Lillian May Armfield ISM KPFSM (3 December 1884 – 26 August 1971) was an Australian nurse and pioneering Sydney female police detective, one of the first women to serve in that role.
[3] For over thirty years, Armfield then served as a female police detective, mainly working in the localities of Surry Hills and Darlinghurst.
At first a probationary special constable, Armfield was not provided with a uniform, or paid for overtime and ancillary expenses as her male colleagues were.
She was a nemesis of female underworld ringleaders like Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh, associated with the razor gang violence of the 1920s, and also served as a social worker, warning younger women of bullet wound injuries or razor slashing from associating with male criminals.
[6] Her life story, Rugged Angel - The Amazing Career of Policewoman Lillian Armfield,[7] was published in 1961 and became a best-seller.
[8] Although she was never married and had few relatives, many old colleagues and friends attended her funeral at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium which included a police guard of honour.