Born in Leeds, England on 17 March 1903, Vera Leigh was abandoned as a baby. She was adopted by American Eugene Leigh and his English wife, and they soon moved to France where Leigh was a racehorse trainer in the Maison Lafette stables near Paris.

Thanks to her father’s job and prominent position amongst Parisien society, Vera grew up with a twin love of horse racing and haut couture.

Despite wanting to become a Jockey growing up, Vera entered the fashion world after leaving school. First gaining experience at the design house of Caroline Reboux, Vera partnered with two friends to establish the grande maison Rose Valois in 1927.

Paris fell in the strategic earthquake of the German Invasion of France in the summer of 1940. Vera fled the capital for Lyon to join with her Fiance Charles Sussaix. With his help, Vera planned to flee to England.

Rather than getting herself out, Vera instead became deeply involved in the escape lines: routes planned to aid the escape of Allied servicemen out of occupied France. It was not until 1942 that Vera herself took the journey across the Pyranees to Spain and finally England.

Vera was captured by Spanish authorities on her journey and placed in an internment camp near Bilbao. The British Embassy intervened, and she was able to eventually reach England via Gibraltar.

Vera arrived in England at the end of 1942. She had every intention of offering her services to the war effort and her background as a smart, driven businesswoman attracted SOE recruiters.

After her initial period of Special Operations Executive training, Vera was described as “a very satisfactory person to teach”. She was keen, confident, and capable, and possibly “the best shot in the party”, according to her instructors.

Vera’s was dropped back into France on the night of 13/14 May 1943. Together with Julliane Aisner, Sidney Charles Jones and Marcel Clech, Vera was instrumental in setting up a sub-circuit called “Inventor” to support the wider, Paris-based “Prosper” network. She would later also act as a liaison officer for the “Donkeyman” network.

As a courier, Vera was sent all over Northern France, relaying messages between hidden radio operators and Prosper group members.

Eventually, Vera was settled in Paris, moving into an elegant apartment in the 16^th Arrondissement, under the assumed name Suzanne Chavanne.

Enjoying life as a Parisienne again, Vera threw herself into Paris. The French capital was unusually calm during the occupation, although many suffered in silence. Still, the threat of brutal German reprisals against resistance, and a not insignificant minority of collaborators, gave a dark undercurrent to the City of Lights.

The Inventor sub-network had been betrayed by double agent Roger Bardet in October 1943. Its ringleaders, including Vera Leigh, were arrested on 30 October 1943

Vera was initially sent to Freznes Prison where several other female SOE agents were being held.

In May 1944, Vera and seven other female SOE agents (Andree Borrel, Sonia Olschanezky, Diana Rowden, Yolande Beekman, Ellaine Plewman and Odette Samson) were transported to Germany.

Initially, the group were held in a prison in Karlsrhue and treated no better than any of the other prisoners. Even through their bars, Vera and the captive agents could hear the engines of Allied bombers, suggesting that time was running out for the now vulnerable Reich.

Time was also running out for Vera.

At around 6am on the morning of 6 July 1944, Vera, Andree Burrel, Sonia Olschanezky and Diana Rowden were taken to the prison’s reception area. Their personal belongings were returned before the women were huddled aboard a windowless truck.

Their destination lay 100km to the south: Natzweller-Struthof Concentration Camp.

The women’s arrival was unexpected and drew attention from inmates and guards alike. Coincidentally, Albert Guérisse, Andree Borrel’s partner from the Pat Line, was in the camp at the same time and witnessed the ladies’ arrival.

Each agent was led to a cell and after a time were taken to the camp’s crematorium. Inside, each woman was asked to undress under the pretence of a medical check.

An injection, nominally a typhoid vaccine, was administered, really a dose of phenol. When the agent was unconscious, hoped dead, she was fed into the crematorium and burned to ash.

Vera was 41 years old at the time of her murder at Natzweller-Struthof Concentration Camp. As she has no known grave, she is commemorated on the Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial.