'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. You have corrected this article This article has been corrected by You and other Voluntroves This article has . Our Story - Kate Leigh | 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. She was best know for. <>]/P 645 0 R/Pg 641 0 R/S/Link>> Underbelly: Razor - Wikipedia (To remove the stigma of his Chinese name, she changed it to Leigh.) 2 0 obj <>]/P 576 0 R/Pg 575 0 R/S/Link>> endobj Leigh 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 At its peak, Leigh ran at least twenty[contradictory] bootleg outlets. [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. By the age of 15, Kate married her first husband, Jack Lee, a half Chinese illegal bookmaker and petty criminal. Leslie Louis Bernstein, 29 November 1929. By (The warrants related to a squatting case in Clovelly, which was to be a forerunner to the more famous eviction battles in Newtown, Glebe and Bankstown) The Sun reports that as the police van drove away, lusty strains of the Red Flag were heard from within. But we need to be super sure you aren't a robot. Mamamia Family on Instagram: "After her daughter Amy took her own life [2] Her childhood and teenaged years included childhood neglect, time in a girls' home at age 12,[2] and an out-of-wedlock pregnancy; her daughter Eileen May Beahan was born in 1900. Straw, a historian, is very good at setting the scene for each stage of her subjects life. 25 January 1928. daughter. daughter. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to get the full Trove experience. endobj 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. She anglicised her name to Leigh and by 1922 she was married to sly grog dealer Teddy Barry. Sydneys Surry Hills would be unrecognisable to Kate Leigh, were she alive today. [5] Appearing in courtrooms with flamboyantly expensive clothes and diamonds, her wealth was legendary. Clever and unscrupulous enough to know that once a victim is made, she becomes a sure customer for life. Leigh, like Devine, was a consummate self-promoter and had ongoing, sometimes stormy relations with the press, which no doubt coloured the reporting. They were called 'Mum's' as an allusion to the pass code of calling around 'to see Mum'. Leigh wrote few letters and never kept a journal; her profession necessitated a degree of secrecy, never mind her limited education. <>]/P 556 0 R/Pg 555 0 R/S/Link>> This photograph was taken after she was arrested for defrauding one Henry Placings in Sydney of 106 pounds, by borrowing against a forged cheque, for which she received a years imprisonment. Alfred Bodmore (alias Podmore), 3 August 1923, Bodmore appears in the NSW Police Gazette of October 1923 as charged with breaking and entering two separate warehouses and stealing goods and money. Two years later she appeared at Central Police Court in Sydney charged with having phenobarbitone in her possession. Her conviction was overturned on appeal, but the marriage was over. endobj Ms Leigh was well-known among politicians and police officers, and well-liked by some, although she was called 'a sinister, shadowy character,' in the NSW Police Force Archives, according to an extract in Larry Writer's book. Fitch also went on to become an active member of the Sydney underworld (see Mug shot of Alfred Fitch in this collection). He received 12 months hard labour on each charge. son. Eventually they were allowed to come on their own. Kate Leigh Timeline March 10th, 1881 - Kathleen Mary Josephine Beahan was born into a large Irish-Australian Catholic family in Dubbo, New South Wales. <>]/P 638 0 R/Pg 628 0 R/S/Link>> 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). 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. [5] Leigh was famously quoted in the Australian media as stating "The bloom has gone off the grog". 237 0 obj A mutual friend invited me over to her house which was in the bush on an island . Kate Leigh, or Kathleen Barry as she was known during her marriage to small time crim and sly grog dealer Teddy Barry, sold cocaine, other opiates and operated a brothel. In 1936, newly appointed Sydney Police Commissioner MacKay warned them both to tone down the violence or else risk serious imprisonment. <>]/P 648 0 R/Pg 641 0 R/S/Link>> Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley's eldest daughter Nancy Leigh Kelley! 199 0 obj <>]/P 665 0 R/Pg 664 0 R/S/Link>> <>]/P 514 0 R/Pg 513 0 R/S/Link>> <>]/P 536 0 R/Pg 526 0 R/S/Link>> May 1, 2022 - 27 likes, 0 comments - Mamamia Family (@mamamia_family) on Instagram: "After her daughter Amy took her own life in 2018, Kate Everett started @dollysdreamaustralia, as . Rival gangs eroded her profits from cocaine by standing over and slashing decoys (often working prostitutes) with razors. <> Occasionally she was arrested for robbery, theft or, like in 1943 when police found 1,001 bottles of beer, 84 bottles of whisky and one bottle of gin underneath the floorboards of her Surry Hills house. <>]/P 507 0 R/Pg 503 0 R/S/Link>> 691 0 obj <>]/P 504 0 R/Pg 503 0 R/S/Link>> 323 0 obj Langby was charged with stealing watches, clothing and money from shops and with stealing a motorcycle and sidecar. [4], Kate married for the second time on 26 September 1922, to a Western Australian-born musician Edward Joseph 'Teddy' Barry (18921948), a sly-grog dealer and small-time criminal. The Firefly Lane star shares daughters Naleigh, 13, and Adalaide, 11, as well as son Joshua, 6 . 