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Until I die in a wave of fucking mystery

So while I had known for some time about Dolly Wilde, Oscar's niece, I had somehow never heard of the fellow ambulance driver with whom she had an affair in WWI Paris, Joe Carstairs. I am going to be neutral about their pronouns because I don't want to get them wrong—all the sources I'm finding treat Carstairs as female, and it's pretty narrow to think that short hair, tattoos, tailored suits, and speedboats automatically make a man, or at least not a woman, but when a person renames themselves "Joe" from "Marion" and says of themselves, "I was never a little girl. I came out of the womb queer," I feel I should try to take them at their word. It's easy to see why they attract biographers and Tumblr posts. The part where they ran an all-female driving service in London—"X Garage"—is pretty great. The part where they were the only one of Marlene Dietrich's lovers to call her "babe" and live is amazing. The part where they bought an island in the Bahamas and effectively ruled it for forty years is like something out of Conrad, which is a little harder to enthuse about, but it definitely is different.

I can't find a better version of this photo, but it's the first one I saw: it's Carstairs with Lord Tod Wadley, the doll that was a gift from a serious girlfriend in 1925 and became Carstairs' lifelong companion.

Obviously that got my attention. This looks like the same photoshoot in 1931, with a better view of the tattoos:

Joe Carstairs

And this, some years later, doesn't do much for the tattoos, but it's a nice bike:

Joe Carstairs and bike

I think I like this one best: Joe Carstairs hanging out with Gar Wood in 1944, one motorboat racer to another.

Gar Wood, Joe Carstairs

And twenty minutes ago I'd had no idea. I love the people that history contains.

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Wow! I didn't even know of Dolly Wilde's existence, let alone everything else. Yes, history and things-right-now are just crammed utterly pell-mell full of so much more, so many more stories and people than we can ever get to the end of.
Thanks for opening up this one today. (One? manymany!)

Ooh! Have you ever heard of Winneretta Singer? She was one of the two dozen or so heirs to the Singer sewing-machine fortune — Mr. Singer had been a man of many parts, but monogamy wasn’t one of ‘em, and eventually the company had offered him the lion’s share of the profits to go live in Europe and stay out of the American tabloids for the rest of his life. Anyway, Winneretta married some prince as soon as she was of age, mainly to get away from her mother and stepfather; it didn’t go well and was subsequently annulled. She had much better luck later with — oh, can’t recall his name right now and I’m in a subway tunnel,* but he was a composer, also technically a prince, and gay, so they had a quite happy lavender marriage until his death. Reading between the lines, I think she hit on Virginia Woolf once. She was a bit older than the ambulance-driving generation, but apparently she helped Marie Curie acquire vehicles to convert to mobile x-ray units.

*Edmond de Polignac

Edited 2017-10-23 11:37 (UTC)

Have you ever heard of Winneretta Singer?

I don't think so! Although I'm not sure why, since she was involved at one point with Romaine Brooks. I can't tell if "Winnaretta" is the kind of name that just happened to people in the nineteenth century, or the kind of name you think is a good idea after you've had to name a dozen children already. I see she had a half-brother named "Paris."

She was a bit older than the ambulance-driving generation, but apparently she helped Marie Curie acquire vehicles to convert to mobile x-ray units.

Nice!

I think Isaac Merritt Singer was more likely the sort who’d think “Winneretta” was a cute name, than the sort who’d run out of naming ideas.

Winneretta Singer was also a really important patron of the arts, especially modern music - Satie, Poulenc, Boulanger, etc. There is an absolutely wonderful biography of her by Sylvia Kahan, called Music's Modern Muse - I recommend it highly.

There is an absolutely wonderful biography of her by Sylvia Kahan, called Music's Modern Muse - I recommend it highly.

I'll look for it! Thanks.

Edited 2017-10-23 22:28 (UTC)

Thanks for opening up this one today. (One? manymany!)

You're welcome!

*adds "lesbian WWI ambulance driver RPF" to next year's Yuletide nominations idea list*

Also, Summerscale's observation here is stunning:

Following the Armistice and a stint driving lorries for the British forces in Ireland, Carstairs returned to Northern France, where she assisted in the grisly work of reburying thousands of British soldiers who had been placed in temporary graves. This horrifying task seems not to have affected her spirits adversely; on the contrary, like many rebellious women of her era, she seems to have been curiously enlivened by the spectacle of mass (male) destruction. ‘If the men who had served in the Great War were exhausted and depleted’, Summerscale observes, women like Joe ‘returned replenished, brimming with vigour and ambition’. For Carstairs, the war was the necessary catastrophe on which much of her subsequent career – as sporting rival to men and virile lover of women – depended.

Why had I never put together the social and romantic ways that women must have stood in for men during wartime, the way they did in factories and on ballfields? And having just read Elizabeth Hand's "The Bacchae" my brain is now doing very odd things with this notion of lesbians made vigorous by the deaths of men and boys.

