Mabel Beatrice Elliott (9 August 1885 – 9 January 1944), who used the pseudonym Maud Phillips, was a British censor who uncovered a German spy during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Born in

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. The town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

(now London), she was educated in London and then the Netherlands and Belgium, she became proficient in a French, Dutch and German. Her real identity was hidden for many years as she testified under the assumed name Maud Phillips. In 2011, the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...

discovered details of her activities during the First World War. During the War, she worked in the newly formed department of Postal Censorship in the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

; there she became suspicious that a seemingly standard business letter contained a hidden message written in invisible ink. This message was soon discovered to contain a message written by a German spy, Anton Küpferle. An appeal for more information about Elliott uncovered a surviving family member, her great-niece Rosalind Noble. Mabel Elliott died on 9 January 1944.

References

Place of death missing 1885 births 1944 deaths People from Walthamstow British women in World War I British censors Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire {{UK-mil-bio-stub