Alexandrina Maria Onslow

Alexandrina Maria Onslow (27 January 18681950) was an official in the British Army during the First World War and a member of the Yugoslav Partisans, decorated with awards on various occasions for her efforts. She shared her life with her partner, Nasta Rojc, and together they were one of the first lesbian couples to live openly in Zagreb.

Biography Alexandrina Maria Onslow was born on January 27, 1868, to Helen Jane Allardice and Royal Navy capitan Harrington Campbell Onslow.

During World War I, she formed part of the Volunteer Hospital of Australia and was a driver for the French Red Cross. In 1916, she enlisted in the Scottish Women's Hospital and served as a driver on the Eastern Front.

In 1922, Onslow became the president of the Haverfield Foundation for Serbian Children in Bajina Bašta, following the deaths of its founders, Elsie Inglis and Evelina Haverfield. From 1924 and 1925, she traveled with Rojc and Vera Holme, the widow of Haverfield, to England and Scotland.

Although in the United Kingdom Rojc received praise for her works, in Croatia she was a victim of misogynist critiques that sought to discredit her work. Onslow, coming from a noble British family, used her influence with influential people, such as Maria of Yugoslavia, to gain sponsorship of the club, organize international networks, and to secure commissions for Rojc, such as a portrait of Alexander I of Yugoslavia. Onslow was also featured in Rojc's works.

When World War II started, Rojc and Onslow joined the Yugoslav Partisans. Following the proclamation of the Independent State of Croatia in 1941, their house was confiscated. In 1943, they were denounced and detained by the Ustaše; the couple was sent to prison despite their advanced age. They continued their support of the resistance and opposed the expansion of fascism.

Onslow, who was awarded for her work in the British military, died in Zagreb in 1950. She was buried in the Mirogoj cemetery, next to where Rojc was later buried after spending the rest of her life single and in poverty.