Elsie Knocker Elsie Knocker ( July 29 , 1884 – April 26 , 1978 ) was a British nurse and ambulance driver in World War I who , together with her friend Mairi Chisholm , won numerous medals for bravery and for saving the lives of thousands of soldiers on the Western Front in Belgium . Dubbed " The Madonnas of Pervyse " by the press , the two became the most photographed women of the war . Early life . She was born Elizabeth Blackall Shapter in Exeter , Devon on July 29 , 1884 , the youngest of five children to Dr . Thomas Lewis and Charlotte Shapter ( née Bayly ) . During her childhood she picked up the nickname , " Elsie " . She was orphaned at an early age . Her mother died when she was four years old and her father died from tuberculosis two years later . She was subsequently adopted by Lewis Edward Upcott , a teacher at Marlborough College , and his wife Emily who sent her to be educated at St . Nicholas ' s , Folkestone , and then at the exclusive Château Lutry in Switzerland . After training at the Children ' s Hip Hospital at Sevenoaks , she married Leslie Duke Knocker in 1906 , with whom she had a son , Kenneth Duke , a year later . But the marriage failed and soon after she was divorced she began training as a midwife at Queen Charlotte ' s Hospital . Since being divorced was a status frowned upon in Edwardian England , Knocker invented the myth that her husband had died in Java , leaving her a widow . Motorcycling . Being a divorcee / widow and single mother , however , hardly kept Knocker away from her passions . She became an ardent amateur motorbike enthusiast and when riding wore a dark green leather skirt and long leather coat buttoned all the way down with a belt “ to keep it all together ” designed by Dunhill . She earned the name " Gypsy " because of her love of the open road and membership of the Gypsy Motorcycle Club . She possessed a number of motorbikes including a Scott , a Douglas solo , and a Chater - Lea with a sidecar which would travel with her to the Western Front . World War I . When war was declared in 1914 , Knocker wrote to Chisholm that there was “ work to be done ” , and suggested they go to London to become dispatch riders for the Women ' s Emergency Corps . When her friend and fellow motorcycle fanatic , Mairi Chisholm , was chosen to join Hector Munro ’ s Flying Ambulance Corps she was able to convince Munro to accept Knocker as well seeing as she had some training as a nurse , was an excellent mechanic and chauffeur , and spoke both French and German . This meant that Knocker had to cancel a “ ladies stiff reliability trial ” with " plenty of hairpin bends " over 120 miles of Hampshire and Dorset countryside . The day before she was due to ship out she wrote in her diary : " " This time tomorrow night I shall be in Belgium … in the midst of all the terrors of war . " " Flanders . In the early evening of 25 September 1914 , Knocker , Chisholm and the other volunteers ( which included Dorothie Feilding and May Sinclair ) followed Dr . Munro down the gang - plank of the S . S . " Princess Clementine " at Ostend , West Flanders . Whilst visiting the town of Nazareth ( 8 miles south - west of Ghent where the corps was initially quartered ) Knocker was witness to the aftermath of a massacre when she came across 26 Belgian military policemen who had been shot and mutilated by the Germans . At the end of October , the corps relocated to Furnes , near Dunkirk , where the women worked tirelessly picking up wounded soldiers mid - way from the front and bringing them back to their field hospital at the rear . Knocker and Chisholm soon came to the conclusion that they could save more lives by treating the wounded directly on the front lines . In November , the two decided to leave the corps and set up their own dressing station five miles east in a town named Pervyse , north of Ypres , just one hundred yards from the trenches . Here , in a vacant cellar which they named the " Poste de Secours Anglais " ( " British First Aid Post " ) , the two would spend the next three and a half years aiding the wounded in the Belgian sector . Knocker gave most of the medical attention , while Chisholm transported the injured , often in terrible conditions and under fire , to a base hospital 15 miles away . No longer affiliated with the Belgian Red Cross , they were forced to raise their own funds . With donations they arranged for the cellar to be reinforced with concrete and even have a steel door fitted , supplied by Harrods . Through sheer perseverance Knocker was able to arrange for the two of them to be officially seconded to the Belgian garrison stationed there . Equipped with cameras , both women photographed not only each other but also much of the suffering around them . In January 1915 , they were rewarded for their courageous work on the front lines when they were both decorated by King Albert I of Belgium with the Order of Léopold II , Knights Cross ( with palm ) . Second marriage and more honors . In January 1916 , Knocker married again , this time to a pilot in Belgian Flying Corps who happened to be a baron , named Harold de T ' Serclaes . The newly formed Baroness wrote of her marriage : " “ So much of me went into my work that I suppose I was easily swept along on a tide of glamour and welcome frivolity . Perhaps I had a desire just to drift for once , not to struggle . It was pleasant to imagine that all would turn out well , and after fifteen months ' risking my life at the Front marriage seemed a comparatively small risk to take . I did want someone to take some of the burden off my shoulders and thought how good it would be for Kenneth to have a father . After a lightening honeymoon we hardly saw one another again . I was too busy at Pervyse , and my husband had to return to his squadron . ” " Knocker and Chisholm engaged in multiple battlefield rescues , even carrying fallen men on their backs to their first - aid station . After she and Chisholm rescued a wounded German pilot in No Man ' s Land both women were awarded the British Military Medal , and made Officers , Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St . John of Jerusalem . Fellow corps volunteer May Sinclair said of Knocker : " " She had an irresistible inclination towards the greatest possible danger . " " As word spread of their deeds they began to get visits from journalists , photographers and VIP ' s earning them the subsequent distinction of being the most photographed women of the war . The war ended for both women in March 1918 , when they were gassed during a German offensive and had to return home . By 1919 , Knocker ' s marriage to the Baron had unraveled when both he and the Roman Catholic Church discovered the truth about her previous marriage . For Chisholm , this deception ended their friendship . The two barely spoke again . As part of the settlement Knocker was allowed to remain a Baroness in name only . World War II . In 1939 , at the outbreak of World War II , the Baroness joined up again and became a senior officer in the Women ' s Auxiliary Air Force ( WAAF ) working with RAF Fighter Command and was twice Mentioned in Despatches . Tragedy struck on July 3 , 1942 with the death of her son , Wing Commander Kenneth Duke Knocker , who was killed when his plane was shot down over Groningen . Final years . After the Second World War the Baroness participated in raising funds for the RAF Association and the Benevolent Fund . She lived in the Earl Haig Homes in Park Lane , Ashtead , Surrey from approximately 1926 until her death . Later in life she began breeding Chihuahuas and was always accompanied by three or four of them . She was greatly concerned about the welfare of both animals and the conservation of Ashtead Common where she could often be seen walking her pets , " flamboyantly dressed with large earrings and a voluminous dark cloak " . On 26 April 1978 the Baroness died aged 93 of pneumonia and senile dementia . She never remarried .