<>]/P 606 0 R/Pg 602 0 R/S/Link>> Please enable JavaScript in your browser to get the full Trove experience. Paragraph operations are made directly in the full article text panel located to the left.Paragraph operations include: Zone operations are made directly in the full article text panel located to the left.Zone operations include: Please choose from the following download options: The National Library of Australia's Copies Direct service lets you purchase higher quality, larger sized Jones was further charged with stealing thirty horse rugs valued at 15 pounds and two bales of kapok valued 20 pounds. Her childhood and teenage years included childhood neglect, time in a girls' home at age 12, and an out-of-wedlock pregnancy; her daughter Eileen May Beahan was born in 1900. 697 0 obj Rival gangs eroded her profits from cocaine by standing over and slashing decoys (often working prostitutes) with razors. [25], Leigh was undoubtedly one of Sydney's wealthiest women during the 1930s and 1940s but the Taxation Office sent her into bankruptcy in 1954 for unpaid income tax and fines dating back to 1942. His MO includes visiting foundries with a horse and cart and stealing ingots of iron copper and tin. Eliza Dimmock. Thirty-two years later, Tilleys is one of the capitals most treasured landmarks, long the venue for gigs by musicians of local and international standing, and still a bar with a certain cachet. After alcohol sales in pubs were banned in 1916, drinkers would come to 212 Devonshire Street (pictured) and Leigh's fleet of illegal grog shops throughout the inner suburbs. endobj The fact that Tilly Devine made her fortune running brothels and certainly showed no pronounced antipathy towards men didnt seem to sully our admiration for her, in spite of our conflicted stand on prostitution. 304 0 obj Devine was then in her late fifties and 212 Devonshire Street was one of her rougher establishments, another Surry Hills house at 2 Landsowne Street being her largest grog shop. Leigh, like Devine, was a consummate self-promoter and had ongoing, sometimes stormy relations with the press, which no doubt coloured the reporting. A judge in 1933 (above, left) says that criminal Kate Leigh 'has a good side' when she appeared in court on a charge of receiving stolen goods, whereas in 1953 (above, right) a magistrate declares Leigh's Surry Hills residence' a disorderly house'. Alfred Ladewig, also known as Wallace, John Walker, Atkins; charged on provisional warrant with stealing by trick the sum of 204AUD, at Brisbane, the property of Alfred Walter Thomlinson. Click on current line of text for options. Tilleys was the quintessential feminist project; the tables, so to speak, were turned. Thomas Sutherland Jones and William Smith, 15 July 1921. The women in the case were eventually put on good behaviour bonds. Cowman (alias Divvers, alias Denvers) was eventually acquitted. It was her final marriage and it lasted six months. . She was charged on 107 occasions and was sent to prison on 13 occasions. Munro is listed in the NSW Police Gazette, 1924 as charged, along with Harris Hunter, with receiving stolen goods to the value of 536 pounds 4 shillings and 1 penny, from Snows department store. In 1936, newly appointed Sydney Police Commissioner MacKay warned them both to tone down the violence or else risk serious imprisonment. 'No more remarkable woman ever strode upon the stage of Sydney's nightlife than this middle-aged, matronly dame,' the extract says. Wounded Man's Death", "Underworld Feud. (ii) Addicted to drink, a constant companion of prostitutes, frequents houses of ill-fame, wine bars and hotels in the city and its immediate surroundings, generally Surry Hills and Darlinghurst particularly. She is well known for shoplifting valuable furs and silks from city department stores. <>]/P 549 0 R/Pg 545 0 R/S/Link>> endobj Occasionally she was arrested for robbery, theft or, like in 1943 when police found 1001 bottles of beer, 84 bottles of whisky and one bottle of win underneath the floorboards of her Surry Hills house. 390 0 obj The house at Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, as pictured in the real estate advertisement for its sale, At the age of only 13, Kate Leigh gave birth to a daughter, Eileen, who is believed to be the woman in the white hat (pictured, above) in a group shot of criminals at Central Police station early last century, 'Kate's only income was what she could scrounge occasionally hiring out hand-carts to vegetable and fruit hawkers for two shillings and sixpence a day.'