216 0 obj His MO includes visiting foundries with a horse and cart and stealing ingots of iron copper and tin. 490 0 obj 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. 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. Leigh operated in Devonshire Street, Surry Hills during the height of the razor gang era, when she built a reputation as a woman not to be messed with. But despite the biographys shortcomings, she has succeeded in presenting us with a character whos more good than evil a woman who is the product of an impoverishment difficult for us to imagine, who had the grit to overcome it, and who repaid with loyalty the community that supported her. endobj ', The article described Ms Leigh - then aged 63 - as 'stooped, fat and blowsy' but with 'little piercing eyes' which 'indicate her tremendous vitality.'. After decades of being banned from public bars unless escorted by men, we women had a place of our own. 697 0 obj Wounded Man's Death", "Underworld Feud. 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. 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. <>]/P 556 0 R/Pg 555 0 R/S/Link>> Number 212 was the largest and known as 'Mum's'. Charles Frank Bottin. <>]/P 635 0 R/Pg 628 0 R/S/Link>> 235 0 obj 01:43 BST 03 Nov 2015. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. 266 0 obj <>]/P 655 0 R/Pg 651 0 R/S/Link>> Leigh Straw 'She is tougher than most men, can punch, bite and gouge with the fierce courage of an animal,' the magazine wrote. <>]/P 599 0 R/Pg 592 0 R/S/Link>> <> <>]/P 586 0 R/Pg 582 0 R/S/Link>> The home got its nickname 'mum's' from the pass code of calling around 'to see Mum. 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. Her conviction was overturned on appeal, but the marriage was over. endobj <>]/P 603 0 R/Pg 602 0 R/S/Link>> Yet other sources were hard to come by. 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. endobj ', 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. 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. The bottom floor of the building houses a caf called 'Sly' that has leased the space until July and the remaining floors of the three-floor terrace are prime for renovation, according to the realtors First national Spencer and Servi. By 1922, she was divorced and married a guy named Teddy Barry. He also steals laundered articles from clothes lines. Its true that if men shared their power with women, if there were less segregation of genders into separate spheres of activity, then men as well as women would benefit. 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. 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. 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. <>]/P 569 0 R/Pg 565 0 R/S/Link>> Kate Leigh was living at 212 Devonshire from 1951. Click on current line of text for options. She also lied to protect him when he assaulted their landlord, and went to jail. [9] Although she made much of her fortune from the illegal sale of alcohol, Leigh is reported to have never drunk (or smoked). <>]/P 674 0 R/Pg 664 0 R/S/Link>> Leigh was by then in a de facto relationship with her business partner, Jack Baker, but in 1950, she married convicted West Australian criminal, Ernest 'Shiner ' Ryan, the first Australian to use a motor vehicle in a payroll hold-up. 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. 268 0 obj 'She is tougher than most men, can punch, bite and gouge with the fierce courage of an animal,' the magazine wrote. 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. <>]/P 536 0 R/Pg 526 0 R/S/Link>> [5], Continuing to live at Surry Hills, she suffered a severe stroke on 31 January 1964 at her residence at 212 Devonshire Street and was rushed to hospital. [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. Play it now! A man was not allowed on the premises unless he was accompanied by a woman. Her nephew, William Beahan, was operating the fruit and vegetable shop out of the ground level room at the front of the house. <>]/P 579 0 R/Pg 575 0 R/S/Link>> Anybody thirsty after then would come to her home, and Ms Leigh's fleet of illegal grog shops throughout the inner suburbs. Eliza Dimmock. <> The irony is that it is only as a result of its remarkable gentrification that Leigh has finally received her due. <>stream 421 0 obj NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive, Justice and Police Museum, Sydney Living Museums. Safeblower., 32. 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. endobj It was Kate Leigh's final marriage and it lasted six months. 371 0 obj Hunter is listed in the NSW Police Gazette, 1924 as charged, along with William Munro, with receiving stolen goods to the value of 536 pounds 4 shillings and 1 penny, from Snows department store. B. Smith, Gertrude Thompson and Vera McDonald endobj <>]/P 510 0 R/Pg 503 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). endobj Kate Leigh Timeline March 10th, 1881 - Kathleen Mary Josephine Beahan was born into a large Irish-Australian Catholic family in Dubbo, New South Wales. 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. Skip to content Skip to search. 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. 341 0 obj It was her final marriage and it lasted six months. She was using another name not Sue. Kate Leigh in April, 1915. AppendPDF Pro 6.3 Linux 64 bit Aug 30 2019 Library 15.0.4 endobj 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]. '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.'