{{Short description|English detective (1880–1964)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Maud West as Salvation Army worker c.1920.jpg|thumb|Maud West disguised as a Salvation Army worker, {{circa|1920}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/06/the-rollicking-adventures-of-a-real-life-female-sleuth/|title=The rollicking adventures of a real-life female sleuth|date=2019-06-15|website=The Spectator|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref>]] '''Maud West''' (born Edith Maria Barber; 15 September 1880 – 13 March 1964) was an English detective.

==Early life and family== West was born at 28 Staunton Street, Deptford, on 15 September 1880, the illegitimate daughter of Mary Ann Barber, a domestic servant.<ref>Birth certificate for Edith Maria Barber, dated 27 October 1880, for the Greenwich Superintendent Registrar's District, sub-district of St Paul Deptford (www.gro.gov.uk)</ref><ref name=":0" />

==Career== West worked as a draper's assistant before founding her detective agency in London in 1905, her office was in Albion House on New Oxford Street.<ref name=":0" /> thumb|West in 1926 disguised as a man Much of West's work was connected with divorce, missing persons and blackmail cases but she was an accomplished self-publicist and had risen to prominence as 'London's Lady detective' by the 1920s. In an edition of ''The Sphere'' in 1926, West was featured in ''Sketches of People in the Public Eye'' alongside the composer Richard Strauss, the performer Little Tich and inventor Richard H Granger. The feature said of West: “on several occasions she has found herself confronted with a revolver in the hand of a desperate man, and only pluck and a sense of humour has saved her life.”<ref>{{Cite news|date=24 April 1926|title=Thumbnail Interviews with the Great – Sketches of People in the Public Eye|work=The Sphere|publisher=British Newspaper Archive (subscription required)|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0001861/19260424/022/0022|access-date=17 July 2020}}</ref>

West wrote about her adventures in ''Pearson’s Weekly'' and regional and tabloid newspapers; although much sensationalised and of dubious accuracy, her stories included entertaining tales of how she'd unwittingly been hired by German intelligence during WWI<ref>{{Cite news|date=8 February 1930|title=Unravelling the German Spy Case by Maud West|work=Liverpool Echo|publisher=British News Archive (subscription required)|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000271/19300208/169/0006|access-date=17 July 2020}}</ref> and travelled to South Africa to bring a 'dope fiend' back to England.<ref>{{Cite news|date=22 February 1930|title=The Dope Fiend Mystery – By Maud West|work=Liverpool Echo|publisher=British Newspaper Archive (subscription required)|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000271/19300222/123/0006|access-date=17 July 2020}}</ref> West prided herself on her use of disguise<ref name=":0" /> and promoted her work by distributing photographs of herself in various guises.<ref>{{Cite news|date=5 February 1926|title=Three pictures of Miss Maud West, a London lady detective|work=Birmingham Daily Gazette|publisher=British Newspaper Archive (subscription required)|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000669/19260205/146/0004|access-date=17 July 2020}}</ref> In 1926, West claimed that she had been invited to a seance to shoot a revolver at a spirit in order to test whether the apparition was real or not; she stated, “This experience will be the most remarkable in the whole of my career, and there can be few women who have packed more excitement and adventure into their lives.”<ref>{{Cite news|date=14 March 1926|title=Revolver Shot at a Seance, Lady Detective to Shoot Spirit|work=Sunday Post|publisher=British Newspaper Archive (subscription required)|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000566/19260314/078/0011|access-date=17 July 2020}}</ref>

In 1932, West was involved in the high-profile divorce case of Lord Inverclyde whose solicitors instructed West's detective agency to conduct surveillance of his second wife, June Tripp.<ref name=":0" />

West was a councillor for the Municipal Reform Party from 1934 to 1937 in Central St Giles ward, London.<ref name=":0" />

In 1939, West closed her detective agency and retired.

== Personal life == West married Harry Elliott in May 1901 and the couple had six children together. Elliott sometimes worked for his wife's detective agency and died in 1950.<ref name=":0" />

==Death and legacy== West died on 13 March 1964. In 2019, she was the subject of a book length biography by Susannah Stapleton titled ''The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective: Secrets and Lies in the Golden Age of Crime''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.panmacmillan.com/%20/authors/susannah-stapleton/the-adventures-of-maud-west-lady-detective/9781509867295|title=The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective by Susannah Stapleton|website=Pan Macmillan|language=en|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-adventures-of-maud-west-lady-detective-secrets-and-lies-in-the-golden-age-of-crime-by-susannah-stapleton-review-mistress-of-disguise-8zq06b627|title=The Adventures of Maud West by Susannah Stapleton review — the female detective who was stranger than fiction|last=Urwin|first=Rosamund|date=2019-06-16|work=The Times|access-date=2019-06-17|language=en|issn=0140-0460}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://literaryreview.co.uk/mistress-of-disguise-2|title=Lucy Lethbridge – Mistress of Disguise|website=Literary Review|language=en|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref> West also features in ''Sister Sleuths: Female Detectives in Britain'' by Nell Darby.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Darby |first=Nell |title=Sister Sleuths: Female Detectives in Britain |publisher=Pen & Sword |year=2021 |isbn=9781526780256 |location=Barnsley |pages=91–94}}</ref>

A photograph of West is held by Manchester Archives <ref>{{Cite book|url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/dc38d931-dc82-49ea-acc4-96cb7fa0493d|title=London's Lady Detective. Miss Maud West, who is London's only Lady detective examining handwriting through a magnifying glass to detect forgery in a case upon which she is at present engaged. From her offices in New Oxford Street, she travels all over the country on investigations. Dailypress Photographic Agency, 31, St. Annes Chambers, Broadway, E.C.4. Copyright "Dailypress".|language=en}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Maud West}} *[https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/maud-west-londons-only-female-private-detective-in-disguise-news-photo/1055548042 The Lady Detective]

{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:West, Maud}} Category:Private investigators Category:20th-century English businesswomen Category:1880 births Category:1964 deaths Category:20th-century English businesspeople