. I kin, recently acquitted on a charge of killing her husband, has provided one of the most unique situations in the crime sphere for many years. You need to login before you can save preferences. 1894 - 1954), Sun 26 Mar 1933, Page 11 - EILEEN LEIGH STILL HERE. Toggle navigation. Since you've made it this far, we want to assume you're a real, live human. ', The article said Leigh's 'official' occupation was shop keeper of a mized busienss from the Surry Hills house and that 'she gives money to the Salvation Army and to church charities. Leigh and Devine are characters in the true crime book Razor by Larry Writer, which dramatises the criminal gang rivalry in Sydney's inner suburbs in the early 20th century when gang members slashed their opponents with cut throat razors. The defence, on the other hand, described a quiet party, a few drinks, some singing violently interrupted by a squad of hostile, brawling police (Truth, 29 January 1928). . endobj endobj Mrs Kathleen Mary Josephine "Kate" Beahan Leigh Birth 10 Mar 1881 Dubbo, Dubbo Regional Council, New South Wales, Australia Death 4 Feb 1964 (aged 82) Darlinghurst, City of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Burial Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park Matraville, Randwick City, New South Wales, Australia Show Map Plot The NSW Police Archive quoted in Larry Writer's book is part admiring but mostly damning of Kate Leigh's role in the Sydney drug trade. <>]/P 579 0 R/Pg 575 0 R/S/Link>> After decades of being banned from public bars unless escorted by men, we women had a place of our own. Vintage Hollywood. The controversy in Canberra, though, was not about Tilly Devines reputation. endobj Elsie Hall, Dulcie Morgan, Jean Taylor c. 1920. 'No more remarkable woman ever strode upon the stage of Sydney's nightlife than this middle-aged, matronly dame,' the extract says. <>]/P 661 0 R/Pg 651 0 R/S/Link>> Special Photograph no. It was a miserable place where inmates were routinely abused (until it was closed in 1974), and Kate spent her time there being prepped for domestic service. 2021-10-05T08:39:08-07:00 This, despite the empire she built running a string of sly-grog shops the biggest boost to her fortune coming, of course, from the state governments imposition of the dumbcluck six oclock closing time for pubs, which created the six oclock swill. Leslie Louis Bernstein, 29 November 1929. [1], Leigh was born on 10 March 1881 in Dubbo, New South Wales, the eighth child of Roman Catholic parents Timothy Beahan, a boot-maker, and his wife Charlotte (ne Smith). Vivien Leigh and her daughter Suzanne photographed circa 1958. Although she couldnt wait to turn eighteen and be released, as Straw observes, It was the perfect kind of training for the life that awaited her in the working-class slums of eastern Sydney.. The doors of Tilleys Devine the cafe established by Pauline Higgisson, a single mother of two, with funds from a federal community employment scheme opened in the Canberra suburb of Lyneham in the spring of 1984. Born: Kathleen Mary Josephine Beahan 10 March 1881. NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive, Justice and Police Museum, Sydney Living Museums. endobj So while all biographies require a degree of imagination, hers would demand more than most. Many years ago I met a woman who said she was the daughter of Vivien Leigh. The serial numbers of this and the Mug shot of Elsie Hall, Dulcie Morgan, Jean Taylor run in sequence, suggesting they were taken on the same day and, judging from the lighting, at the same time of day. In 1905, Lee was imprisoned for assault and robbery and Kate was accused of lying under oath to protect her husband and convicted of perjury and for being an accomplice to the assault. ', The article described Ms Leigh - then aged 63 - as 'stooped, fat and blowsy' but with 'little piercing eyes' which 'indicate her tremendous vitality.'. Suzanne Farrington was born Suzanne Holman, on October 12, 1933, at a nursing home at 8 Bulstrode Street in London, England. Her conviction was overturned on appeal, but the marriage was over. Harry Chapman was charged with stealing a motor cycle and side car (value 175 pounds) and a till containing money, value 17s. endobj <>]/P 497 0 R/Pg 493 0 R/S/Link>> View the profiles of people named Eileen Leigh. [26] Leigh's Statement of Affairs was given at a Bankruptcy Court hearing in Sydney on 30 September 1954 as "Assets of 1960 consisting of furniture and three properties in Devonshire Street". All this is speculative, of course, and this is where the biographer comes in, to land us on solid ground. Kathleen Mary Josephine Leigh (ne Beahan; 10 March 1881 - 4 February 1964) (other names included Kathleen Barry, and Kathleen Ryan) was an Australian underworld figure who rose to prominence as an illegal trader of alcohol and cocaine from her home in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia during the first half of the twentieth century. 