Maud Gwendolen Syrie Barnardo was the daughter of Thomas John Barnardo the founder of the Barnardo's charity for destitute children. She was born in Hackney on 10 July 1879.

In 1901, on a visit to Khartoum with her father she met Henry Wellcome, who had made his fortune in pharmaceuticals. She was 22 and he was 48, and they married soon after. In 1903 they had a son, Henry Mounteney Wellcome. Their marriage was apparently not happy, and she had many affairs while he was abroad, including with Harry Gordon Selfridge and William Somerset Maugham. She became pregnant with Maugham's child (Elizabeth Mary Maugham aka Liza), and Henry Wellcome publically sued for divorce, naming Maugham as co-respondent. She and Maugham married in 1917 in New Jersey, although he was a homosexual and spent much of his time abroad, and they divorced in 1928.

Her divorce settlement from Maugham was their house at 213 Kings Road, fully furnished, a Rolls Royce, and 2400 pounds a year for her and 600 for Liza.

Beverly Nichols wrote a defence of her called A Case of Human Bondage after the divorce.

Under the name Syrie Maugham she became a well known interior designer in the 1930s, particularly famous for designing an all white room, in contrasting shades of white and other pale colours, with mirrors and contrasting textures.

She died in 1955.

References

• The Scandal of Syrie Maugham. Gerald McKnight. ISBN 0491027613