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Marion Barbara 'Joe' Carstairs (1 February 1900 – 18 December 1993) was a wealthy British power boat racer known for her speed, eccentric lifestyle, and gender nonconformity. In the 1920s, she was known as the ‘fastest woman on water’.
Jan 22, 2016 · Now, 22 years after Carstairs’s death, some of her affects—jewelry, objects, and a vast archive of photographs—are being auctioned at Doyle next Wednesday.
Mar 1, 2023 · This fascinating blog focuses on the incredibly eccentric 1920s queer speedboat racer, Joe Carstairs, dubbed “The fastest woman on water.”
Joe Carstairs was born Marion Barbara in London and served as an ambulance driver in France with the American Red Cross in World War I. And in 1918, aged 18, she joined the Women’s Legion Mechanical Transport Section as a driver to British officers.
The life of Marion “Joe” Carstairs is a thrilling adventure, brilliantly documented in Kate Summerscale’s book ‘The Queen of Whale Cay’ (1997). Carstairs loved speed and her most well-known achievements came on the water but her motoring history is just as fascinating.
Mar 10, 2017 · Meet Joe Carstairs, an oil heiress who took lovers including Marlene Dietrich and Oscar Wilde's niece.
Sep 3, 2020 · Marion Barbara Carstairs chose to be called Joe. She wore men’s clothing specifically designed to diminish her bust. She would also walk about her island wearing a false mustache. It is possible that, were she alive today, she would identify as a transgender man.