. endobj 294 0 obj 07:58 BST 02 Nov 2015 Prince 12.5 (www.princexml.com) It's easy and takes two shakes of a lamb's tail! GRO Reference: 1897 Jan-Feb-Mar in Axbridge Volume 05C Page 485. endobj Kate's daughter Eileen also used the name 'Leigh' until she married in 1920. 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. [29][30] She was buried in Botany Cemetery, now known as Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park in the Roman Catholic Section 29K, Grave 896 as Kathleen Ryan. [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. She swept into the building. 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. (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. Search. <>]/P 542 0 R/Pg 526 0 R/S/Link>> 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. It centred on the stipulation that the cafe was for women. Thomas Sutherland Jones and William Smith, 15 July 1921. endobj endobj [5], Leigh was also engaged in a violent feud with her rival Tilly Devine, a Sydney madam based in Woolloomooloo that lasted 20 years. 339 0 obj When this photograph was taken Alfred Fitch was a car thief. endobj Here it is. Fri 25 Mar 1932 - Arrow (Sydney, NSW : 1916 - 1933), A POWERFUL car, with a chauffeur at the wheel, pulled up at, 'The Arrow' office one day during the week, and out stepped, 'I'm Mrs. Eileen Earle, and daughter of Kate Leigh,' she, 'You've got a story in your paper of how I lived on little, Fay Gurner, and then left her to die a lonely death in Mel-, bourne, and be buried in a pauper's grave. <> But we need to be super sure you aren't a robot. 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. Though long separated, he died in Kate's home at 2 Lansdowne Street, Surry Hills on 26 June 1948, and was buried at Botany Cemetery three days later. And Leigh herself remains a somewhat elusive figure (though a lot can be gained from her photos). <>]/P 507 0 R/Pg 503 0 R/S/Link>> Eventually they were allowed to come on their own. <>]/P 576 0 R/Pg 575 0 R/S/Link>> 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. son. You have corrected this article This article has been corrected by You and other Voluntroves This article has . Protected by a team of bashers and gunmen, and her own fearsome reputation, Leigh was a flamboyant and sometimes vicious character who by the mid 1920s was being called 'the most evil woman in Sydney'. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr W. R. Lawrence, will attend the funeral of former Sydney underworld identity Mrs Kathleen Ryan, also known as Kate Leigh. It said she had once been the 'best looking girl' in Surry Hills and had become tremendously wealthy through being a tough businesswoman. 352 0 obj endobj 186 0 obj [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. Or was it about something more? When cocaine was outlawed in 1927, Leigh sold both, at at huge profits. endobj 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. 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. <>]/P 625 0 R/Pg 621 0 R/S/Link>> So was she a role model? <>]/P 527 0 R/Pg 526 0 R/S/Link>> She resided at 212 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills from 1951 until her death in 1964. 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". The controversy in Canberra, though, was not about Tilly Devines reputation. It is she replied, she was my mother. ''She is popular with the kids, particularly with her Christmas gifts. 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. Leigh wrote few letters and never kept a journal; her profession necessitated a degree of secrecy, never mind her limited education. 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. endobj 460 0 obj pital authorities were ever in touch with. 324 0 obj Leigh, known as the Queen of Surry Hills, was a sly groger and fence for stolen property. 233 0 obj endobj <> Her childhood and teenaged 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. 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. endobj Celebrating Kate: The criminal-celebrity of Sydney underworld figure, Kate Leigh 'No more remarkable woman ever strode upon the stage of Sydney's nightlife than this middle-aged, matronly dame,' the extract says. 406 0 obj Hollywood Icons. Filter . 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. uuid:c25d1d94-b261-11b2-0a00-90068915fc7f The prosecution cast the raid in heroic terms the Chief of the CIB, desperately outnumbered, had struggled hand to hand in a sweltering melee in one of the most notorious thieves kitchens in Sydney. 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. 253 0 obj Leigh, like Devine, was a consummate self-promoter and had ongoing, sometimes stormy relations with the press, which no doubt coloured the reporting. 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. 215 0 obj Izzy Stevens as Eileen Leigh, daughter of Kate Leigh Jamie Kristian as Albert Duke, Englishman and husband of Eileen Leigh Troy Planet as George "The Midnight Raper" Wallace, violent member of Bruhn's gang Jake Ryan as Constable Ray "The Blizzard" Blissett, crusading policeman Felix Jozeps as Ernest Wilson, Phil Jeffs' driver and gangster Draped in furs and dripping with diamonds, she willingly used the feminine wiles that we feminists emphatically rejected. Langby was charged with stealing watches, clothing and money from shops and with stealing a motorcycle and sidecar.
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