Person    | Female  Born 1/10/1871  Died 29/10/1914

Born in Lahore in the Punjab to parents of European and Indian ancestry, Thomas Barber Malvery and Jessie Anderson. She came to London in 1900 and trained as a singer at The Royal College of Music. She was commissioned to write a series of articles exploring women's work in various trades, and to aid her research she dressed in various guises (our picture shows her as a flower girl). She became so appalled at the living conditions of the poor, that she wrote the books 'Thirteen Nights' and 'The Soul Market'. She donated some of her royalties to Christian charities and to the building of shelters for homeless women in London.

1905 in Westminster she married Archibald Mackirdy.

In 1912 under her married name she co-authored a book, 'The White Slave Trade', with an Australian (with a colourful back-story) who had come to London in about 1910, William Nicholas Willis.

We found a website dedicated to her by Rebecca Odell. This claims to be a work in progress but there is already a lot there, very well laid out. That's the place to go. The list of her published works describes her as 'Edwardian Britain's pioneering undercover journalist'. Also: "3 November 1911 Her first hostel, The Mackirdy Hostel at 79 Great Titchfield Street, is opened by the Duchess of Albany {Google maps shows this as a house, still standing}. 4 March 1913 Her second hostel, The Mackirdy Hostel and Haven for Women and Girls, at 112-124 Harrow Road, Paddington, is opened by Princess Alexander of Teck {the Westway developments had that demolished}. January 1914 Founds and becomes Editor of the newspaper Mackirdy's Weekly. The paper promotes Women's Suffrage, but is strongly opposed to the militancy of suffragettes and is critical of Christabel Pankhurst."

Died at her home in Purley, Surrey. Buried in Kensal Green Cemetery with her husband who had died 5 years earlier.

More information at: Salvation Army.

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