11 Facts About Marthe Richard

Marthe Richard later became a politician, and worked towards the closing of brothels in France in 1946.

Marthe Richard was a rich industrialist who worked at Les Halles.

Marthe Richard's husband died in World War I in 1916.

Marthe Richard became a spy under Captain Georges Ladoux, thanks to her lover, a young Russian anarchist.

Marthe Richard was the financial director for the Rockefeller Foundation, and patron of the restoration of the Petit Trianon.

Marthe Richard claimed half of the vast royalties, and accepted the advice to write her own memoirs.

Under the pseudonym of "Marthe Richard", she published the best-seller, My life as a spy in the French service, and instantly became a heroine of France.

Encouraged, Marthe Richard began a campaign to end prostitution in all of France.

The bill, now known as La loi Marthe Richard, was passed with the votes of an alliance of the Christian democrat MRP and the Communists.

Marthe Richard was British by her marriage to Thomas Crompton.

Marthe Richard was called La Veuve qui clot, a pun by Antoine Blondin on the champagne Veuve Clicquot and "maisons closes", another term for brothels.