Toupie Lowther

May "Toupie" Lowther (kuma Toupée; 15 ga Afrilu 1874 - 30 ga Disamba 1944) ya kasance ɗan wasan tennis na Ingila kuma mai ƙwallon ƙafa, mai aiki a ƙarshen ƙarni na 19 da farkon ƙarni na 20. A lokacin yakin duniya na farko, ta jagoranci ƙungiyar mata ta Ingila ta direbobin motar asibiti da ke taimakawa Sojojin Faransa kuma an ba ta lambar yabo ta Croix de Guerre .

## Rayuwa ta farko da iyali
An haifi Lowther a Landan, 'yar Francis William Lowther, an haife ta a Italiya, da Louise Beatrice de Fonblanque, an haifi ta a Montreal. Ita ce 'yar'uwar Claude Lowther, MP na Lonsdale . Francis William shi ne ɗan William Lowther, 2nd Earl na Lonsdale da Emilia Cresotti, mawaƙan wasan kwaikwayo na Italiya. Kakan mahaifiyarta shine masanin tarihi Edward Barrington na Fonblanque . Shekaru biyu kafin haihuwar Toupie, Earl na Lonsdale ya mutu kuma ya bar mahaifinta gado mai kyau na £ 125,000 (daidai da £ 14,097,000 a 2023). Ta yi karatu a Faransa a makarantar kwana Les Ruches a Avon, Seine-et-Marne kuma ta sami digiri na farko na kimiyya daga Sorbonne . 

## Ayyukan wasan tennis
Lowther ya kasance mai basira. Jaridar Times ta bayyana ta a matsayin "mai tsere mai basira da kuma 'yar wasa, wanda zai iya riƙe kansa a cikin duk abin da ke buƙatar ƙwarewa da kwakwalwa".  An san ta sosai a matsayin mai kunnawa a gasar tennis ta mata, kuma a *Lokaci* wasan tennis ta kasance mai shiga cikin gasa ta Burtaniya a Edgbaston, Beckenham, Manchester da Wimbledon da kuma a kan hanyar gargajiya ta Turai. Musamman ta taka leda akai-akai a Gasar Cin Kofin Mata ta Jamus (wanda aka gudanar a babbar kungiyar Bad Homburg Tennis Club) daga 1896-1901 sannan kuma a Hamburg (Eisbahn-Verein auf der Uhlenhorst). 

Lowther ya lashe gasar zakarun Turai a gasar zakarar Burtaniya a 1900, 1902 da 1903.  A shekara ta 1901 ta lashe lambar yabo a Gasar Zakarun Jamus, wanda aka gudanar a wannan shekarar a Bad Homburg, kuma ta sami lambar yabo, zinare, daga Sarki Edward .  Tsakanin 1900 da 1907 ta buga wasanni biyar a gasar zakarun Wimbledon, tana wasa a taron mutane. Sakamakon da ta fi dacewa shi ne ta kai wasan kusa da na karshe a 1903, ta rasa a madaidaiciya ga zakara Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers, da kuma a 1906, wannan lokacin ta rasa a cikin saiti uku ga Charlotte Cooper Sterry . 

Marubutan wasan tennis na lokacin sun bayyana ta da ƙauna. 'Yan uwan Reginald da Laurence Doherty sun gayyace ta ta rubuta wani babi mai taken Ladies' Play don littafin su Lawn Tennis da aka buga a 1903 da George Hillyard, Sakataren All England Tennis Club na shekaru da yawa kuma mijin Blanche Hillyard a cikin littafinsa Forty Years of First Class Tennis (1924) yana haskakawa cikin godiyarsa: "Wannan lamari ne mai ban mamaki wanda bai kasance mafi girma fiye da kowane mace ta Ingila da ta taɓa tafiya a kotu ba, amma wanda ba tare da ita ba sai dai ta sami kanta mai ban sha'awa ba sai ta kasance mai suna nan mai suna nan da ita ba tare da wani nau'in wasan tennis mai kyau ba...

Lowther kuma fitaccen mai tsere ne, mai tuka mota, mai ɗaukar nauyi da kuma mai yin jujitsu.[1] A cikin wata kasida a cikin fitowar Yuli 1899 na Harmsworth Magazine an bayyana ta a matsayin "Wataƙila mafi basira a cikin ƙarni na mata masu tsere...., wanda za'a iya kiranta da adalci a matsayin zakara mai tsere na masarautar. " Wani kasida a The Herald a cikin 1901 ya ambaci ta a matsayin mace mai tsere ta Ingila. [2][3] Yarinya ce, Romaine Brooks ta san ta da 'Brother', kuma ta haye alps a kan babur tare da 'yarta mai suna Fabienne Lafargue De-Avilla a kan pillion.[4]

## Yaƙin Duniya na I
A lokacin yakin duniya na, ta yi takaici da rashin damar da Sojojin Burtaniya suka ba mata a lokacin yakin, ta shirya ƙungiyar mata masu tuka motar asibiti, Hackett-Lowther Ambulance Unit a Faransa. Rukunin ya kunshi motoci 20 da direbobi mata 25 zuwa 30 kuma suna aiki kusa da layin gaba na yaƙe-yaƙe a Compiègne, Faransa kuma an haɗa su da rundunar soja ta biyu na Sojojin Faransa na Uku. An ba ta lambar yabo ta Croix de Guerre a watan Yulin 1918.   Bugu da ƙari ta kasance shugabar London na kwamitin *Taimako ga fursunonin Belgium a Jamus*. Ta koma London a watan Agustan 1919 bayan shekaru biyu da rabi a Faransa. 

Lowther babban aboki ne na Radclyffe Hall, marubucin The Well of Loneliness  kuma Hall ya jawo wasu abubuwan da Lowther ya samu wajen nuna rayuwar da halin mai gabatarwa Stephen.

## Al'adun gargajiya
An nuna Toupie Lowther a matsayin memba na wata ƙungiya ta sirri ta masu tsaron jiki da ke kare shugabannin masu tsattsauran ra'ayi a cikin littafin hoto mai suna Suffrajitsu: Mrs. Pankhurst's Amazons (2015).

An kuma nuna ta a cikin Murder in Montparnass, wani littafi na Phryne Fisher na Kerry Greenwood (2002).

## Wasanni na karshe

### Singles (20) lakabi (12) masu tsere (8)