Background
She was born in Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia, to bank manager William Smoult Robison. The family moved to Christchurch, New Zealand in 1868.
She was born in Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia, to bank manager William Smoult Robison. The family moved to Christchurch, New Zealand in 1868.
She spent most of her life in New Zealand and Britain. In 1896 the family moved to London after William"s appointment as Agent-General, the representative of New Zealand government within the British Empire. Maud joined the Fabian Society, a precursor to the Labour Party, which promoted social reform.
In 1913 Maud published a survey of poverty in Lambeth, a poor borough in South London, called Round About a Pound a Week, a work that was reprinted in 2008 by Persephone Books and remains relevant today.
During the First World War she served on a government committee concerned with women"s issues. He was killed in the First World War, aged 21 and a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Air Service. Maud gave her (legal) name as Magdalene (or Magdalen) Stuart Reeves on their New Zealand birth certificates.
In 1885 she married the journalist and politician William Pember Reeves and became interested in socialism and the suffragette movements.