The Female Detective

One female private detective in Yorkshire did not mention her gender; and it means detective work has had to be used to find out who she might have been...

In my book Sister Sleuths (Pen & Sword, 2021), I looked at the history of female private detectives in Britain, suggesting that their emergence in the mid-19th century was both a result of the 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act and of reading obituaries of the famous American detective Kate Warne, which originated in the American press, and were duly cut and pasted by their British equivalents. However, they were also a successor to the women who stood on their doorsteps talking to their neighbours, and who noticed unfamiliar people intruding into their communities; and to the women who helped raise a hue and cry when individuals committed crimes locally. Women have long been interested both in crime, and in crime detection.

I tried to detail some of these women in my book, which offered a decade by decade introduction to the history of female private detection. However, it was clear that not only did private detectives often obfuscate their own identities (by using fake or altered names, different ages, and so on) or be absent from censuses due to undertaking secret shadowing jobs, but that female detectives could be even harder to find.

Some of these women only worked for a short time, or worked for male detectives on single jobs and so were not recorded as private detectives in official records. Some worked part-time or for extra cash and were not on census returns or marriage records as professional detectives. Others may have kept quiet out of fears that the job wasn’t seen as a respectable one for a woman, or to ensure success in her job by not being ‘exposed’ by others.

One of the women who didn’t make the book didn’t make it because she proved unsuccessful in her attempts to make a living out of private detection, but also because her desire to attract commissions meant that she did not advertise her status as a female, and therefore my attention had slipped past her to concentrate on those who were proud of their sex.

This was an individual named Nelson, who advertised for just over a year in the Yorkshire and Lancasthire newspapers, between November 1900 and July 1902. Nelson gave an address of 95 Kirkgate, Bradford, but never lived here; it was rented by others, and Nelson presumably had an arrangement with the tenants to use their address as a means of communication.

During this time, Nelson never specified a first name or title. A typical advert would read:

“Disengaged (experienced) private detective; investgiations, secret watchings (any description) undertaken; divorce, &c. NELSON, 95 Kirkgate, Bradford.”

It was only four months after her final detective advert that another advert was placed, giving away a clue as to who Nelson was:

“Book-keeping: Lady seeks engagement; practical knowledge, double and single entry; good references. Nelson, 95 Kirkgate.”

Nelson’s detective adverts all stated that she was disengaged, ie currently not employed by a client. Given that she advertised regularly, it raises questions about how successful she was; did she simply work on short assignments, and when one finished, she advertised her availability; or did she have large gaps where there was no work forthcoming? Given that she only advertised for around 17 months, it does not seem that she was successful in building a solid career, and then had to look at other suitable jobs - such as book-keeping.

Given that Nelson never specified a first name, it’s not possible to definitively say who she was, but the likeliest candidate was Margaret Atkinson, who was born in Middlesbrough in 1866. Her father, George, was something of a modern man, dealing in ‘athletics appliances’ and in his seventies, working as a cricket coach. He brought his family up in Bowling, Bradford, where Margaret had several older siblings, including brothers who worked as clerks (many male private detectives came from clerking backgrounds - a common occupation for young, literate and numerate men from the burgeoning middle and lower-middle-classes).

In May 1889, Margaret was married to chemist Joseph Nelson, but the couple seem to have separated within a few years, although after the birth of their only child, John. By 1891, Margaret and John were living back with the Atkinsons. Margaret was described as living on her own means in that year, but by 1901 - still living with her widowed father and three clerk brothers - there was no longer an occupation listed for her.

It seems likely that she was trying to supplement any maintenance she received from her husband, in order to gain some independence; she was in her 30s, and still living at home in what must have been quite a cramped environment. However, by 1911, her father had died, but she was now living with her brothers in the old family home.

Margaret lost her only child in World War 1; John died in 1917 and is buried at Tyne Cot Cemetery. She was listed as his only legatee when it came to sorting his effects. The basic archival records notes her existence as daughter, wife, sister, mother; but it does not record what looks like an attempt to become an independent career woman in the early years of the 20th century - and so the picture we have of Margaret Nelson remains frustratingly oblique.

Picture purporting to be of detective Kate Warne, c1866, from the Chicago History Museum (no known copyright).