27 Facts About Mary Elmes

Marie Elisabeth Jean Elmes was an Irish aid worker credited with saving the lives of at least 200 Jewish children at various times during the Holocaust, by hiding them in the back of her car.

Mary Elmes was born on 5 May 1908 in Cork, Ireland to chemist Edward Mary Elmes and his wife Elizabeth.

Edward Mary Elmes was originally from Waterford, and moved to Cork after qualifying as a pharmacist, to run a pharmacy on Winthrop Street, while Waters grew up in Cork.

Elizabeth Mary Elmes was involved in the Irish Suffragette movement and campaigned for the vote for women as treasurer of the Munster Women's Franchise League.

Mary Elmes had one brother, John, who later took over the family business.

Mary Elmes experienced the war first hand in May 1915 when the Cunard ocean liner 'The Lusitania' was torpedoed by a German u-boat off the coast of Cork.

Mary Elmes was exposed to the violence of the War of Independence when the family business was burned out by British forces in 1920.

When she returned to Cork, Mary Elmes helped to raise funds for the Cork Child Welfare League with the Rochelle Old Girls' Association.

In 1928, Mary Elmes enrolled at Trinity College Dublin, where she was elected a Scholar, and gained a First in Modern Literature.

In 1935, as a result of her academic achievements, Mary Elmes was awarded a scholarship in International Studies to study at the London School of Economics.

Mary Elmes received a certificate in International Studies, as well as a further scholarship to continue her education in Geneva, Switzerland.

In February 1937, Mary Elmes gave up her aspiring career in academia to volunteer and help refugees escaping the Spanish Civil War and after the completion of her studies, she joined the University of London Ambulance Unit and was sent to a children's hospital in Almeria, Spain, where she was assigned to a feeding station.

Mary's father, Edward Elmes passed away at the end of 1937, however Mary missed the funeral as she refused to abandon her post when no replacement could be found.

Mary Elmes was appointed in January 1939 by the American Friends Service Committee to run a hospital they were establishing in Alicante.

Mary Elmes was evacuated in May 1939 to the AFSC regional HQ in Perpignan, France.

Mary Elmes joined them and volunteered with the American Friends Service Committee, which cared for refugee children.

Mary Elmes, with help from some colleagues, rescued dozens of children, taking them to safe houses or helping them flee the country altogether.

Jews in southwest France were rounded up to be deported from Rivesaltes camp, where Mary Elmes spent most of her time.

Well aware that she was putting herself at risk, Mary Elmes hid many children in the boot of her car and drove them to safe destinations, such as safe houses she had organised earlier in the war which were located in the foothills of the Pyrenees and along the coast.

Mary Elmes aided many others by securing documents which allowed them to escape through the undercover network in Vichy France.

Mary Elmes was not a Quaker herself, despite sometimes being described as the "head of the Quaker delegation at Perpignan," but worked with local Quaker organisations.

In January 1943, Mary Elmes was arrested on suspicion of aiding the escape of Jews and was imprisoned in Toulouse, later being moved to Fresnes Prison run by the Gestapo near Paris, where she spent six months.

Mary Elmes's family hoped that after her ordeal she would leave France but she was determined not to abandon the refugees who still needed her help.

Mary Elmes worked from her office in Perpignan until the war ended.

Mary Elmes married Frenchman Roger Danjou in Perpignan, and had two children, Caroline and Patrick.

Mary Elmes died in a nursing home there at the age of 93.

Mary Elmes did not speak much of the war or what she had done, and declined every award and distinction she was offered.