31. <>]/P 622 0 R/Pg 621 0 R/S/Link>> 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. The shots were immediately taken right after these men and women were plucked from the street, so the photos were taken with the drama surrounding their 'apprehension' still in the air, which probably explains the expressions on their faces. The NSW Police Gazette 29 October 1930, p. 827 lists Blake as charged with having cocaine unlawfully in her possession. She was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and fined 250 pounds. 479 0 obj Kate Leigh. She was the daughter of Henry Leigh and Anna Vowles. 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. The problem was that it was funded by taxpayers money, and many men complained. Photo: Katherine Heigl Instagram. Vintage Hollywood. The article described Leigh - then aged 63 - as 'stooped, fat and blowsy'but with 'little piercing eyes' which 'indicate her tremendous vitality'. Kate Leigh's criminal home sells for $1.7 million at auction 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". 6 0 obj In Larry Writer's book Razor, he writes that in the 1960s, Ms Leigh was still living at the Devonshire home but was impoverished because after hours grog had been legalised. 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). The four bedroom, one bathroom property is where she lived and ran her criminal empire until she died. Her father Jack was a boot- and shoemaker, her mother Charlotte worked at home (and with a family of ten to look after, worked very hard). 353 0 obj On January 31, 1964, Kate Leigh suffered a stroke at 212 Devonshire Street and she was taken to St Vincents Hospital where she died on February 4, aged 82. The NSW Police Gazette of 30 January 1924 mentions Eileen May Burt, 18, being sentenced to seven days hard labour for stealing, but released under the first offender provisions of the Crimes Act, and charged to be of good behaviour for 12 months. <>]/P 678 0 R/Pg 677 0 R/S/Link>> . Kate Leigh photographed by police in 1930 (detail). 213 0 obj Leigh . By Leigh Straw | NewSouth | $29.99. [21][22] The house was raided by undercover police on 4 March 1938[23] resulting in 48 bottles and 4 kegs of beer being confiscated. The man on the far right in the back row may be Stephen Doyle, and the man to the left of him Kenneth McLelland (or McCrerrand). In Larry Writer's book Razor he writes that in the 1960s, Kate Leigh was living at 212 Devonshire Street, but that she was by then impoverished - because aftre hours grog had been legalised. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. 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The Worst Woman in Sydney: The Life and Crimes of Kate Leigh. endobj endobj 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. Her nephew William Beahan was operating the fruit and vegetable shop out of the ground level room at the front of the house. [citation needed] The two women physically fought one another on numerous occasions and their respective gangs conducted pitched battles in Eaton Avenue and Kellet Street, King's Cross in May and August 1929. endobj Yet other sources were hard to come by. 696 0 obj harvnb error: no target: CITEREFAllen1986 (, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFBlaike1980 (, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWriter2009 (, "Underworld Crime In Surry Hills. 38. 341 0 obj 1 likes, 1 comments - Kasey Leigh (@kasey._._.leigh) on Instagram: " It's cover reveal day for BETWEEN NEVER AND FOREVER by @britbensonwritesbooks releasing June . Emma Rolfe (aka May Mulholland, Sybil White, Jean Harris and Eileen Mulholland), 1 April 1920. Barry (43) the daughter of Kate was shot through the right arm in her home in O'Sullivan Street, Surry Hills . She was a leading figure in the notorious Sydney razor gang wars. Kate Leigh | Elizabeth Peller [20] This house was also used by Leigh as her main illegal hotel or Sly-grog shop during this time and was known in Sydney as the Lansdowne Hotel, not to be confused with the legal 'Lansdowne Hotel' in City Road, Broadway. Lessee Joe Bezzina was charged with being the keeper of a house frequented by reputed thieves, and some of the others were charged with assault, and with being found in a house frequented by reputed thieves. And even when women are as meek as were supposed to be, theres a fascination there, all the greater perhaps because weve been conforming. 305 0 obj 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. endobj [16] Leigh was found in possession of cocaine and was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. Zach Giroux/Staff. endobj 38 0 obj Pin on MOSTLY -- FEMININE FACES WE ALL KNOW -- OR SHOULD - Pinterest The man third from the left in the same row may be the pickpocket and three-card trickster . 