Dr Graham Howie is a senior lecturer and researcher at the Paramedicine Department, AUT. In October 2023, on a study tour in France, he visited the village of Lumbres and laid flowers on Germaine Lassalle’s grave. OPINION A young woman sits in an ornate wooden chair.
She is wearing a blouse and a high-waisted, ankle-length skirt, with a peep of dark stockings and polished shoes. Four large buttons feature prominently on the sturdy material of the skirt with its broad hem. Her blouse is full, long sleeved with generous cuffs, small round drop buttons dot the front.
The collar stretches wide across the shoulders trimmed with what appears to be fur, a winter touch. A fine chain hangs round her neck and a pendant; there is a practical watch on her left wrist. She wears her hair drawn back with a small band about the forehead, from which a few locks of hair escape.
The face is attractive, she has large dark eyes, and a faint smile plays on her lips. However, by far the most striking thing about this portrait is the directness of her gaze. She looks straight at us steady and unfazed, confidently, perhaps even no-nonsense.
A strong personality. This is Germaine Lassalle – a young Frenchwoman in her early 20s. Her clothing is not Parisian high fashion, it’s not silk or satin, indeed she may have made some of it herself because we know she had worked as a dressmaker.
When the First World War broke out, she returned to her parents’ home in the village of Lumbres in Pas-de-Calai.
