Dorothy Lawrence was an English reporter who fought in WWI under the garb of a man, making her the first confirmed female soldier in the English army. Lawrence opted to leave her profession as a journalist and go to the front lines in 1915, with her chest flattened by a corset, her hair totally cut off, and her skin blackened. Lawrence spared no expense in her disguise: she borrowed a khaki military outfit from two British troops, requested them to teach her how to walk more androgynously, and fabricated travel passes for war-torn France. Lawrence became ill after only 10 days in the military and, when her symptoms worsened, she decided to confess her true identity to her commanding sergeant. She was detained by the military. She was investigated as a spy and regarded a prisoner of war upon her return to England; she also swore an oath not to write about her experience as a disguised soldier. Lawrence released Sapper Dorothy Lawrence: The Only English Woman Soldier against England's desires in 1919, but it was a commercial fiasco despite critical acclaim, leaving her penniless. Lawrence told a doctor, in tears, that her church guardian had raped her as a youngster. She was sent to an institute and ruled insane, where she stayed until her death in 1964.