15. Dorothy Lawrence
Dorothy Lawrence dreamed of being a war correspondent journalist during the first World War. She decided to act on her aspirations of becoming an investigative journalist when her editors told her she had no hopes of them coming true.
She cycled through the French countryside and dressed down her appearance, even using watered-down furniture polish to cover up her pale skin. She forged documents and claimed to be a British soldier when she enlisted in the Leicestershire Regiment.
Dorothy Lawrence, or Denis Smith as she was known to her troops, traveled to the front lines and worked as a sapper with a mine-laying company. After 10 days of laying mines in the field, she fell ill and confessed to a commanding officer, because she was afraid she would be found out. She was promptly arrested as a spy.
Because the military was afraid other women would try to imitate what she did, Lawrence was forced to sign an affidavit that she would not write about her experiences, but she later published her story in full many years later.