37 0 obj 12. The gallery was packed with friends of the accused, who loudly jeered the prosecution and police witnesses. <>]/P 603 0 R/Pg 602 0 R/S/Link>> More good than evil? Some of its ground floor interiors resembling the original terrace which Kate Leigh inhabited until 1964 when her fortune had dwindled and she died, Graffiti on the walls and an old poker machine in the living area at the back of 212 Devonshire Street, Mug shot: Pictured at Central Police Station after one of her many arrests, Ms Liegh still cut a stylish figure, A number of musicians have lived or visited the home in the decades since Ms Leigh's 1964. D62 (Drug Bureau photograph): An Ah Chong is listed in the NSW Police Gazette of 21 June 1922, convicted of two charges of receiving, for which he was sentenced to 12 months hard labour. Three months later a police witness at Sydney Licensing Court stated that the premises at 2 Lansdowne Street, Surry Hills was "a notorious sly grog shop The Worst in Sydney". <>]/P 527 0 R/Pg 526 0 R/S/Link>> ', The comments below have not been moderated, By endobj By the age of 15, Kate married her first husband, Jack Lee, a half Chinese illegal bookmaker and petty criminal. You need to login before you can save preferences. <>/Font<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 13/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> From the early 1920s to the 1940s, men crowded the streets outside her establishments at nightfall on Friday and Saturday nights to gain entry and purchase alcohol. [5] He was charged in 1916, at age 16, with Shooting At, With Intent To Murder[7] and had a reputation as a tough standover criminal by the late 1920s. Such a monster in human disguise. 422 0 obj Kate Leigh, pictured at her 2 Landsdowne Street,Surry Hills house with her second husband, sly grog dealer Teddy Barry dressed as Santa Claus for one of their generous Christmas gift givings, The walls of Kate Leigh's old house have been adorned with graffiti for many years now, Real estate agents say the house is ready for a complete renovation and is an opportunity for someone to tunr the old sly grog shop into a stunning property. But it also leads to repetition, some of which can seem like padding. By the 1950s, in her seventies, Leigh had become a matriarch of her community, the model for Delie Stock in Ruth Parks Harp in the South. None of the names appears in the Police Gazette except for Dangar, which turns out to be an alias for Owen Patrick Brosnan, (also known as Brosnahan, or Brosner), a false pretender and suspected person. <>stream She was the eighth child born to the couple and her childhood included many years of neglect. It's easy and takes two shakes of a lamb's tail! In July 1930, Leigh's house at 104 Riley Street was raided by a NSW drug squad, including Sydney's most famous policewoman, Lillian Armfield. She gave birth to her only child when she was 23 years old, a daughter named Suzanne, and returned to acting afterward. <>]/P 484 0 R/Pg 689 0 R/S/Link>> In 1905, Lee was imprisoned for assault and robbery and Kate was accused of lying under oath to protect her husband and convicted of perjury and for being an accomplice to the assault. KATE LEIGH - Queen of the Underworld, Sly Grog Trader and Drug Dealer Born as Catherine Mary Josephine Beahan in Dubbo in March 1881 to Timothy Beahan, a bootmaker and Charlotte Smith, her name later changed to Kathleen and eventually Kate. [5] Appearing in courtrooms with flamboyantly expensive clothes and diamonds, her wealth was legendary. Prince 12.5 (www.princexml.com) In 1923 Lowe was finally convicted of breaking into a house at Enfield and stealing money and jewellery worth 40 pounds. endobj She was the daughter of Henry Leigh and Anna Vowles. A report on the Martin Place demonstration in the Sun tells how police arrested the leaders before the demonstration truly got started (REDS IN MARTIN PLACE / POLICE NIP DEMONSTRATION IN BUD), claiming to have commital warrants against them. | ISSN 1837-0497, Sara Ahmeds celebration of the feminist killjoy continues, Australias impassioned worries about China are in tension with better relations