Gertrude Lythgoe

Gertrude Lythgoe (March 1, 1888 - June 24, 1974 ) was one of the most prominent female rum-runners, or bootleggers, in the 1920s. She had various jobs before working for A. L. William Co in London where she began her involvement in the rum trade. Working out of the city of Nassau in the Bahamas she legally sold imported alcohol to bootleggers during the 1920s.

Little recording and research into the role of women selling alcohol during the 1920s has been conducted. However, most women worked domestically, while few were entrepreneurs in the bootlegging business, and no others on such a scale as Gertrude Lythgoe.

Early life Lythgoe was born on March 1, 1888, in Bowling Green, Ohio, to Charles Lythgoe, a glass manufacturer, and Catherine Lappin. Lythgoe proposed the idea of entering the rum trade to her company A. L. William Co, which granted her representative of their dealings in that area, giving her full control over their involvement in the rum trade.

Notably, Lythgoe claimed that all her dealings in the rum trade were legal. She sold the alcohol to people in the Bahamas, which was legal under their law, but had no contract to sell or move the alcohol to the U.S. This movement was all done by the bootleggers she primarily sold to, but had no part in after the sale. She was tall with dark hair and was commonly assumed to be an array of ethnicities. As a result, Lythgoe became extremely wealthy and resided in the Lucerne Hotel with other bootlegger companions. Lythgoe became famous in the United States during the mid 1920s as a result of her skill in the bootlegging industry. She became known as "The Bahama Queen" and her nickname Cleo became a part of her bootlegging identity.

Life after bootlegging Lythgoe quit the rum business in 1926. Some report it to be because she feared she had been jinxed. This fear began in 1925 when her ship went down in the harbour of a British Island and as she was soon after arrested in Miami for illegally selling whiskey, but was cleared and witnesses against. Often, these women claimed to be making alcohol in order to provide for their children, especially widows. Others believed it was their duty to support their husbands who were bootleggers. Some women were entrepreneurs in the rum business, but this often meant selling alcohol illegally at small stores or stands. Gertrude Lythgoe was one of the most prominent women in the rum trade and this received attention in multiple newspapers as one of the only female figures in the business, which resulted in her being called "The Bahama Queen". It was published in 1964 by the Exposition press Inc. She reportedly began work on a second book, her life after leaving Nassau, but died before it was completed.