Female Chauffeurs entered the scene when many people still believed that a woman’s place was in the home. But a few pioneering women became “trendsetters” of their day. This was in part due to the power of postcards, which were the 19th century equivalent of social media.
These women were known by other monikers including chauffeuse, taxi driver and cabbie. By any other name, they were trailblazers and they were spectacular.
For context, most people still believed that women should not operate a horse-drawn carriage, let alone an automobile or even a bicycle. In spite of this, some ladies loved their electric cars and others embraced bicycles as a new road to their freedom.
While the percentage of professional female drivers has grown, women still account for less than 20% of taxi drivers, chauffeurs and Uber drivers.
Following are a few juicy nuggets about the earliest female chauffeurs.
The First Lady: Mademoiselle Gaby Pohlen vs. Inès Decourcelle
It’s tricky to name a hands-down “first” lady due to conflicting historical accounts and documents.
Motoring Journalist, Jeroen Booij writes in Prewar Car:
“…three ladies supposedly began an apprenticeship in 1906 to drive a motorized carriage in the City of Light. A lady named Madame Dufaut-Charnier supposedly got her degree as early as February 1907.” (PreWar Car)
Even so, Madame Inès Decourcelle is considered by most to be the first of the female chauffeurs. She was reportedly the first woman to receive an official taxi license in April of 1908, the same year Henry Ford rolled approximately 1,000 Model T’s off his assembly line in Highland Park, Michigan.
Is it possible that Decourcelle was regarded as the first lady simply because she was the subject of many articles and post cards that made that claim? As with so much of today’s social media, did truth take a back seat to publicity?
Some reporters denied Decourcelle’s publicity as indicated in this article from The Motor-Car Journal on Saturday, May 16, 1908.
“Mademoiselle Gaby Pohlen is a happy woman. She has obtained her driver’s license to drive a motor taxicab from the Prefecture of Police. She has, however, a yet higher ambition. She wants to drive a car in a big automobile speed race…
In addition to being good-looking and under thirty, she can boast of having vied with men in heir sports ever since her girlhood. She mounted a bicycle as soon as they were invented ,is a good horsewoman, can beat most people in walking, has ridden camels in Algeria, in the Biskra region, and love deep-sea fishing.”
The writer learned all of this while he was Mademoiselle Gaby Pohlen’s passenger. She managed to turn and talk, but sill she kept an eye on the road.
Pohlen admitted that getting her license was the easy part because she had been driving since 1902. Once she had the “coveted document” the difficult part began. Even with a license, no one would hire her. It seems that female chauffeurs were not in high demand. But she was finally accepted.
“That is only a couple of weeks ago, but her example has already been followed by Madame Decourcelle. The Paris women cannot complain that the Prefect of Police does not put them on equality with men. He encourages them to mount the box of ordinary cabs, and is now allowing them to take the steering wheel of motor-cabs. If they drive as well as Mademoiselle Gaby Pohlen and Madame Decourcelle the public will have no reason to complain.” (The Motor Car Journal)
Whoever was first, it’s safe to say that all of the heroic female chauffeurs of the early 1900s crashed through gender norms while maintaining excellent driving records.
Postcards Pushed Them To Influencer Status
Female chauffeurs became “it girls” in large part due to the rising popularity of postcards.
In 1854, French photographer Andre Disderi innovated the photographic cartes de visite (visiting cards) which launched a frenzy across Europe and America. Everyone from Nellie Bly to Frederick Douglass and Queen Victoria embraced the idea. These cards were relatively inexpensive and could be reproduced in large quantities. Much like social platforms today, they also had space for senders to write brief notes.
As photographic postcards became increasingly through the late 1800s and early 1900s, millions of people jumped on board.
