Background and career
Baroness Emma Magdalena Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orci (; 23 September 1865 – 12 November 1947), usually known as Baroness Orczy (the name under which she was published), was a Hungarian-born British novelist and playwright. She is best known for her series of novels featuring The Scarlet Pimpernel, the alter ego of Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy English fop who turns into a quick-thinking escape artist in order to save French aristocrats from "Madame Guillotine" during the French Revolution, establishing the "hero with a secret identity" in popular culture.
Opening in London's West End on 5 January 1905, The Scarlet Pimpernel became a favourite of British audiences. Some of Orczy's paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy in London.
She established the Women of England's Active Service League during World War I with the intention of empowering women to convince men to enlist in the military. Orczy was also a founding member of the White Feather Movement, a shaming ritual in Britain during WW1 in which women gave white feathers to non-enlisting men, symbolising cowardice and shaming them into signing up.
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