Louise Marie Jeanne Henriette de Bettignies was born on July 15, 1880, in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, into a noble family.
Exceptionally gifted with languages, she pursued higher education at Oxford and was fluent in English, German, and Italian. Before the war, she worked as a governess for prominent aristocratic families throughout Europe.
When the First World War broke out in 1914, she refused to remain inactive. She was quickly approached by MI6 (British intelligence) because of her language skills and her knowledge of the terrain.
Under the pseudonym Alice Dubois, she took command of the "Alice" resistance network. This organization, which would eventually number around one hundred people, transmitted crucial information to the Allies regarding troop movements and German artillery positions.
To send her coded messages to the Netherlands, she used all her ingenuity, hiding her notes under postage stamps or in shoe heels.
On October 20, 1915, she was arrested by German authorities in Froyennes, near Tournai, carrying false papers. Imprisoned in Tournai, she underwent lengthy interrogations but refused to betray her accomplices.
Sentenced to death in Brussels, her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment with hard labor. She was deported to the Siegburg fortress in Germany.
She died on September 27, 1918, in Cologne from pleurisy, just a few weeks before the Armistice. She was posthumously awarded the Legion of Honour.
