| Birth Date: | 1895 |
| Death Date: | 1959 (aged 64) |
| Other Names: | Laretta Listakova Henrietta Listakova H. M. Burrill-Robinson |
| Occupation: | artist, dancer, driver |
Henrietta Mabel Lister (also known as Laretta Listakova, Henrietta Listakova and H. M. Burrill-Robinson; 1895–1959) was a British watercolourist, dancer, and race driver.
Lister was born in 1895 and her parents were Charles Lister (a doctor) and his wife.[1] [2] She attended the Slade School of Fine Art at University College London.[3]
In 1914, Lister, using the stage name Laretta Listakova, was part of a dance company that was touring Bulgaria and Serbia when World War I began.[4] Lister joined Elsie Inglis's Salonika-based Scottish Women's Hospitals unit as a driver, under the auspices of the French Red Cross.[4] For her contributions, she was awarded a British War Medal and Victory Medal, and a Serbian Medal for Zeal.[4]
Between 1924 and 1928, Lister raced a Bamford-type Aston Martin at the Brooklands racetrack in Surrey.[5] [6] She is recorded as having participated in twelve meetings, competing in 22 different races or events.[6] Jack Waters (who went on to star in films and television as Jack Warner) acted as her mechanic and sometimes drove her car.[5]
Some sources report that she sometimes called herself "Henrietta Listakova",[5] [3] whom newspapers reported as being a "Russian ballet dancer" who raced cars in Britain and America.[7] In 1923, Listakova performed in a charity ballet organized by a Mabel Lister in London.[8]
In 1935, Lister married William Robinson Burrill-Robinson of Elm House, Redmire, North Yorkshire.[1] Lister appears to have given up her adventurous hobbies and turned to watercolours, exhibiting as part of the Castle Bolton Group.[3] [9]
Lister died in 1959 at the age of 64.[2]