Two women who went to war and fought a battle for equality

Atkinson's curiosity was aroused and she set out to discover more. That first flutter of interest turned into a project that was to take up five years of her life. The more she found out about the two women who had been decorated with 17 medals for courage and self-sacrifice the more difficult it was to believe that no one had told their story properly before.

Elsie Knocker and Mairi Gooden-Chisholm left Blighty for Belgium on September 25, 1914, determined to "do their bit" for the war effort. Within a month, they were driving ambulances to military hospitals, and running an emergency first aid post just yards from the Western Front. They were to become celebrities and feature on the front pages of British newspapers for their bravery during the four years they worked to save lives and comfort the dying. They had met at a Bournemouth motorcycle club in 1912 – Elsie, a 30-year-old daredevil divorced mother-of-one in bottle-green leathers, and the brilliant 18-year-old-Mairi, a gifted mechanic who defied her mother's attempts to turn her into a "lady".

Mairi ran away from home to join Elsie and sign on with the Women's Emergency Corps, initially speeding across London on her motorbike as a despatch rider. She was spotted by Dr Hector Munro, who asked her to join his Flying Ambulance Corps, helping wounded Belgian soldiers. She agreed immediately and recommended her friend Elsie, a trained nurse.

Munro, keen to show women could be as brave as men, selected them from 200 applicants, along with a couple of well-connected socialites, doctors, drivers, cooks and medical orderlies.

At first, colleagues referred to Elsie and Mairi as "Valkyries in knickerbockers", just larky middle-class girls in khaki, but a few weeks later they were the only women to live and work on the fighting front in any of the theatres of the Great War. "They were two of about 50 women in Britain on motorbikes in their day, a time when the bikes were fairly rubbish," says Diane Atkinson. "Although they were very different in character, both had a pioneering spirit, which came into its own when they found themselves 100 yards from the German trenches running a first aid post in a cellar, in a village the Germans were desperate to overrun. They saw the bloodiness and smelled the stench of the war close up. They rescued and nursed the wounded, pulled dead British pilots out of the mud of No Man's Land, and held the hands of hundreds of dying boys."

Piecing together the story from sources that included Mairi's diaries, newspaper reports and family accounts, Atkinson gives an astonishing view of how Elsie and Mairi lived among rats and wore the same clothes for weeks on end but at the same time were determined to make life as "normal" as possible – cooking meals for soldier friends, growing vegetables and even making jam. Elsie found love, marrying a Belgian officer who was also a Baron, after a whirlwind "trench romance".

As the war wore on, news of the two women's heroic work reached home – which proved providential, seeing as they funded their little operation themselves and were forced to make periodic trips back to Britain to raise the cash needed to run vehicles, buy medical supplies and feed themselves. During their time in Belgium, various British toffs donated cars to their unit, including a Rolls Royce.

As their fame spread, a stream of visitors descended on the little village of Pervyse, seeking out the two extraordinary women.

"They weren't after celebrity, and there was certainly no money in it," says Diane Atkinson. "When they came home and spoke to potential donors, they had to temper and sanitise the awfulness of what they were living through for the sensitive ears of their audience. Some of their stories were even too awful for me to write about." Atkinson has finally told their tale in Elsie and Mairi Go To War and she is also hoping to get a memorial built to the two women in Belgium.

In 1915, a conference in Paris had banned all women from the Front, except Elsie and Mairi. They earned the respect of governments and armies, and were decorated for their courage and hard work. Even the Bosch admired them, says the author.

"The Germans thought they were bonkers but very courageous, and sent them word, using their little dog, Shot, to keep their heads down when a particularly bad assault was on the cards."

Elsie and Mairi's war did not last until Armistice Day. In March 1918, after a particularly bad gas attack, they were forbidden from returning to their post. They both found it difficult to settle at home, and during the Second World War they "did their bit" again – Mairi taking in evacuees at her home in Scotland, and Elsie serving in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.

Elsie and Mairi Go To War – Two Extraordinary Women On The Western Front by Diane Atkinson is published by Arrow Books, 7.99. To order from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop call 0800 0153232 or go to www.yorkshirepostbookshop. co.uk. P&P is 2.75.

Diane Atkinson will be talking about her book at Ilkley Literature Festival on Saturday, October 2, 3pm, Ilkley Playhouse Wharfeside.