478 0 obj Every school lunch hour they cram her shop, laughing at her jokes. On 27 March 1930, she shot and killed John William "Snowy" Prendergast[13] when he and other gangsters broke into her home at 104 Riley Street, East Sydney. Nancy Leigh Kelley is the daughter of famous American-actress Katherine Heigl and American-singer Josh Kelley. endobj Lee was born in Tumut to a Chinese father and an Australian born mother, and became an illegal bookmaker and petty criminal. Her funeral at St Peter's Catholic Church in Devonshire Street, just up the road from her home, was attended by 700 people, including the police and politicians she had known during her career. <>]/P 354 0 R/Pg 602 0 R/S/Link>> By the age of 15, Kate married her first husband, Jack Lee, a half Chinese illegal bookmaker and petty criminal. Harry Chapman was charged with stealing a motor cycle and side car (value 175 pounds) and a till containing money, value 17s. endobj It's easy and takes two shakes of a lamb's tail! endobj His MO includes visiting foundries with a horse and cart and stealing ingots of iron copper and tin. Leigh was also personally involved in violence, though she was never convicted of any such offense. (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. When cocaine was outlawed in 1927, Ms Leigh sold both, at huge profits. <>]/P 539 0 R/Pg 526 0 R/S/Link>> THE issue of a summons for assault and robbery yesterday against Mrs. Kate Barry (Kate Leigh) styled Queen of the Underworld on information laid by Mrs. Kate's daughter Eileen also used the name 'Leigh' until she married in 1920. 460 0 obj Ms Leigh and Ms Devine are characters in the true crime book Razor by Larry Writer, which dramatizes the criminal gang rivalry in Sydney's inner suburbs in the early 20th century when gang members slashed their opponents with cut throat razors. %PDF-1.7 % endobj Kate Leigh and Tilly Devine's criminal feud was the subject of a 13-episode true crime television drama on Australia's Nine Network, titled Underbelly: Razor, which was the fourth in the Underbelly anthology series, it screened between 21 August 2011 until 16 November. In 1923 Lowe was finally convicted of breaking into a house at Enfield and stealing money and jewellery worth 40 pounds. It was Kate Leigh's final marriage and it lasted six months. It is a tragic but terribly true thing a great percentage of fallen women who walk the pavements of Sydney are drug-takers. 04 Oct 1931 - DRAMATIC AFTERMATH OF MANSLAUGHTER TRIAL. - Trove 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. 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. Tarlington went on to become a well-known criminal and was eventually shot dead in St Peters by Myles Henry Face McKeon, who was himself later shot dead in Chippendale. uuid:c25d1d93-b261-11b2-0a00-301c7d020000 father. Barbara Turner (alias Tierney, Tiernan, Taylor, Florence Gillespie or Jessi Turner, sometimes known as Barbara Turner Taylor) was a confidence woman who operated in Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane and Perth from the 1890s until the 1920s, and possibly beyond. , Topics: ', A newspaper report from May 1943 reports that police have raided Kate Leigh's Surry Hills house, finding 1001 bottles of beer and 84 bottles of whisky under the floorboards, Underbelly Razor cast beautiful actresses in the roles of Tillt Devine (in the red hat ) and Kate Leigh (in the black) hat in a glamourised version of the razor gang era, The article said Ms Leigh's 'official' occupation was shop keeper of a mixed business from the Surry Hills house and that 'she gives money to the Salvation Army and to church charities. 35 0 obj <>]/P 527 0 R/Pg 526 0 R/S/Link>> Nancy was nine-months-old when she was brought in the arms of her parents all the way from Korea. Erin's book was. The dilapidated Victorian terrace home in Surry Hills, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, is where Kate Leigh sold illegal substances to an assortment of character from politicians and upper class businessmen to thieves and prostitutes. Earlier that day Belle had attempted to collect a debt of 15 pounds from Mammone, who ran a barbershop in Leichhardt. endobj Following his trial, Kate Leigh was convicted of perjury and for being an accomplice to the assault, after being accused of lying under oath to protect her husband; her conviction was overturned on appeal. 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. <>]/P 523 0 R/Pg 513 0 R/S/Link>> He appears in the NSW Criminal Register (24 September 1930) as a thief and petty larcenist. Sydney's Surrey Hills house where Kate Leigh ran her drug den goes up He is described as being of violent disposition, addicted to drink and is said to associate with the vagrant class. The subjects are not named, but the woman on the left is believed to be Eileen Leigh, daughter of Kate Leigh. The Nine network dramatised the book in the series Underbelly Razor, portraying Leigh and Devine as glamorous figures. 