Henrietta Mabel Lister (also known as Laretta Listakova, Henrietta Listakova and H. M. Burrill-Robinson; 1895–1959) was a British watercolourist, dancer, and race driver.

Early life

Lister was born in 1895 and her parents were Charles Lister (a doctor) and his wife. She attended the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. In 1914, Lister, using the stage name Laretta Listakova, was part of a dance company that was touring

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

when World War I began. Lister joined

Elsie Inglis Eliza Maud "Elsie" Inglis (16 August 1864 – 26 November 1917) was a Scottish doctor, surgeon, teacher, Women's suffrage, suffragist, and founder of the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service, Scottish Women's Hospitals. She was the ...

Salonika Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

-based

Scottish Women's Hospitals The Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Services (SWH) was founded in 1914. It was led by Dr. Elsie Inglis and provided nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, cooks and orderlies. By the end of World War I, 14 medical units had been outfitted and ...

unit as a driver, under the auspices of the

French Red Cross The French Red Cross (french: Croix-Rouge française), or the CRF, is the national Red Cross Society in France founded in 1864 and originally known as the ''Société française de secours aux blessés militaires'' (SSBM). Recognized as a public ...

. For her contributions, she was awarded a

British War Medal The British War Medal is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces for service in the First World War. Two versions of the medal were produced. About 6.5 million were struck in si ...

and Victory Medal, and a Serbian Medal for Zeal.

Motor racing

Between 1924 and 1928, Lister raced a Bamford-type Aston Martin at the

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfie ...

racetrack in Surrey. She is recorded as having participated in twelve meetings, competing in 22 different races or events. Jack Waters (who went on to star in films and television as Jack Warner) acted as her mechanic and sometimes drove her car. Some sources report that she sometimes called herself "Henrietta Listakova", whom newspapers reported as being a "Russian ballet dancer" who raced cars in Britain and America. In 1923, Listakova performed in a charity ballet organized by a Mabel Lister in London.

Later life

In 1935, Lister married William Robinson Burrill-Robinson of Elm House,

Redmire Redmire is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It is about west of Leyburn in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales. Transport Redmire is the terminus of the Wensleydale Railway. The Ministry of ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

. Lister appears to have given up her adventurous hobbies and turned to

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

s, exhibiting as part of the

Castle Bolton Castle Bolton is a village near Bolton Castle in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, England. It gets its name from the castle which looks over the village green. The population of the civil parish was less than 100 at the 2011 census, so details are ...

Group. Lister died in 1959 at the age of 64.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lister, Henrietta 1895 births 1959 deaths Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service volunteers Brooklands people English racing drivers English female racing drivers Artists from Yorkshire English watercolourists 20th-century English sportswomen 20th-century English painters