Secret Watchings in Brighton
Father-of-ten Samuel Archbold plied his trade as a private detective from his home near the Brighton Aquarium
As the 19th century turned into the 20th, Samuel George Archbold was working as a private detective in Brighton, East Sussex, advertising his services in the Brighton Gazette.
In 1900, his office address1 was given as 18 Camelford Street in Kemptown, minutes away from the seafront, and he boasted of its location near the Aquarium; not because it sounded salubrious and thus attractive to potential clients, but because it was a well-known landmark that immediately told people where they could find him.
Samuel (1862-1934) was originally from Tottenham in North London, the son of a painter and builder. In his teens, had joined in the Royal Navy, serving on the ship Fisgard; he then became an insurance agent. After marrying Mary Ward at Stepney, the couple settled in Dagenham, Essex, where at least six children were born.2
Samuel claimed to have been working as a private detective in Brighton since 1895. Some private detectives exaggerated the time they had been working in this field for, in order to make it look like they were more experienced and well-established. The 1901 census suggests that this was the case with Samuel - it states that his daughter Maud was born in Dagenham in 1896, with the next daughter, Ethel, born in Brighton in 1900, suggesting he only moved to Brighton between these two years - this is not the whole story. In addition, there are only surviving adverts for his services in Brighton for 1900 and 1901. However, the 1901 census is incorrect. Maud was not born in Dagenham but in Brighton, in 1896, suggesting that the family moved from Dagenham after their son Frank was born in 1894, but before Maud’s birth. The 1895 date would therefore tie in perfectly with a man in his thirties, perhaps restless in his current job, relocating to the seaside and deciding to embark on a new career.
Although it is likely that Samuel worked alone, and was thus a sole trader, he used a common trick amongst such men by suggesting that he had several detectives working for him, who he could ‘send to any part of the world’ if exotic commissions were received. His tribe of probably mythical detectives could, he said, undertake private enquiries and ‘secret watchings’ (shadowing of individuals), and this was his usual wording for adverts.
Private detectives were very aware of the power of the press, and the need to highlight their services not only in the classified ads section of the local or national press but also by cultivating relationships with journalists. They might ‘sell’ interviews with the press, or tip them off about success stories, and it’s sometimes hard to tell news stories from advertising, particularly when the detective may have drafted both.
In May 1900, for example, the Brighton Gazette ran the following story:
‘A SUCCESSFUL DETECTIVE. Mr SG Archbold, private detective, of 18 Camelford Street, Brighton, who conducted the inquiries in the case of Palmer v Palmer and Becker, reported in our last issue, has lately been concerned in several successful cases. In particular, we may mention a remarkable case of robbery at Guernsey, and a sensational case of the shooting of a mare at Cowfold, in which his services proved the utmost value.’
The case of Palmer v Palmer and Becker was a divorce case - the bread and butter of private detectives’ work. Edward Wilton Palmer, a commercial traveller and former colliery agent, had petitioned for a divorce from his wife Jessie, asserting that she had committed adultery with merchant Hermann Heinrich Gottfried Becker in Brighton. Mrs Palmer counter-charged, saying Edward had been cruel; Mr Becker, however, seemed to admit the adultery as he argued that he hadn’t known that Mrs Palmer was married.
The Palmers had married in Bath in 1894, but had separated four years later.3 It was said in court that the couple should never have married, and Jessie Palmer - who was 16 years her husband’s junior - was clearly blamed for her husband’s unhappiness:
‘She had lived with two different men, and by one of them she had two children…Mr Palmer met her casually, took a fancy to her, and married her.’
Samuel Archbold was duly employed by Edward Palmer to find evidence of his wife’s adultery; this was presumably by the ‘secret watchings’ that he advertised - basically following Mrs Palmer and watching her meet Mr Becker. In court, Samuel gave evidence as to the adultery, and the divorce was granted.
The Brighton Gazette had reported the court case, and I suspect that Samuel, on seeing the report, got in touch with the paper to highlight his other successes, ensuring that his name would become known amongst readers. However, this did not ensure his long-term success in the field. The 1911 census shows that Samuel had moved to Chichester, and was working for the National Telephone Company, a job he still held six years later.
The burial entry for Samuel Archbold, former private detective, in 1934 (West Sussex Record Office/West Sussex County Council/Ancestry)
Public domain photo of Edwardian Brighton taken from Wikimedia Commons
Although some private detectives working on their own used their home address as their ‘office’ address, others did rent a separate property or room in order to separate work from home, or to give the impression that they were a larger operation than they really were. Samuel, though, seems to have operated from home; in 1901, his office address was given as ‘Pavilion Chambers, 37 East Street, Brighton’, and the 1901 census records him and his family as living at ‘37 East Street’. Therefore, his earlier address of Camelford Street is also likely to have been where the Archbold family lived.
The couple stated in 1911 that they had had ten children, of whom seven were still alive at the time of the census. I have shown the number of children still at home at the time of the 1901 census. Births I have located are for Lewis George (b1885), Percival Samuel (1886), Mary Evangeline (1887), John Ward (1890), Eric Lloyd (1892), Frank Errol (1894), Maud Constance (1896), Ivan Caryl (1899) and Ethel Ellen Emma (1900).
Edward Wilton Palmer, 40, married Jessie Gertrude Anderton, 24, at St Mark’s Church, Lyncombe, Bath on 16 October 1894. After their separation, Edward seems to have returned home to live with his mother, but in June 1908, remarried Emily Jane White. Sadly, she died two years later. Meanwhile, Jessie Palmer married her lover, Hermann Becker (1846-1909), as soon as her divorce came through, in June 1901. Although Edward had admitted his status truthfully on his second marriage, Jessie chose to describe herself as a widow, rather than a divorcee. After her second husband’s death, Jessie settled in Petersham, but died at Cape Town, South Africa in 1926.