WINCHESTER born singer, musician and composer Louise Jordan tours with her latest project ‘No Petticoats Here’ this spring with an intimate and historic performance at God’s House Tower, part of Southampton’s ancient defensive walls.

No Petticoats Here tells the real life stories of varied and remarkable women of the Great War through song and was inspired by the story of Dorothy Lawrence, an aspiring author whose guardian lived in Salisbury Cathedral Close. Dorothy dressed as a soldier in order to visit the Western Front and pursue her journalistic ambitions. Louise quickly became fascinated by the stories of female ambulance drivers, scientists, footballers and spies.

No Petticoats Here is the culmination of 12 months of research that has taken Louise to the battlefields of the Somme, the Belgian frontline at Pervijse and to countless museums and historic research centres. Through contact with the relatives and biographers of some of these extraordinary women Louise has been able to add greater depth and detail to their stories bringing to life their courage and compassion.

Now a familiar face on the acoustic scene, Louise Jordan has placed her classical music background and her five years’ experience of touring arts centres, theatres, folk clubs and festivals in the UK and Europe alongside her early career as a secondary school history teacher to produce No Petticoats Here.

“The First World War too often remembers women as the mourners of the fallen, as frugal housewives ‘making do’ or angelic nurses caring patiently for the men who returned from the Front Line. Through No Petticoats Here I remember some of the many women whose stories do not fit conveniently into boxes and whose experiences are both astonishing and relatable 100 years on.”

Louise will perform at God’s House Tower on Friday April 21 at 8pm. Tickets cost £10 and can be purchased online in advance from wegottickets.com/event/393514 and on the door.