Camille du Gast, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Camille du Gast

French racing driver

Date of Birth: 30-May-1868

Place of Birth: Paris, ĂŽle-de-France, France

Date of Death: 24-Apr-1942

Profession: nurse, horse trainer, balloonist, mountaineer, racing automobile driver, fencer

Nationality: France

Zodiac Sign: Gemini


Show Famous Birthdays Today, France

👉 Worldwide Celebrity Birthdays Today

About Camille du Gast

  • Camille du Gast (Marie Marthe Camille Desinge du Gast, Camille Crespin du Gast, 30 May 1868 – 24 April 1942) was one of a trio of pioneering French female motoring celebrities of the Belle Epoque, together with HĂ©lène de Rothschild (Baroness HĂ©lène van Zuylen) and Anne de Rochechouart de Mortemart the (Duchess of Uzès).
  • Du Gast was known as "one of the richest and most accomplished widows in France," and as an accomplished sportswoman—a balloonist, parachute jumper, fencer, tobogganist, skier, rifle and pistol shot, horse trainer—as well as a concert pianist and singer.
  • She was the second woman to compete in an international motor race.In France, she later became renowned for her extensive charity work.
  • She was president of the SociĂ©tĂ© protectrice des animaux (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, SPA) until her death, and her campaign against bullfighting included disruptive direct action protests.
  • She provided health-care to disadvantaged women and children in Paris, and continued whilst under German occupation in World War II.She was the central figure in the Parisian scandal of La Femme au Masque where she was maliciously but mistakenly named as the nude model in a notorious painting by Henri Gervex.
  • This salacious story involved three court cases, and was reported around the world.Her exuberant social and sporting lifestyle was changed by a traumatic experience around 1910, when her daughter attempted to have her murdered in order to inherit.
  • In the middle of the night, in her own house, she challenged the gang and they fled.
  • Afterwards she devoted herself to French government work in Morocco, and charitable works with animals, disadvantaged women and orphans.A pioneer feminist, she served as vice-president of the Ligue Française du Droit des Femmes (The French League for the Rights of Women) after World War I.
  • In 1904 she became the only woman official of the Automobile Club de France (A.C.F.). She was known in the press by the sobriquets l'Amazone and la Walkyrie de la MĂ©canique (Valkyrie of the motor car).

Read more at Wikipedia

See Also