in the Pacific. The home where she lived on Devonshire Street - one of 20 properties she operated as sly grog shops, including three on the same Surry Hills street - is now up for sale. Despite the concession, the venue was long the centre of Canberras lesbian subculture, especially on Friday nights. The home at 212 Devonshire Street - one of 20 properties she operated as sly grog shops, including three on the same Surry Hills street was purchased during an auction on Saturday afternoon for more than the initial asking price of around $1 million. Catherine Mary Josephine Ryan (ne Beahan; aka Lee, Barry; preferred names Kathleen or Kate; 10 March 1881 - 4 February 1964) generally known as Kate Leigh was an Australian underworld figure who rose to prominence as an illegal trader of alcohol and cocaine dealer from her home in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia during the first half of the Clever and unscrupulous enough to know that once a victim is made, she becomes a sure customer for life. In stark contrast to Devine, who moved to seaside Maroubra when she could afford to, Leigh stuck with her working-class suburb, and when she died she was mourned. The subjects are not named, but the woman on the left is believed to be Eileen Leigh, daughter of Kate Leigh. Anybody thirsty after then would come to her home, and Ms Leigh's fleet of illegal grog shops throughout the inner suburbs. <>]/P 559 0 R/Pg 555 0 R/S/Link>> endobj Moreover, she is the eldest daughter of the family and has two younger siblings; a sister and a brother. He appears later in the 1933 NSW Criminal Register, cited as associating with the leading lights of the Darlinghurst criminal milieu, including Kate Leigh, Harold Tarlington and Chow Hayes. She married three times but, unsurprisingly, none of the marriages stuck. <>]/P 572 0 R/Pg 565 0 R/S/Link>> <>]/P 642 0 R/Pg 641 0 R/S/Link>> Truth (Sydney, NSW : 1894 - 1954), Sun 26 Mar 1933, Leigh . 340 0 obj 'She plays a dominating part in the tragedy which is spelt D-O-P-E. She meets young women in cafes and hotel lounges, and she ingratiates herself with them. 696 0 obj Later that year a warrant was issued for her having breached those conditions and a further entry in October lists her as having been arrested and charged, but then released with a caution. [27], At the time of her death, aged 82, Kate Leigh was living in virtual poverty in a small room above one of her old illegal hotels at 212 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills and was financially dependent on her nephew, William John Beahan,[28] who ran a mixed business in the shop in the downstairs part of the premises. [19] During her heyday, Kate Leigh owned and operated more than thirty different sly grog hotels at different locations in inner Sydney that generated thousands of pounds in profit annually. She gives parties.'. And even when women are as meek as were supposed to be, theres a fascination there, all the greater perhaps because weve been conforming. By Leigh Straw | NewSouth | $29.99. 'She plays a dominating part in the tragedy which is spelt D-O-P-E. She meets young women in cafes and hotel lounges, and she ingratiates herself with them. 322 0 obj Although labelled G Mammona, the mug shot shows Giuseppe Mammone, who was presumably interviewed and photographed in connection with the stabbing murder of Domenico Belle on Newtown Station, on the morning of 11 February 1930. endobj Smith and Jones were charged with stealing seven packages of twine valued at 14 pounds. The comments below have not been moderated. Although she never drank alcohol or took drugs, Ms Leigh happily dealt in both and acted as a stand over merchant, sold stolen property and occasionally shoplifted. ''She is popular with the kids, particularly with her Christmas gifts. 406 0 obj He received 12 months hard labour on each charge. Yet other sources were hard to come by. <>]/P 520 0 R/Pg 513 0 R/S/Link>> She was best know for her sly grog shops, which thrived when Sydney's pubs were closed down after 6pm following a riot, The cafe called 'Sly' has leased the bottom floor of the three-floor terrace until July. Those charges were dropped but they were arrested again that same year for stealing a saddle and bridle from Rosebery Racecourse. Newspaper stories of the time repeatedly refer to Mammone as the main suspect in the case, although he was not charged. He also steals laundered articles from clothes lines. B. Smith, Gertrude Thompson and Vera McDonald It would be easy to assume that the controversy arose over the choice of name. [6], During the late 1920s Kate lived with Walter "Wally" Tomlinson (or Thomlinson) (c.1899-1968), whom she had employed as one of her bodyguards. For all the fascination in Leighs story, Straw has been hobbled in piecing it together. 