According to the Postal Museum:
“The postcard was a postal innovation, allowing quick, punchy and cheap correspondence without the formality of the letter. In 1871 around 75 million postcards were sent in Britain and volumes increased vastly to numbers over 800 million a year by the end of King Edward VII’s reign in 1910. Postcards could be written and sent quickly, with numerous postal collections and deliveries per day.” (Postal Museum)
London journalist James Douglas wrote:
“Like all great inventions, the Picture Postcard has wrought a silent revolution in our habits. It has secretly delivered us from the toil of letter-writing… Formerly, when a man went abroad he was forced to tear himself from the scenery in order to write laborious descriptions of it to his friends at home. Now he merely buys a picture postcard at each station, scribbles on it a few words in pencil, and posts it.”
On August 21, 1899, an article on the British newspaper Standard read:
“The illustrated postcard craze, like the influenza, has spread to these islands from the Continent, where it has been raging with considerable severity…”
A Century Before Cell Phone Cameras
George Eastman’s first affordable camera sold in 1888 was a simple box with a fixed-focus lens and one shutter speed. It was called the Kodak. This evolved into the Brownie series. The early Kodak was pre-loaded for 100 photographs. When finished, the budding photographer sent the camera back to the factory where the pictures were processed and the camera reloaded. In essence Kodak had created a “no-brainer.” (Kodak Girls)
Taking the new market to a new level, Kodak offered the No. 3A Folding Pocket Camera with “negatives that were the same size as postcards, and could thus be printed directly onto postcard card stock without cropping, keeping it simple.” (Vintage Photo)
More Parisian Women Joined The Race To A New Career
According to the Taxi Library, the publicity approximately 40 women were working as female chauffeurs in Paris by 1907. An estimated 20 women were in the apprenticeship program.
The frenzy soon died down. By the end of 1908, there were an estimated 20 working female chauffeurs and two in the apprenticeship program. (Taxi Library)
Following are a few of the bad-assed trailblazers.
Rita Yape Sankouron — La Soleil (Paris): October 23, 1909
Sandouron was one of the first black female chauffeurs of her day. According to Taxi Library, …”she scraped past three cars, cut off a truck, frightened two old men and made a little girl jump out of the way. Her passenger/reporter was “charmed” to have ridden with her but happy to find himself back on the sidewalk.
Mlle Désirée Dolet — Le Petit Parisien, March 24, 1907, p. 2
“Yesterday morning at the Prefecture of Police Mlle Désirée Dolet successfully passed the theory examination with a view to obtaining permission to drive an automobile taxi. Monday she will undergo the practical examination, at the walking speed of a horse.”
Madame Moser — Taxi-Library
Madame Moser was most often shown with her horse-drawn carriage. She was a true rebel. Not only was she was one of the first female chauffeurs, she is shown here with a cigarette. In many postcards she’s pictured with her small dog, along for the ride.
Wilma K. Russey Became First New York Taxi Driver, 1917
Although she arrived later on the scene, Wilma K. Russey became one of New York City’s first female chauffeurs on January 1, 1915.
The New York Times published an article with the headline:
“New York’s First Feminine Chauffeur Starts Business on New Year’s Day.” According to the article, a group of men vied for the privilege of being her first passengers.
“The car traveled down Broadway, creating a sensation for several blocks until the party felt that its purpose had been accomplished. Then Miss Russey collected her first fare and tip.”
Transportation History writes that Russey had been a car mechanic at Dalton’s Garage on West 50th Street. She was known for her unique style as a female chauffeur.
“Her standard on-the-job apparel – including black leather gloves as well as a leopard-skin hat and stole – captured the public imagination.” (Transportation History)
Miss M.B. Houffelaar Sped Into History
Circa 1917, Miss M.B. Houffelaar was one of the first female chauffeurs in the Netherlands.
According to Jeroen Booij in Prewar Car, the original caption reads:
“Yet another new task for a lady in The Netherlands! Miss M.B. Houffelaar, the first female chauffeur, who worked as such before the War in Antwerp, completed her skill test successfully for the police in Amsterdam. Together with her own pretty ‘Femina’ car she now has her own place at the stock exchange on the Damrak.”
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