Edited 2017-10-23 05:04 (UTC)

Your quotation suddenly strikes me as also resonant with our gracious hostess's recently-published bog-body story.

And having just read Elizabeth Hand's "The Bacchae" my brain is now doing very odd things with this notion of lesbians made vigorous by the deaths of men and boys.

If anything comes of this, or of the lesbian ambulance driver RPF, please let me know.

I am going to look for Summerscale's biography of Joe Carstairs; I just wish I'd known it existed a week ago when I was at the Strand.

Reading in the linked article about Lord Tod (German for "Death") Wadley's exploits, I really want to read a Tim Powers-esque book featuring Carstairs.

I really want to read a Tim Powers-esque book featuring Carstairs.

Because you want all of the stories about Wadley to be true?

Partially, yes. But just the existence *of* the stories is, itself, great story material!

Wow, they're amazing! I never knew about Dolly, never mind Joe. Is that a ship inside their star tattoo, do you think?

Is that a ship inside their star tattoo, do you think?

I think you're right! A three-masted affair with a lot of sails. And a dragon on the same arm.

I believe I learned about Dolly in college, which would fit with the timing of the only biography that to my knowledge exists of her: Joan Schenkar's Truly Wilde: The Unsettling Story of Dolly Wilde, Oscar's Unusual Niece (2000). I studied her uncle's writing for the first time that school year.

I think Harper’s Bazaar did a piece on Carstairs years ago, which is where I heard of her. It included an anecdote about her walking into some fancy hotel in a tuxedo, being told women could not wear trouser suits on the premises, and returning in an elegant evening gown, which also showed off all her arm tattoos. After that, she was allowed to wear the tuxedo.

I did not know about either of these fascinating people. Wow I love the Net.

Wow I love the Net.

I love how much the information is just there.

Thank you for this post! ^_^

Thank you for this post!

You're welcome!

This is very cool - thanks for posting about these people! I, too, am a bit more educated now than I was before.

This is very cool - thanks for posting about these people! I, too, am a bit more educated now than I was before.

You're welcome! They needed sharing.

I had seen the photo of Joe with Lord Tod, but had no idea of the Wilde connection.
In my head, all WWI ambulance drivers in France were female, due to Gertrude Stein (who actually drove a modified Ford her brother had shipped from the US) and characters in "The Well of Loneliness."

I think Aldous Huxley and Alexander Woolcot may both have driven ambulances as well; the thought of either of them behind the wheel is a bit terrifying, but apparently if your eyesight was too bad to qualify for military service, you could always drive.

My very favorite part of the "Autobiography of Alice B Toklas" is the claim that she found Gertrude's driving fine going forward, but not backing up. I don't know that it got into the terrifying range, though.

Well, at least no one ever had to parallel-park on a battlefield (I imagine).

but apparently if your eyesight was too bad to qualify for military service, you could always drive.

That is terrifying.

In my head, all WWI ambulance drivers in France were female, due to Gertrude Stein (who actually drove a modified Ford her brother had shipped from the US) and characters in "The Well of Loneliness."

I can see how that happened. (I didn't know about Stein's modified Ford.)

p.s. A lesbian acquaintance of mine is currently in-training to become an ambulance driver, so

Dolly Wilde, Oscar's niece, I had somehow never heard of the fellow ambulance driver with whom she had an affair in WWI Paris, Joe Carstairs

especially amused me.

But it was ALL *fascinating* and Oh, wow! :D

p.s. A lesbian acquaintance of mine is currently in-training to become an ambulance driver, so

That's great!

I've done it myself (though not in a military context). It's a fun job in your early twenties, but the culture's pretty messed up.

-Nameseeker

And twenty minutes ago I'd had no idea. I love the people that history contains.

People are amazing, really. I'd no idea about either of these, so it was very interesting to read. Thanks for sharing the fruits of your research! :-)

Thanks for sharing the fruits of your research!

You're welcome! They were too cool not to.

Wow, what awesome information!

Wow, what awesome information!

I didn't even link any photos of Dolly Wilde!

What an excellent post. ^_^

What an excellent post.

I am very glad.

I did not know they slept together! How brilliantly universe-colliding!

Some of Lord Tod Wadley's possessions went up at auction a short bit ago. Equal parts Uncanny Valley and a heart-something-ing callback to what it meant when queer women gave each other a doll, all those decades ago.

(Certainly cheaper and their feet don't grow and need new hockey skates.)

I did not know they slept together! How brilliantly universe-colliding!

I have concluded that I need to get both Dolly Wilde's biography and Joe Carstairs', because who else don't I know about?

Some of Lord Tod Wadley's possessions went up at auction a short bit ago.

I didn't know that. I knew he was cremated with Joe and both their ashes buried with Ruth Baldwin, who had given him to Joe in the first place. Which does do something to the heart.

(Certainly cheaper and their feet don't grow and need new hockey skates.)

I'm just as glad you have a live one, though.

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