Mrs Holmes Taught Sherlock all he Knew:

Uncovering the Truth About Victorian Women Detectives

Dr Sara Lodge,

School of English, University of St Andrews

Date: 21st of January 2026

Time: 20:00

Venue: Zoom

A revelatory history of the women who brought Victorian criminals to account—and how they became a cultural sensation.

From Wilkie Collins to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the traditional image of the Victorian detective is male. Few people realise that women detectives successfully investigated Victorian Britain, working both with the police and for private agencies, which they sometimes managed themselves.

About the speaker:

Sara Lodge is Senior Lecturer in the School of English at the University of St Andrews, specializing in nineteenth-century literature and culture. She is the author of Thomas Hood and Nineteenth-Century Poetry and Jane Eyre: A Reader’s Guide to Criticism. Lodge has also worked as a speechwriter for the United Nations Secretary-General in New York and, as a journalist, writes regularly for the British and American press.

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