Women Warriors: Ten Courageous Lives of Women Who Went to War

2017 | Biography

After her beloved husband was forced to fight for William II, Mrs Christian 'Kit' Welsh was not going to let her happy home be torn apart by war. Instead she donned her husbands clothes and joined the Duke of Marlborough Dragoons. Under the name of Christopher Welsh, she began her pursuit of her 'brother' Richard, which took her across Europe, onto the battlefield throughout the Nine Years War and the Spanish War of Succession, and through an exploration of her own identity as a woman, wife, mother and soldier. Women Warriors explores the compelling lives of ten extraordinary women, those who rejected the limits that society placed upon their sex by dressing as men and entering the very masculine worlds of the state and military. These women fought, slept, drank, and caroused alongside their fellow soldiers all without discovery. Despite the restrictions on women in close combat in the British Military, which still holds today, these women were central to pivotal battles throughout history including the Battle of Waterloo, the fight for colonial India, and in the trenches of the First World War.

They received injuries, were taken prisoner, fought duels and risked life and limb for their country alongside their male comrades. Whether it was the pursuit of freedom, the search for a loved one or a confused gender identity that motivated these women, they all echoed brave Kit's declaration: 'I'll be a soldier'.

Tracey Knight (Author)