Valentine Thomson

Valentine Mathilde Amélie Thomson (3 June 1881 – 15 January 1944) was an influential French journalist, playwright and editor, who was active both in Europe and the United States. Daughter of the left-wing politician Gaston Thomson, in 1919 she was a delegate at the Inter-Allied Women's Conference which sought to introduce women's issues to the peace process following the end of the First World War. In Paris, in collaboration with her husband, the journalist and screenwriter André Jaeger-Schmidt (1884–1940), she wrote plays which were staged in Paris and the provinces. In the late 1920s she moved to the United States where she wrote about international politics for a variety of papers including the New York Times and Harper's Magazine.

Early life Valentine Mathilde Amélie Thomson was born on 3 June 1881 in Paris to Henriette Mathilde Elmire (née Peigné) and Gaston Arnold Marie Thomson. Her father was a French politician, serving as a cabinet minister for several years. At one point he served as Minister of the Marine and during World War I was the Minister of Commerce. Thomson's paternal family were natives of Charleston, South Carolina, who migrated to France in the 18th century. Their ship was involved in an accident at sea and the only survivor from her family was a two-year-old boy, Peter Johnson Thompson. Thompson was raised by an aunt in France and eventually gained French citizenship. On her mother's side, she was a great-grandchild of Adolphe Crémieux, a brilliant lawyer and government minister.

Selected works