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.'. <>/Metadata 2 0 R/Outlines 5 0 R/Pages 3 0 R/StructTreeRoot 6 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences<>>> 1 Emma Rolfe better known as May Mulholland, also goes by the names Sybil White, Jean Harris and Eileen Mulholland, had numerous convictions in the period 1919-1920 for theft of jewellery and clothing from various houses around Kensington and Randwick, and from city shops. Even Eileen Leigh, daughter of notorious sly-grog queen and crime boss Kate Leigh, couldn't escape being fined 1 (or seven days' imprisonment) for being on a tram without a mask. About Kate Leigh: Australian crime entrepreneur (1881 - 1964 endobj 234 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. Such a nice, agreeable dame! The structure is ordered thematically instead of chronologically, and this works well, each theme adding successively to the readers familiarity with the subject. | 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. What constitutes evidence of a queer life? endobj Kate Leigh's criminal home sells for $1.7 million at auction 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.'. 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. The family was poor, as many were at that time, and like most kids in poor neighbourhoods, urban or rural, Kate spent her days playing in the street and looking after her two younger brothers. She was imprisoned several times, was not afraid to use a gun and did kill a man, though she claimed it was self-defence. By the 1940s, Leigh was known as a larger than life character - wealthy, greedy, funny and generous to those she felt sorry for - whose name as a female criminal was rivalled only by another, Leigh's bitter foe, brothel queen Tilly Devine. <> They separated, and she lived with one of her bodyguards Wally Tomlinson, who had a reputation as a tough stand over criminal in the 1920s, the razor war years. 439 0 obj Kate Leigh Timeline March 10th, 1881 - Kathleen Mary Josephine Beahan was born into a large Irish-Australian Catholic family in Dubbo, New South Wales. endobj It's the house where the woman known as the Queen of the Underworld lived and operated her criminal empire until her death. Ms Leigh was then in her late fifties and 212 Devonshire Street was one of her rougher establishments, while another Surry Hills house at 2 Landsowne Street was her largest grog shop. 'She is tougher than most men, can punch, bite and gouge with the fierce courage of an animal,' the magazine wrote. The article described Leigh - then aged 63 - as 'stooped, fat and blowsy'but with 'little piercing eyes' which 'indicate her tremendous vitality'. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. <>]/P 678 0 R/Pg 677 0 R/S/Link>> [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). Kate Leigh in April, 1915. The subjects are not named, but the woman on the left is believed to be Eileen Leigh or Barry (daughter of Kate Leigh). 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. [690 0 R] Numerous charges were heard against the 15 men and women arrested. 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.Kate Leigh was a leading figure in the notorious Sydney 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. HSn0+xYdVD`MP#)M{H>Rd!~Ar$[m54#IZiVdn`,WxUXd'Lxi)ZZ1s('G#^..!e)dN.=Hj #gZ-L/XdA|> ;r, Celebrating Kate: The criminal-celebrity of Sydney underworld figure, Kate Leigh. 370 0 obj . 216 0 obj Leigh, Kathleen Mary (Kate) (1881-1964) A former N.S.W. In 1922, her second husband, John Barry, Page 6 - KATE LEIGH'S DAUGHTER MAKES AN EFFORT TO VINDICATE HERSELF. [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]. Special Photograph no. The women in the case were eventually put on good behaviour bonds. [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. It quoted her saying she and Tilly Devine had buried their rivalry in their old age. ', 'I want you to get this straight, I was the best friend Fay ever. 292 0 obj The subjects are not named, but the woman on the left is believed to be Eileen Leigh, daughter of Kate Leigh. But we need to be super sure you aren't a robot. 35 0 obj 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. Nothing she did improved the status of women; indeed, it could be argued that she made the lives of many worse. Newspaper stories of the time repeatedly refer to Mammone as the main suspect in the case, although he was not charged. But first, here are the bones of Kate Leighs story, as laid out in The Worst Woman in Sydney. endobj 238 0 obj Leigh wrote few letters and never kept a journal; her profession necessitated a degree of secrecy, never mind her limited education. 'No more remarkable woman ever strode upon the stage of Sydney's nightlife than this middle-aged, matronly dame,' the extract says. [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. Moreover, she is the eldest daughter of the family and has two younger siblings; a sister and a brother. 324 0 obj <>]/P 625 0 R/Pg 621 0 R/S/Link>> That relationshipwhich featured prominently in an Australian television drama on Leigh's role in the razor gang warsended with Tomlinson's departure, and Leigh then pursued a de facto relationship from 1932 to 1949 with her business partner, Henry 'Jack' Baker (18971965). The controversy in Canberra, though, was not about Tilly Devines reputation. 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. It quoted her saying she and Ms Devine had buried their rivalry in their old age. The man third from the left in the same row may be the pickpocket and three-card trickster . <>]/P 484 0 R/Pg 689 0 R/S/Link>> 9. 