304 0 obj 12. Candace Sutton for Daily Mail Australia, Leigh was well-known among politicians and police officers, and well-liked by some, although she was called 'a sinister, shadowy character,' in the, The screen for King Charles' coronation anointing is revealed, Devastating tornado picks up car and hurls it through air in Florida, Ukraine drone strike hits major fuel depot in port Sevastopol, Women's rights activists and pro-trans campaigners separated, Historic chairs to be reused by the King for the coronation service, Hundreds of Household Division members rehearse for coronation, Russian freight train derails and bursts into flames after explosion, Cambridge students party in the park during annual celebrations, 'You motherf***ers don't understand': Bam Margera details 'turmoil', Moment large saltwater crocodile snatches pet dog off beach in QLD, Monstrous tornado seen bearing down on Palm Beach, Braverman: People crossing Channel are 'at odds with British values'. endobj The man on the far right in the back row is believed to be Stephen Doyle, and the man to the left of him Kenneth McLelland (or McCrerrand). Cornford was charged with stealing watches, clothing and money from a shop and with stealing two separate motorcycles and sidecars. 440 0 obj She was charged on 107 occasions and was sent to prison on 13 occasions. 408 0 obj Jack Samuels (obscured), Howard Fletcher and Michael Patrick Ryan, 1 August 1930. <>]/P 671 0 R/Pg 664 0 R/S/Link>> 1894 - 1954), Sun 26 Mar 1933, Page 11 - EILEEN LEIGH STILL HERE. endobj <>]/P 494 0 R/Pg 493 0 R/S/Link>> endobj 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. It is a tragic but terribly true thing a great percentage of fallen women who walk the pavements of Sydney are drug-takers.'. 3. The man on the far right in the back row may be Stephen Doyle, and the man to the left of him Kenneth McLelland (or McCrerrand). endobj 187 0 obj Was Kate Leigh a bad woman, the worst in Sydney? application/pdf And Leigh herself remains a somewhat elusive figure (though a lot can be gained from her photos). Kate Leigh, or Kathleen Barry as she was known during her marriage to small time crim and sly grog dealer Teddy Barry, sold cocaine, other opiates and operated a brothel but she was best know. ''She is popular with the kids, particularly with her Christmas gifts. Mrs Kathleen Mary Josephine "Kate" Beahan Leigh Smith was fined 20 pounds; Jones was sentenced to 18 months hard labour. 458 0 obj daughter. <>]/P 661 0 R/Pg 651 0 R/S/Link>> <>]/P 612 0 R/Pg 611 0 R/S/Link>> It centred on the stipulation that the cafe was for women. Two years later she appeared at Central Police Court in Sydney charged with having phenobarbitone in her possession. 235 0 obj Hazel was given a suspended sentence. 2021-10-05T08:39:08-07:00 Go ask Julia Gillard or Hillary Clinton. So a feeling bursts out now and again that if were going to be seen as bitches or witches, we may as well have the fun that goes with it. [9] Although she made much of her fortune from the illegal sale of alcohol, Leigh is reported to have never drunk (or smoked). Facebook gives people the power to. endobj endobj He received 18 months hard labour on each charge. 6d, in league with Harold (Tarlow) Tarlington (15) and Alfred Fitch (17). endobj Celebrating Kate: The criminal-celebrity of Sydney underworld figure endobj She was not indicted for the killing,[14] or for shooting Joseph McNamara[15] nearby in Liverpool St, Darlinghurst on 9 December 1931. 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. [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. Kate was born in 1897 in Wedmore, Somerset, England. AppendPDF Pro 6.3 Linux 64 bit Aug 30 2019 Library 15.0.4 So while all biographies require a degree of imagination, hers would demand more than most. But, unlike Devine, Leigh prided herself on never being charged with prostitution and abstaining from liquor and drugs. 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.'. She was the eighth child born to the couple and her childhood included many years of neglect. Vera Crichton, 23, and Nancy Cowman, 19, are listed in the NSW Police Gazette 24 March 1924 as charged, along with three others, with conspiring together to procure a miscarriage on a third woman. endobj <>]/P 559 0 R/Pg 555 0 R/S/Link>> endobj endobj It's the house where the woman known as the Queen of the Underworld lived and operated her criminal empire until her death. Sun 26 Mar 1933 - Truth (Sydney, NSW : 1894 - 1954), of rascals and several well-known sisters, aside she would leave ihe State for three. The Hooper brothers received gaol sentences of 12 and 18 months hard labour respectively. Arrow (Sydney, NSW : 1916 - 1933), Fri 25 Mar 1932, Straw finds it necessary to keep reminding us that she was. Eliza Dimmock. He was an illegal bookmaker and petty criminal.They separated in 1905 when he was imprisoned for assault and robbery. 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. To compensate, Straw intersperses the text with short, fictionalised chapters a ploy that takes tremendous skill to pull off, and when it succeeds, raises the question: why not a novel? | women, 2023 Inside Story and contributors <>]/P 549 0 R/Pg 545 0 R/S/Link>> [5], Hence, from her Surry Hills home she became an organised crime entrepreneur, charging excessive prices for a full range of illicit goods and services, including after-hours drinking venues, sly-grog, prostitution, illegal betting, gambling and, from the mid-1920s, cocaine trafficking.

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