the weaker peoples. To them this war is a crusade for righteousness and gentleness, and they do not mean to make peace until the Allies have made it impossible for another carnival of violence to befall mankind. I am certain that this resolution of the women of South Wales is but typical of the spirit of the women in the rest of Great Britain.

This war was begun in order that force and brutality might crush out freedom among men. Its authors cannot have foreseen that one of its main effects would be to give to women a commanding position and influence in the public affairs of the world. To their ennobling influence we look not only for strength to win the war but for inspiration during the great work of reconstruction which we shall have to undertake after victory is won.

The women who have flocked to France to work for the Allies are among the foremost leaders of this great movement of regeneration. My message to their representatives gathered together in Paris is this: "Well done; carry on. You are helping to create a new earth for yourselves and for your children."

D. LLOYD GEORGE.

Margaret Mayne, ARRC, NSI (1880 – 1917) – British nurse

With thanks to Heather Johnson for sharing this information about Margaret Mayne, who is not included on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission List of Female Casualties of the First World War.

Margaret, known as Madge, was born on 21st September 1880 in  Ballinamallard, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Her parents were George Wesley Mayne (born c1840) and his third wife Anna, nee Shepherd. The family were Methodists.

Margaret trained as a nurse at North Staffordshire Infirmary, Hartshill, Stoke Upon Trent. Immediately World War One broke out, she came down to the Harwich Garrison Hospital in Essex (Great Eastern Hotel) with two other trained nurses from Stoke Infirmary. Margaret took charge of the Surgical Ward.

On 29th April 1917, Margaret died of Cerebral-spinal meningitis, three days after admission to the local Infections Hospital.   She was buried on 3rd May 1917 in Colchester Cemetery – the local newspaper reported “Over 200 bunches of primroses were received from the patients at the Harwich Hospital.” The primroses were placed in the form of a cross over the grave. The following month the R.R.C. medal that Margaret had been awarded was sent to her mother in Ballinamalla.

A Memoral Plaque, designed by British sculptor Ellen Mary Rope (1855–1934), was commissioned in honour of Margaret (it gives 20th as date of death). It used to hang in the old North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary’s chapel but, when the new hospital premises were built, it was felt that the plaque and a First World War Memorial Board would not be appropriate in the new building and the plaque remained in situ! However, thanks mainly to the efforts of one significant local historian John Mason Sneddon, the plaque now hangs in the public Atrium of the new Royal Stoke University Hospital – for all to see.

Interestingly, the plot (which is in the area of our military graves) is not owned and it must have been felt appropriate to bury Margaret there and give permission for the Celtic Cross headstone to be erected.

Winifred Helen Butenshaw (1883 - 1919) – VAD

Winifred Helen Butenshaw was born on 5th April 1883.  Her parents were Agnes Harard Burtenshaw, nee Stone, and Ephraim Burtenshaw, who were married 5th June 1880 in Kent. Ephraim was a plumber and painter.  Winifred’s siblings were, Edith A., b. 1882, Mabel T., b. 1882, Charles J.G.H., b. 1888, Allan E., b. 1890 and Arthur, b. 1897.  By 1891 the family were living in Tilehurst, Berkshire.  They moved to Yew Cottage in Sulham, Berkshire.

During the First World War, Winifred joined the local Voluntary Aid Detachment and became a trained nurse.

Winifred’s Great-Niece Ann Langley says: “Growing up I heard various references to my Great Aunt Winifred which I was able to verify in later years. Speaking to various folk in the small village where she lived - Sulham, Berkshire - who still knew the story as it had been handed down and where she is buried with unusually a red cross on her headstone.

At some time she was kicked in the stomach by a soldier and during the operation for her injuries she died. Her death certificate says that she had cervical cancer.  This is where the story gets strange.
There are no Red Cross Records except the number of hours she worked. The R C journal for that month gives small obituaries for 2 other nurses but only that Winifred had died. 2 days after her death she was buried with full military honours by high ranking army officials. There is no record or death notice in a Reading paper, only an In Memoriam a year later.

The Imperial War Museum has a few photos.   Research was done by a member of Reading library where very little more was found.   On her gravestone it reads - Winifred Butenshaw who gave her life for her country on October 21 1919 aged 36. 'Ever strong and steadfast always kind and true . In all change and trouble helping others through'.”

With grateful thanks to Ann Langley for telling me Winifred's story.  Winifred is not listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission List of Female Casualties of the First World War.

The photograph of Helen is from the collection made for the nation by Agnes Conway of the Imperial War Museum's Women's Committee.