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'. <>]/P 520 0 R/Pg 513 0 R/S/Link>> By our very nature, feminists are transgressive, at least in the patriarchal order of things. endobj [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. endobj [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. endobj Play it now! <>/Font<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 13/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> 3 0 obj endobj <>]/P 569 0 R/Pg 565 0 R/S/Link>> Jones was further charged with stealing thirty horse rugs valued at 15 pounds and two bales of kapok valued 20 pounds. It doesnt matter how we dress, whether or not we are beautiful or comely, our very being disturbs. endobj The Cemetery Angel & The Queens of the Sydney Underworld Crichton was bound over to appear for sentence if called upon within three years.. Julie Andrews' 3 Daughters: Everything to Know - People pital authorities were ever in touch with. Police described a raid on the McGuinnesses Darlinghurst house during which the mother Ada threw a hand bag containing packets of cocaine to her daughter, shouting, Run Hazel!. 266 0 obj The matriarch Inside Story | crime She was previously married to Mark Pavlakovich. Only four of those arrested were subsequently charged however. endobj Kate Leigh. (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. The Nine network dramatised the book in the series Underbelly Razor, portraying Leigh and Devine as glamorous figures. The subjects are not named, but the woman on the left is believed to be Eileen Leigh, daughter of Kate Leigh. The NSW Police also intensively policed incoming vessels for overseas cocaine suppliers in 193839, but it was naval transit restrictions associated with the World War II that led to devastating interruptions of Leigh's overseas cocaine supply.[12]. [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". The man third from the left in the same row may be the pickpocket and three-card trickster Frederick Mewson, and the man far left in the front row is likely the pickpocket Norman Smith. endobj [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. Valerie Lowe and Joseph Messenger were were charged with breaking and entering a dwelling in 1922. <>]/P 556 0 R/Pg 555 0 R/S/Link>> By 1922, she was divorced and married a guy named Teddy Barry. 56 0 obj Robert McFarlane (the middle man in this trio) is mentioned in the Police Gazette, 7 September 1921 in connection with the theft of three clocks, two sports coats and other articles from the warehouse of Dobson Franks Ltd. <>]/P 629 0 R/Pg 628 0 R/S/Link>> 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. 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 a madam, illegal trader of alcohol and cocaine, and for running betting/gambling syndicates from her home in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia during the first half of the twentieth century. endobj She was the daughter of Henry Leigh and Anna Vowles. 5 0 obj Candace Sutton for Daily Mail Australia endobj 198 0 obj 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. For reasons complex and conflicted, we do love our bad women not least because through them we recognise the bad lurking in ourselves. endobj [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. 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. 371 0 obj A lot of people have commented on how Suzanne looks more like her father, but in photos. Harry Chapman was charged with stealing a motor cycle and side car (value 175 pounds) and a till containing money, value 17s. The Worst Woman in Sydney: The Life and Crimes of Kate Leigh. Nancy Leigh Kelley is the daughter of famous American-actress Katherine Heigl and American-singer Josh Kelley. Dubbo & District Family History Society inc - Facebook endobj Farm Heroes Saga, the #4 Game on iTunes. It was her final marriage and it lasted six months. Kathleen Mary Josephine (Kate) Leigh (1881-1964), crime entrepreneur, was born on 10 March 1881 at Dubbo, New South Wales, eighth child of native-born parents Timothy Beahan, bootmaker, and his wife Charlotte, ne Smith. The marriage broke up soon after the trial, though they were not divorced until 1921. Such a monster in human disguise. Chapman was sentenced to two years hard labour for the motor cycle theft. Leigh, known as the Queen of Surry Hills, was a sly groger and fence for stolen property. Old Police Mugshots Show How Fashion Was Like In The 1920s and 1930s <>]/P 527 0 R/Pg 526 0 R/S/Link>> son. She was charged on 107 occasions and was sent to prison on 13 occasions. She married three times but, unsurprisingly, none of the marriages stuck. endobj Woman Discharged for Surry Hills Shooting", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kate_Leigh&oldid=1151888838, People associated with Kings Cross, New South Wales, Short description is different from Wikidata, Use Australian English from September 2013, All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English, Self-contradictory articles from November 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2013, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Gangster, brothel madam, cocaine trafficker, This page was last edited on 26 April 2023, at 21:30. [4] They separated in 1905 when Lee was imprisoned for assault and robbery. Two years later she appeared at Central Police Court in Sydney charged with having phenobarbitone in her possession. On January 31, 1964, Ms Leigh suffered a stroke at her home and was taken to St Vincents Hospital where she died on February 4, aged 82. Her conviction was overturned on appeal, but the marriage was over. . [16] Leigh was found in possession of cocaine and was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. Kate Leigh is a brand that celebrates women and girls, but also especially mothers and daughters. 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. It was revealed at the coronial enquiry that Mammone had previously served time in Buffalo, New York, for manslaughter. 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. 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'. 25 January 1928. 