The British Pinkerton

After leaving the Met, Harry Smale established the London office of the famous American detective agency

Harry Smale is a man who fought a valiant battle to professionalise the private detective industry. In 1913, he founded the British Detective Association (today known as the Association of British Investigators), an organisation that he was still president of at the time of his death in 1939. A rather rotund, pugnacious looking man, with a keen eye and a penchant for a smart hat, he had a long history of working in detection: formerly as a Met police inspector, and then as the founder of a detective agency established to act as the British office of the famous American agency Pinkerton.

It is not unexpected that Smale should make his career in investigative work. His father, Henry, was also a police inspector, although his father worked for the dockyards. Henry had married his wife, Mary Elizabeth Cherrett, at Portsea in 1859; Harry, their only child, was born five years later there; his father worked as a policeman at the Portsmouth dockyard.

Surviving dry-docks at No 1 Basin, Portsmouth dockyard (image: Geoff Parselle/MoD, via Wikipedia). Harry Smale’s father was a member of the dockyard police in the 1860s

The 1871 census records the family, together with a police sergeant, constables, and their families, on board the Leda ship at Devonport, previously known as Plymouth Dock (Henry had been born at Plymouth). His father's work took Harry all over the south coast, from Portsmouth to Plymouth and into Cornwall. It was in this latter county that Harry got his first job - not in the police, but as a draper's apprentice in St Columb Major.

However, his calling as a detective didn't evade him for long. On 28 February 1887, now in London, Harry Smale joined the Metropolitan Police, starting his career in L (Lambeth) division. He would work for the force for 30 years, reaching the status of Superintendent in CID before retiring on 29 May 1908 (TNA MEPO 4/343/83). He had been 23 when he joined the Met; he was 53 when he retired.

An active man, Harry then launched his own detective agency - his London branch of Pinkerton's - at 11 Buckingham Street, off the Strand in central London. His business was a success, and made Smale as well-known a private detective as he had been a successful police detective. He took his job seriously, but recognised that the profession had a poor reputation, with many frauds operating as detectives.

After five years as a private detective, he therefore launched the British Detective Association, aiming for other detectives to sign up with his organisation, which would recognise professional detectives and hopefully encourage the public to use these reputable agencies.

Harry used the newspapers both to gain publicity for his work with his agency and with the BDA. He posted adverts asking for information from the public to identify suspects in cases, and worked with the police, asking those with information to contact either himself or their local police station. He gave interviews about his success stories, and also chaired meetings of the BDA, details of which were also given to the press to highlight what the organisation was doing.

Outside of his work, Harry had married schoolteacher Lilias Greenwood in Greenwich in 1890, and the couple had two daughters, Lilias and Marjorie. He lived for decades in south London, largely in the Balham area.

This active man remained working as a detective agency boss and president of the BDA until his final illness; he died in May 1939, aged 75, at his home in Balham. It is thanks to Harry Smale, owner of the British branch of Pinkerton’s, that the Association of British Investigators exists and thrives today.