A man of numbers

Frederick Smith was a mid 19th century private detective, who sidelined as an accountant...

One of London's earlier private detectives was a man named Mr Smith. Of course, tracing Mr Smiths in London is no easy matter, and this is not made any better by the fact that detective Smith was given three different places of birth in various censuses: Redditch, Leicester, and Stockport. He also went by different first names: William originally, then Frederick, and then William Frederick.

What I have been able to find out is that he was born William Smith, probably in Stockport, in 1821. His father was a merchant named Richard Smith. In 1842, he was living in Manchester, and claimed to be working as a surgeon. In this year, he married Yorkshirewoman Elizabeth Ogden, whose father, Robert, was also a merchant.

By 1851, William - now going by the name of Frederick - had relocated to London with his wife, and they were living in Chelsea. At this point, Smith's job title was a general commission agent, but this was a common name for a private detective at this time. In 1861, and now living in the City of London, Smith gave his occupation on the census more straightforwardly as a private detective.

Vassily Pukiryov’s ‘The Unequal Marriage’ (Wiki Commons)

One of the few cases we know that Smith was involved in was a divorce case in 1860, only a couple of years after the Matrimonial Causes Act had made divorce easier for individuals - although at this stage, divorces were still fairly unusual (divorces would steadily rise in number over the following decades). William Henry Nash was the son of a wealthy Cambridgeshire landowner. Born in 1829, in July 1853, he had married Helen Greenfill at Bristol. I haven't been able to find out much about Helen. Although she was married as Helen, her name is more often to be found as Ellen. She was the daughter of William Greenfill, described on her marriage as a gentleman. Their marriage only lasted five years, and does not appear to have resulted in any children.

Exeter Hall

By late 1858, William Henry Nash had started to suspect Helen of adultery. He was suspicious of her relationship with a man named Edward Jones, and so, after discussing the matter with his brother, commissioned Frederick Smith to shadow her. In December, Smith duly followed Helen Nash around London, and saw her in company with Jones. He shadowed the pair up the Strand, to the Exeter Hall, and into a hotel. He then reported this back to Nash.

On 31 March 1859, Nash filed for a divorce. However, what happened next is not clear. Although the matter was still being discussed in court ten months later, no decree nisi was issued, suggesting that a separation was agreed, but not a divorce. This was not unusual; sometimes, the Divorce Court would state that adultery had not been proved, but acknowledged that the marriage had irretrievably broken down, and that a judicial separation could be given. Helen might have died shortly afterwards, as online records suggest that Nash then emigrated to Australia and remarried six years later.

Smith certainly had experience as a detective, and saw it as his main job. However, he sometimes needed to supplement his income with other work, and in October 1861, he had advertised his book-keeping services in the press: 'a gentleman of [great experience] in books double entry and accounts, is three evenings a week disengaged.' He signed the advert with his initials and his office address at Falcon Square, Aldersgate.

Like the Nashes, Frederick and Elizabeth Smith never had children. As a couple, they moved around London to live. 1871 saw them living in Islington, but Smith was still working as a private detective, showing that he had some longevity as a private eye. Joining their household in 1871 was wine merchant William Henry Kaye. He was Elizabeth's nephew, being the son of her late sister Mary and Mary's husband Joseph Kaye, a weaver.

Elizabeth Smith died in 1874. William Frederick Smith remarried in the City just the following year, his new wife sharing her first name with her predecessor. Elizabeth Sarah Chatterton was 32 years younger than her husband, and unlike him and his first wife, was from London rather than the north. Prior to their marriage, she had been working as a barmaid at a tavern in St Swithin's Lane. On their marriage certificate, William gave a different name for his father, now stating that his father was also named William, and that he was a gentleman.

By 1881, Smith - now giving his name as William Frederick, and being 60 years old - had finally given up his detective work and had followed his nephew into the wine trade. He described himself as assistant to a wine merchant. This was the closing chapter of both Smith's career and his life; he died in Islington in 1886, aged 65. After his death, his widow, Elizabeth, resumed her former career, working as a barmaid at a pub on London Bridge.