[3] After a soldier accused her of giving him syphilis, she was forced to leave for Paris,[1] where she met, in 1907,[1] and later wed, Henry Richer.

Richard joined the Aéroclub féminin la Stella, a women's flying club set up by Marie Surcouf in 1909.

[6] In 1914, she participated in the founding of L'Union patriotique des aviatrices françaises ("Patriotic Union of French Women Aviators").

As Secretary of the Union patriotique des aviatrices de France, alongside Carmen Damedoz, its treasurer, she demanded the right to contribute to the war effort as an aviator, although this was refused by the authorities.

[3] Under the pseudonym of "Richard", she published the best-seller, My life as a spy in the French service (adapted as a film in 1937),[3] and instantly became a heroine of France.

Under media pressure, her lover Édouard Herriot, French Prime Minister at the time, gave the widowed Mme Crompton the Légion d'honneur for Foreign Affairs.

[8] In 1945, now famous as the "heroine of two wars", she was elected to the municipal council of the 4th arrondissement of Paris[9] on the Christian-Democrat MRP ticket.

[2][10] On 9 April 1946, Marcel Roclore, Minister of State, presented the Commission's report on the population and public health, and concluded that closing the brothels was a necessity.

[2] The bill, now known as La loi Marthe Richard, was passed with the votes of an alliance of the Christian democrat MRP and the Communists.