Mollie Lawton (often writing under the pen name Mel Erskine) was a British author who is best remembered today for documenting the remarkable life of her longtime partner, the eccentric American artist and wartime heroine Zella de Milhau.Partner Zella de Milhau
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9 Tuckahoe Ln, Southampton, NY 11968, USA
Mollie Lawton (often writing under the pen name Mel Erskine) was a British author who is best remembered today for documenting the remarkable life of her longtime partner, the eccentric American artist and wartime heroine Zella de Milhau.
Lawton and de Milhau shared a deeply unconventional life together at the turn of the 20th century. While de Milhau was known in high society circles as a "live wire" and an eccentric—famous for wearing plus-fours, sporting short-cropped hair, and driving a four-in-hand horse coach through town at hair-raising speeds—Lawton was her constant companion.
The couple shared a home in the Art Village of Southampton, New York, which they aptly named "Laffalot." The cottage was transformed with the help of architect Katherine Budd from a bare hut into a famous home filled with global exotica, including barbaric rugs, draperies, and relics from their adventures. The home was considered so original that it was featured in local architecture and lifestyle magazines in 1912.
During World War I, de Milhau left for Europe to serve as a heroic ambulance driver on the front lines in France (an act that earned her the French Croix de Guerre). After the war, she returned to Southampton and reunited with Lawton, eventually becoming one of the town's first motorcycle police officers.
Lawton immortalized her partner’s daring exploits and their life together in her 1936 biographical book, Thank God for Laughter, published under her pseudonym, Mel Erskine. The narrative serves as a firsthand account of de Milhau's heroic World War I service in France, where she is affectionately referred to by the nickname "Bunty." The book remains a fascinating historical artifact of their relationship. The first edition features a foreword by the famous muckraking journalist Ida Tarbell and includes an original frontispiece etching titled The Ruins of Bailly, created and hand-signed in pencil by Zella de Milhau herself. Rare surviving copies from the original printing are often signed by both Lawton (as Erskine) and de Milhau, dedicated directly to the life they built together.
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