Talk:Toupie Lowther

Here some people did quite some good research on Toupies life. Their results:

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I can't check the results and a forum link is a bad source to base information on, but the information sounds credible. Maybe someone can provide better sources, and include it in the article someday.--Kompakt (talk) 13:02, 24 September 2012 (UTC)
 * birth: 1875 in London (?)
 * death: December 30th, 1944 at Pulborough, Sussex. The Times of London of January 5th, 1945 anounced her death; the burial was due to be held on January 9th, 1945.
 * Her real name was May Lowther
 * She is said to have been the daughter of Francis William Lowther (illegitimate son of William Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale) and Louise Béatrice nee de Fonblanque, and was the sister of Claude Lowther.
 * She was lesbian and had relationships with Una Vincenzo, Lady Troubridge and Radclyffe Hall

Note: there's another Barbara "Toupie" Lowther who later started an ambulance service in 1917 during WW1. However, this Barbara Toupie was born in 1890 as the daughter of Lancelot Lowther, 6th Earl of Lonsdale, so she can't be winning major tennis competitions at the turn of the century yet. (source: Joan Schenkar: ''Truly Wilde: The Unsettling Story Of Dolly Wilde, p. 88).--Kompakt (talk) 13:41, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, Joan Schenkar was mistaken; Toupie's birth name was May, rather than Barbara. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Artful Dodger (talk • contribs) 22:42, 3 October 2012 (UTC)

May (Toupie) Lowther was born on 15th April 1874 in London and died on 30th December 1944 in Pulborough, West Sussex. In her Will she desires to be cremated. She was the third child and second daughter of Captain (RN Retd.) Francis William Lowther and his wife Louise Beatrice, the eldest daughter of of Edward de Fonblanque. I have been looking at Toupie’s life for some time, with some success, and propose to read a paper about her at a conference in Brighton in February next year.


 * *In her time she was a well known woman fencer: she was also very musical and praised for her compositions. During WW1 she organised the ambulance section of the Hackett Lowther Unit attached to the French army: after the War she was part of the Radclyffe Hall/Una Troubridge set for some years.


 * *She is said to feature as “Aurora Freemantle” in Compton Mackenzie’s book Extraordinary Women”


 * *I am happy to add to this Wiki page, with sources, but not sure how to set about it ! Help needed.


 * *The “Lady Barbara Lowther” attribute was a mis-identification which has, sadly, been taken up by subsequent writers.

Val Brown (talk) 11:54, 14 November 2012 (UTC)