'For she deals in a commodity that means the warping of the moral outlook, the damning of the eternal soul. (To remove the stigma of his Chinese name, she changed it to Leigh.) Both Leigh and Devine were prominent figures during Sydneys horrific razor wars (described in Larry Writers Razor: Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh and the Razor Gangs and, more or less accurately, in the TV series Underbelly Razor). Between them, from the 1920s to the 1940s, these women controlled most of the sly grog, cocaine and prostitution rackets in Australias harbour city; in fact, given their shared history, the Canberra cafe might just as well have been named for Kate. Kate Leigh Timeline March 10th, 1881 - Kathleen Mary Josephine Beahan was born into a large Irish-Australian Catholic family in Dubbo, New South Wales. She was one out of thirteen children. The kitchen of the crime queen's old house is in dire need of renovation, but real estate agents selling the property say it is a golden opportunity for buyers to renovate the historic property, Although she never drank alcohol or took drugs, Ms Leigh (pictured) happily dealt in both, acted as a standover merchant, sold stolen property and occasionally shoplifted, Ms Leigh was a flamboyant and sometimes vicious character who by the mid-1920s was dubbed 'the most evil woman in Sydney.'. Katie Leigh was born on 16 December 1958 in Carmel, California, USA. 480 0 obj endobj 440 0 obj photocopies or electronic copies of newspapers pages. The names inscribed here do not appear in police records for 1920-21, and it is likely the women were photographed simply because they were found in the company of known criminals. Veronica Olive Moisa. Ms Leigh had established her lucrative sly grog business well before then, capitalising on the 1916 edict by the then NSW Premier, who following a riot of pub crawling World War I soldiers, called a state of emergency and closed Sydney's pubs after 6pm. 199 0 obj [8] They were separated six months later, and Ryan died in Western Australia in 1954. The problem lies with the sources. It centred on the stipulation that the cafe was for women. But as long as theres a fight on our hands, we will disrupt things and be deemed ugly, even bad. endobj <> <>]/P 674 0 R/Pg 664 0 R/S/Link>> But, unlike Devine, Leigh prided herself on never being charged with prostitution and abstaining from liquor and drugs. <> Favorite Celebrities. endobj [5] The marriage only lasted for a few years, after which she reverted to using her previous surname of 'Leigh'. Another view of thre makeshift kitchen inside 212 Devonshire Street Surry Hills, the Sydney property that was a sly grog shop and drug den in the 1940s, Bitter lifelong rivals Kate Leigh (above, left) and brothel madam Tilly Devine (above right) made up in later years when the two crime queens were nearing the end of their careers, Kate Leigh was living in 212 Devonshire Street, Surry Hils (pictured from the 1950s right up until her death from a stroke in 1964, when she was 82 years old. endobj In business parlance, she had diversified, making her money now from drugs and prostitution as well as sly grog. 372 0 obj 35 0 obj It is a tragic but terribly true thing a great percentage of fallen women who walk the pavements of Sydney are drug-takers.'. She said she had been to prison 13 times, but 'never for prostitution' and that the police left her alone now because everything was legitimate. biography Kate Leigh was a leading figure in the notorious Sydney razor . 233 0 obj You have corrected this article This article has been corrected by You and other Voluntroves This article has . I noticed an old photograph in her lounge and commented on it and said how much it looked like Vivien Leigh. 'Broke and embattled, Kate did her best to earn a little money, selling illegal alcohol from friends' homes and rented rooms,' the book says, but the NSW Government had put her out of business in 1955 by extending hotel trading hours to 10pm. [4] They separated in 1905 when Lee was imprisoned for assault and robbery. [24] Kate Leigh was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment on 7 September 1942 for having sold liquor without a licence at 13 Pearl Street and 2 Lansdowne Street, Surry Hills. <>]/P 596 0 R/Pg 592 0 R/S/Link>> She was beloved for her acts of charity, including providing bail for first offenders to keep them from lives of crime, and hosting annual Christmas parties for the Surry Hills children. But there's another unlikely collection of photos that allow us to get an idea of what fashion was like in the 1920s to 1930s: police mugshots. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. endobj Could it have been that trivial? <>/Metadata 2 0 R/Outlines 5 0 R/Pages 3 0 R/StructTreeRoot 6 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences<>>> 420 0 obj <> Greta Massey was an energetic impostor, forger and hotel barber whose aliases included the surnames Gordon, Spencer, Crawford, Robins and Simpson as well as Nurse Campbell and Nurse Nicholas. H/T The Justice & Police Museum/Historic Households Trust | TwistedSifter, If you like this post you may also enjoy 21 Vintage Police Mugshots That Prove 1920s Gangsters Were Really Badass, The Justice & Police Museum/Historic Households Trust. 187 0 obj Such a monster in human disguise. Lewis Richard Leigh. She anglicised her name to Lee and by 1922 she was married to sly grog dealer Teddy Barry. Leigh was portrayed by Danielle Cormack, with Tilly Devine played by Chelsie Preston Crayford, the series itself was based on a Ned Kelly Award winning book written by Chris Walker. State Library of NSW Digital Excellence Program, KATE LEIGH'S DAUGHTER MAKES AN EFFORT TO VINDICATE HERSELF, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article103475918, create private tags and comments, readable only by you, and. Leigh was born on 10 March 1881 in Dubbo, New South Wales, the eighth child of Roman Catholic parents Timothy Beahan, a boot-maker, and his wife Charlotte (ne Smith). endobj She had originally come from the central western NSW town of Dubbo where, as Kathleen Beahan, one of eight children of a Catholic bootmaker, she had been put in a girls' home at the age of 12 and gave birth to her first child, Eileen, the following year, in 1900. endobj 20. Although she never drank alcohol or took drugs, Leigh happily dealt in both and acted as a stand over merchant, sold stolen property and occasionally shoplifted. 490 0 obj harvnb error: no target: CITEREFAllen1986 (, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFBlaike1980 (, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWriter2009 (, "Underworld Crime In Surry Hills. <>]/P 658 0 R/Pg 651 0 R/S/Link>> <>]/P 533 0 R/Pg 526 0 R/S/Link>> Leigh, known as the Queen of Surry Hills, was a sly groger and fence for stolen property. Katherine Heigl is raising her three kids away from the spotlight. The home where Sydneys Queen of the Underworld sold drugs and illegal booze for decades sold on Saturday for $1.7million nearly double its listed price. [5] Leigh was remembered by the press as much for her patriotism during World War II and for generous charitable acts in support of the unemployed in harsh times as for her criminal history.[5]. 214 0 obj Kate anglicised her part-Asian surname from Lee to Leigh, and she was mostly known by that name for the rest of her life, regardless of future marriages. Kate Leigh the sly grog queen and her criminal rival, brothel madam Tilly Devine pretend to be friendly but theirs was a bitter relationship, A 1950 magazine article described Kate Leigh, who lived at 212 Devonshire Street (pictured) for many years as ' tougher than most men, can punch, bite and gouge with the fierce courage of an animal', Kate Leigh's old house in Sydney's inner suburbs had been operating as a cafe called Sly, a nod to her old sly grog business which operated after dark on the premises in the 1920s-1940s, A People Magazine article in the 1950s described her and Ms Devine as 'the queens of Sydney's slumland' with 'an empire of brothels, gambling joints, verminous flop-houses, sly groggeries and gin mills. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. In 1922, her second husband, John Barry, endobj Alice Joyce Hamilton. father. [17][18], Through alleged personal connections throughout officialdom, she continued business throughout the 1930s and 40s despite frequent police raids and a mass of minor convictions. she enjoyed the Chrlstmastide festivities, admission that this jade Is still at large. [5], Leigh also exploited the passage of the Dangerous Drugs Amendment Act 1927 in NSW by providing lucrative illicit criminal distribution networks for the high-demand cocaine it criminalised. Earlier that day Belle had attempted to collect a debt of 15 pounds from Mammone, who ran a barbershop in Leichhardt.