Person    | Female  Born 2/1/1914  Died 13/9/1944

Noor Inayat Khan

Categories: Espionage

Countries: France, Russia

War dead, WW2 i

Commemorated on a memorial as having died in WW2.

WW2 spy and member of the French resistance. A descendant of the 18th century south Indian ruler Tipu Sultan, Khan was a follower of the Sufi faith and believed in non-violence.

Born Moscow to parents of Indian heritage. Just before the start of WW1 the family moved to London, Bloomsbury, and in 1920 they moved to France. She took on responsibility for the family and in 1940 they escaped back to England. A fluent French speaker with a strong aversion to fascism she joined the Special Operations Executive and infiltrated into France with a false identity. She worked there for the French resistance but was betrayed. Captured by the Nazis she was tortured and killed in Dachau concentration camp in Germany. The British posthumously awarded her the George Cross, France the Croix de Guerre, their highest civilian honour. She is the only Indian woman to have received the George Cross.

The first woman of south Asian descent to get a blue plaque in London.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Noor Inayat Khan

Commemorated ati

Memorial Gates

Designed by Liam O'Connor as a reduced-scale version of Lutyens' monument at ...

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Noor Inayat Khan bust

The Guardian reports: "the first stand-alone memorial to an Asian woman in th...

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Noor Inayat Khan - Taviton Street

Noor Inayat Khan, GC, 1914 - 1944, SOE agent, codename 'Madeleine', stayed he...

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Women's Transport Service (FANY)

We like the bespoke layout of this plaque: the medals, the maiden-name, the "...

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Other Subjects

Ensign Madeleine Léonie Zoé Damerment, Legion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre

Ensign Madeleine Léonie Zoé Damerment, Legion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre

From our Picture Source we learn that Madeleine Léonie Zoé Damerment was born on 11 November 1917 at Tortefontaine, Pas-de-Calais, France, the second of the three daughters of Charles Eugène Cyrill...

Person, Espionage, Execution, France, Germany

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
Section Officer Yolande Elsa Maria Beekman, Croix de Guerre

Section Officer Yolande Elsa Maria Beekman, Croix de Guerre

Yolande Elsa Maria Unternahrer was born on 28 October 1911 at 13 Avenue de la Grande Armée, Paris, France, one of the six children of Swiss nationals Michelangelo Mercurio (1872-1953) and Berthe Ly...

Person, Espionage, Execution, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
Special Operations Executive (SOE)

Special Operations Executive (SOE)

Spies, basically (but see below), working for the UK in WW2. Formed by Churchill and variously known as "Churchill's Secret Army", "The Baker Street Irregulars", the Pythonesque "Ministry of Ungent...

Group, Armed Forces, Espionage, France, Germany

8 memorials
Odette Hallowes, GC

Odette Hallowes, GC

Born Odette Marie Céline Brailly in France.  Married an Englishman, Sansom, in 1931 and moved to England.  He enlisted in 1940 and she in 1942 with Special Forces of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry ...

Person, Espionage, France

War served, WW2
1 memorial
Ensign Eliane Sophie Plewman, Croix de Guerre

Ensign Eliane Sophie Plewman, Croix de Guerre

Elaine Sophie Browne-Bartroli was born on 6 December 1917 in Marseille, France, the daughter of Eugene Henry Browne and Elsa Francesca Browne née Bartroli. In addition to the information shown on ...

Person, Espionage, Execution, France, Germany

War dead, WW2
1 memorial