253 0 obj 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. endobj 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. <>]/P 645 0 R/Pg 641 0 R/S/Link>> 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. This photograph was apparently taken in the aftermath of a raid led by CIB Chief Bill Mackay later to be Commissioner of Police on a house at 74 Riley Street, lower Darlinghurst. daughter. This negative was found wrapped in a paper sleeve on which is written: Group of criminals, Central 1921. Thomas Sutherland Jones and William Smith, 15 July 1921. There are the police records but they are sparse; Leigh was adept at keeping clear of the law. 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. <>]/P 523 0 R/Pg 513 0 R/S/Link>> Despite that, detectives spoke up for Hazel McGuinness in court, arguing that she had been led into crime by her mother (the most evil woman in Sydney) who had raised her in an atmosphere of immorality and dope. So while all biographies require a degree of imagination, hers would demand more than most. Number 212 was the largest and known as 'Mum's'. Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley's eldest daughter Nancy Leigh Kelley! 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. Books | Was Kate Leigh a bad woman, the worst in Sydney? Horoscope Sagittarius. 406 0 obj ', 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. Despite the concession, the venue was long the centre of Canberras lesbian subculture, especially on Friday nights. '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. <>]/P 606 0 R/Pg 602 0 R/S/Link>> 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. By Leigh Straw | NewSouth | $29.99. Sydney's Surrey Hills house where Kate Leigh ran her drug den goes up endobj NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive, Justice and Police Museum, Sydney Living Museums. (To remove the stigma of his Chinese name, she changed it to Leigh.) 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. 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. The Police Gazette Photo Supplement of August 1925 lists him as Podmore, Alfred. 37 0 obj <>]/P 648 0 R/Pg 641 0 R/S/Link>> 323 0 obj Enraged over his wifes participation in a Surry Hills based free love religious cult (variously called Abode of Love or Free Love Mission by the newspapers, or Apostolic Faith Mission by its leader), Daniel Ligores, Salvation Army cook, of 110 Palmer Street Darlinghurst, shot his wife Gertrude Grace Ligores dead at the missions premises in Holt Place, off Elizabeth Street, in late November 1920. 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). They separated, and she lived with one of her bodyguards Wally Tomlinson, who had a reputation as a tough stand over criminal in the 1920s, the razor war years. In April 1930 he was further charged, along with Patricia Irving, with conspiring to cheat and defraud divers members of the public of divers large sums of money, for which he received a sentence of 18 months hard labour. 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. <>]/P 497 0 R/Pg 493 0 R/S/Link>> endobj It is she replied, she was my mother. endobj ''She is popular with the kids, particularly with her Christmas gifts. , Topics: photocopies or electronic copies of newspapers pages. 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. endobj She was best know for. Cowman (alias Divvers, alias Denvers) was eventually acquitted. In business parlance, she had diversified, making her money now from drugs and prostitution as well as sly grog. But as long as theres a fight on our hands, we will disrupt things and be deemed ugly, even bad. she enjoyed the Chrlstmastide festivities, admission that this jade Is still at large. endobj endobj Eileen Leigh Profiles | Facebook 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. [10] These activitiesthe defense of these business turfsand ongoing feuds with rival organised crime leaders in NSW led Leigh to be a prominent figure in Sydney's brutal razor gang wars of the 1920s and 1930s. Go ask Julia Gillard or Hillary Clinton. <>]/P 539 0 R/Pg 526 0 R/S/Link>> 'Kate's only income was what she could scrounge occasionally hiring out hand-carts to vegetabel and fruit hawkers for twp shilings and sixpence a day.'. Hazel was given a suspended sentence. 697 0 obj Suzanne was born a month premature, in less than a year of the couple's marriage. <>]/P 652 0 R/Pg 651 0 R/S/Link>> She swept into the building. <>]/P 586 0 R/Pg 582 0 R/S/Link>> By then, in 1964, both she and Devine had already lost control of the crime scene to newcomers like Abe Saffron. endobj She is an actress and director, known for Muppet Babies (1984), Adventures of the Gummi Bears (1985) and Dungeons & Dragons (1983). <>]/P 494 0 R/Pg 493 0 R/S/Link>> Filter . endobj endobj endobj An earlier mug shot of Brosnan shows him to be not the man on the right in this group of three, as inscribed, but rather the offhand individual in the centre, here identified as A Wyatt. Samuels, Harold Fletcher and M P (Mick) Ryan were three of twenty men and one woman arrested at an International Anti-Imperialism Day demonstration in Martin Place, Sydney, on 1 August, 1930. 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. Its hard to believe, entering it now, that its beginnings were so bedevilled by vilification and controversy. <>]/P 579 0 R/Pg 575 0 R/S/Link>> Leigh derived from her supplies from a corrupt network of doctors, dentists, chemists, and sailors, and amassed considerable wealth from the activity. Cornford was charged with stealing watches, clothing and money from a shop and with stealing two separate motorcycles and sidecars. A People Magazine article a year earlier described her and Tilly Devine as 'the queens of Sydney's slumland' with 'an empire of brothels, gambling joints, verminous flop-houses , sly groggeries and gin mills'. Was Kate Leigh a bad woman, the worst in Sydney? [5], She lived in a terrace house at 2 Lansdowne Street, Surry Hills from 1933 until the house was demolished in 1950. He received 18 months hard labour on each charge. endobj 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). All this is speculative, of course, and this is where the biographer comes in, to land us on solid ground. 341 0 obj 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.
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