23 Facts About Katharine Woolley

Katharine Elizabeth, Lady Woolley was a spy, British military nurse and archaeologist who worked principally at the Mesopotamian site of Ur.

Katharine Woolley's father was Carl Menke, a Consul for Germany.

Katharine Woolley studied Modern History at Somerville College in Oxford, but did not complete her education there due to health problems.

Reports mention that after Katharine Woolley fell ill one day, the doctor met with Colonel Keeling for 20 minutes, and after this point he committed suicide in the Giza desert.

Katharine Woolley met her second husband, Leonard Woolley working as a field assistant at the archaeological excavations at Ur in 1924.

The Katharine Woolley marriage was never consummated, as an archived 1928 letter from Leonard Katharine Woolley to a legal adviser suggested.

The reason is apparently that Katharine Woolley accepted marriage only on the condition that the couple never sleep together.

Katharine Woolley died of multiple sclerosis on 8 November 1945 in The Dorchester, where she and her husband had been living for several years.

Katharine Woolley had all her personal documents burned upon her death, thereby erasing any first-hand accounts of her experiences.

Katharine Woolley was an archaeologist, like her husband, and shared with him the work of excavation at Ur of the Chaldees, at Al Mina, on the North Syrian coast, and at Atchana, in the Hatay, until the outbreak of war.

Katharine Woolley was jointly responsible with him for the report published in 1939 on the Archaeological Survey of India.

Katharine Woolley served as British military nurse in the Red Cross during World War I This position required her to hide her German heritage.

Katharine Woolley served in Poland until 1919, when she returned to London.

In 1919, Katharine Woolley moved back to Cairo after marrying Colonel Keeling.

Katharine Woolley remained a volunteer until 1926, when she began receiving a salary for her work.

Katharine Woolley continued working there until 1934, by which time she was the primary assistant on site.

Katharine Woolley's drawings were used to publicize the discoveries to donors as well as the public.

Katharine Woolley was known as a "taskmaster" by those she worked with, with her drive and skills of organization making her extremely competent in a male-dominated discipline.

Supposedly, Leonard Woolley's biographer referred to Katharine as "demanding," "ruthless" and calculating.

Katharine Woolley was the inspiration for the murder victim Louise Leidner in the novel Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie, published in 1936.

Katharine Woolley stimulated your mind into thinking along some pathway that had not before suggested itself to you.

Katharine Woolley was capable of rudeness in fact she had an insolent rudeness, when she wanted to, that was unbelievable but if she wished to charm you she would succeed every time.

Apart from her connection with the Louise Leidner character in Murder in Mesopotamia, Katharine Woolley appears as a character in the 2019 TV movie Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar.