Annie Rensselaer Tinker

Tinker was born in New York City, New York to the wealthy family of Henry Chapman Tinker, a successful banker and president of Liberty National Bank, and Louise Larocque Tinker. Annie's brother was Edward Larocque Tinker, a writer and philanthropist. Tinker is the granddaughter of Joseph Larocque, a New York City lawyer. Growing up, her family spent summers in Setauket, New York, where Tinker learned to sail. Tinker spent a year at Brearley School, a private all-girls school, from 1896 to 1897.[1]

Tinker's family wealth allowed her to focus on social issues, including women's suffrage. As a young adult, Tinker joined the Woman's Political Union, an organization dedicated to promoting women's rights.[2] Tinker was a practiced equestrian, and organized multiple parades and marches of women on horseback in support of a woman's right to vote:

• In 1911, Tinker led a "women's cavalry" to help protect fellow suffragists marching in parades[3]
• In 1912, Tinker led a parade of 30,000 suffragists down Fifth Avenue[4]
• In May 1913, Tinker and her cavalry marched in the New York City suffrage parade[5]

Tinker was also known to comment on a woman's involvement in wartime, making statements about the need for women to fight alongside men, "scandaliz[ing] elite society" with these comments.[6]

At the start of World War I in 1914, three years before the United States joined the war, Tinker sailed herself to Europe to volunteer with the British Red Cross. She served as a nurse, working on the front lines in Belgium, France, and Italy.[7] She was placed in charge of a hospital in Ostend, Belgium. The hospital was overtaken by Germans soldiers during her time as director.[2] After her father died unexpectedly in 1915, she sailed home for his funeral, and then returned to Europe to serve for the remainder of the war.[8]

For her services during the war, the French government awarded her a medal of honor in 1921.[7]

After the end of World War I, Tinker lived in Naples, Italy. She entered into a long-term relationship with Kate Darling Nelson, eventually naming her as sole heir of her will.[3]

Tinker's dress was considered "masculine" for the time, even earning a comment from The New York Times on her “mannish garb”.[3] A portrait of her at the age of fifteen shows her in a man's smoking jacket, "flaunt[ing] convention".[6]

Tinker described herself as a "spinster".[1]

Tinker's health began to falter in her late thirties. She died after undergoing surgery for tonsillitis, passing on February 21, 1924, at the age of 39.[1]

In her will, she bequeathed a sum of two million dollars to form the "Annie R. Tinker Memorial Fund", with the stated purpose of providing help to "women who have to work for a living".[9] The fund remained active until 2018, when it legally transferred its assets to the New York Community Trust. A new fund was created in Tinker's name to continue her charitable mission.[10]