Who was Mrs Johnston?

Minnie Johnston was a former store detective who was subsequently employed by one of London's top detective agencies. But who was she?

It's quite rare to find a newspaper account of a named female detective working for one of the well-known detective agencies: often, if they're mentioned at all, it's as an unnamed 'lady detective'. Most of the larger detective agencies advertised their employment of female detectives in the Edwardian era, recognising their publicity value, but who did they employ, and what did they do?

Luckily, in one account, we can find out a little bit more. Simmonds' Detective Association was established in 1902 by three experienced private detectives - Charles Henry Simmonds, Edgar Cartwright and Francis Stephens. The establishment of the agency is newsworthy in itself, but I won't go into it here as it is detailed in my next book (more news on this to come shortly - it’s due at the publishers by the end of this year :-)).

Cheapside: Minnie Johnston worked for Simmonds’ Detective Association near here, at around this time

It was based at 29-30 King Street, Cheapside, in the City of London, and from its foundation, it advertised that it employed both male and female detectives, primarily in order to 'ascertain information for Divorce' cases. As time went on, and it became a significant player on the private detective scene, the agency expanded the type of cases it worked on, highlighting financial cases (such as fraud) and missing persons.

In 1908, John Edward Groom, 65, was charged with assaulting two women in south London. Groom was married to Lavinia, the keeper of a nursing home at Lavender Sweep, Battersea. He was accused of assaulting firstly Florence Bale, a 29-year-old music hall artiste employed by the Cumberland troupe of performing cyclists, and known professionally as ‘Lady Elo’. Bale lived at Kennington, and was married to fellow Cumberland artiste Edwin Bale. Groom was also - more importantly for this story - accused of assaulting Minnie Johnston - and Minnie was described as a detective with Simmonds' Detective Agency.

Florence Bale's mother was a resident at Mrs Groom's nursing home. There had been a legal dispute between the two women, as Mrs Bale had sought to get a legal order entitling her to visit her mother, a Mrs Gardiner. Although that application had been dismissed, the judge had suggested that 'Mrs Bale would be afforded an opportunity for interviewing her mother'.

This visit was duly arranged for one Saturday in July 1908. However, Mrs Bale had a matinee that day, so decided to visit her a day early. She reached the nursing home, accompanied by Minnie Johnston for her protection, and her mother was delighted to see her, engaging her in conversation. However, Mrs Groom then rushed into the room, exclaiming to her husband, "How dare you let these people in? They have no right here! No-one has the right to enter without my permission! Turn her out!" Mrs Bale told her that the judge had given permission for her to visit.

Mrs Groom then hit Mrs Bale with an umbrella, grabbing hold of her and throwing her out of the home. John Groom then grabbed Minnie Johnston round the neck, half-strangling her, and punched her in the side of her head. During the fracas, a table was overturned, and the dish of stewed fruit fell off it and stained Minnie's dress. The two women managed to leave, accompanied by Mrs Gardiner, who told her daughter that she had not been kindly treated by the Grooms and not allowed outside in seven months. She refused to go back into the nursing home.

It seems a clear cut case, but the charges levied by Mrs Bale were dismissed, because nobody could corroborate the use of the umbrella. The assault on Minnie, however, was proved, because the judge stated that the violence used was not justified, and Mrs Groom was fined £5.

Minnie had given evidence in court, stating that John Groom had initially let them enter the house, receiving them 'quietly' but simply asking them not to upset Mrs Gardiner as she had been faint that day. Her testimony was calm and assured, detailing Mrs Gardiner's distress, and the chaos of what happened.

So who was Minnie Johnston? She was a former store detective, who in 1900, had been employed by the Peter Robinson store on Oxford Street. She was married. But that's pretty much all that the newspapers stated. No Mrs Minnie Johnston in the greater London area claimed to be a detective in either the 1901 or 1911 censuses, but this would not be unusual: her husband was likely to be the main breadwinner, and so perhaps her wages were not seen as important enough for her to have a job listed formally. I had hoped that the detective might be Sussex-born Minnie Fonseca Johnston, who worked as a high school teacher before becoming a journalist, but she was single and there's no evidence that she was a detective at any point.

The Peter Robinson’s store on Oxford Street, following damage in 1940. Minnie was a detective here 40 years earlier.

Another of my contenders, based purely on gut instinct, would be Amelia Harriet Johnston, known as Minnie, who would have been 56 in 1908, and so around the right age to have been a store detective turned private detective - many of the female store detectives were middle aged, appearing to be 'ordinary' married shoppers who shoplifters wouldn't expect to be detectives. This Minnie Johnston was brought up in an East Anglian windmill run by her miller grandfather (aided by her father). She married a publican named Archibald Johnston in 1876 and lived in Chiswick and Croydon.

Chiswick, home of Minnie Johnston

She had five children, of whom one died in infancy. I can't find her or her family in the 1891 or 1901 censuses, but she was living in Acton in 1911 with her youngest daughter, but without her husband present. Perhaps one of the reasons I really want her to be the Simmonds detective is because her grandson grew up to be a police sergeant with the Metropolitan Police, and I like the idea of grandma telling her grandson about shadowing people and catching them commit crimes - encouraging him to then take on law enforcement as his own job!

This Minnie Johnston died in 1937 at Chiswick, having seen three of her children die before her (one being killed in World War 1). I find her life story, despite ostensibly ordinary, interesting, but it does not mean she was the feisty female detective who featured in press stories from the first decade of the 20th century. Sadly, so little detail is given in these stories that it inevitably sends you down a rabbit hole of research in trying to identify the right person. In doing so, you may not uncover the right person, but you still bring someone back to life.

A sad codicil to this story: Florence Bale, the performing cyclist who needed a female detective to accompany her to visit her mother, died at her south London home six years later, aged just 35. She had an interesting career, appearing in circuses and at music halls with her husband both in the UK and the US, but had long suffered from lung trouble - the cause of her death. Her husband Edwin was away performing with a circus in Copenhagen when he heard of her death. She left one child - her 13 year old daughter, Daisy.