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. C. Colette Bradley. The irony is that it is only as a result of its remarkable gentrification that Leigh has finally received her due. 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. 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. 199 0 obj endobj 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. <>]/P 642 0 R/Pg 641 0 R/S/Link>> <>]/P 596 0 R/Pg 592 0 R/S/Link>> Known as 'Mum's', Ms Leighs largest home was protected by a team of bashers and gunmen, and her own fearsome reputation. [3], Leigh married James Ernest (Jack) Lee (or Leigh) (18821959) on 2 May 1902. She was a leading figure in the notorious Sydney razor gang wars. endobj 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. endobj SIX months ago that undesirable woman, Eileen Leigh, daughter of the notorious Kate Leigh, . 339 0 obj [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. 352 0 obj About Kate Leigh: Australian crime entrepreneur (1881 - 1964 I noticed an old photograph in her lounge and commented on it and said how much it looked like Vivien Leigh. 355 0 obj 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. endobj photocopies or electronic copies of newspapers pages. Valerie Lowe and Joseph Messenger were were charged with breaking and entering a dwelling in 1922. [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". Katie Leigh was born on 16 December 1958 in Carmel, California, USA. 252 0 obj Join Facebook to connect with Eileen Leigh and others you may know. 1 photocopies or electronic copies of newspapers pages. Charles Frank Bottin. 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. 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. <>]/P 514 0 R/Pg 513 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. In 1923 Lowe was finally convicted of breaking into a house at Enfield and stealing money and jewellery worth 40 pounds. 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. Alice Eileen Anna Leigh (1901 - 1967) - Genealogy Kate Leigh and Tilly Devine: The Queens of the Sydney Underworld She has been married to Vincent Panzero since 2009. 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. [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]. 216 0 obj <>]/P 668 0 R/Pg 664 0 R/S/Link>> 370 0 obj 186 0 obj Ronald Frederick Schmidt, 13 June 1921. 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. Kate Leigh was a leading figure in the notorious Sydney razor . endobj Celebrating Kate: The criminal-celebrity of Sydney underworld figure, Kate Leigh More at IMDbPro Contact info Agent info Resume Harry Chapman was charged with stealing a motor cycle and side car (value 175 pounds) and a till containing money, value 17s. endobj 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 . endobj 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. endobj 38. <>/Metadata 2 0 R/Outlines 5 0 R/Pages 3 0 R/StructTreeRoot 6 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences<>>> For all their notoriety, and the fact that their stories are strewn through a variety of sources, neither Tilly Devine nor Kate Leigh has ever been honoured with a book-length biography before, possibly because of problems Ill come to. Alice Joyce Hamilton. 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). <> pital authorities were ever in touch with. She was using another name not Sue. It was Kate Leigh's final marriage and it lasted six months. Kate was born in 1897 in Wedmore, Somerset, England. 'She is tougher than most men, can punch, bite and gouge with the fierce courage of an animal,' the magazine wrote. Before she met Olivier, the star was married to an older man, a barrister named Herbert Leigh Holman, at age nineteen. '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. 38 0 obj It's easy and takes two shakes of a lamb's tail! NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive, Justice and Police Museum, Sydney Living Museums. 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. Horoscope Sagittarius. Prince 12.5 (www.princexml.com) Obituary - Kathleen Mary (Kate) Leigh - Obituaries Australia - ANU A mutual friend invited me over to her house which was in the bush on an island . endobj But first, here are the bones of Kate Leighs story, as laid out in The Worst Woman in Sydney. Erin's book was. | books She gives parties.'. <>]/P 615 0 R/Pg 611 0 R/S/Link>> Reputedly she was neglected and at 12 was incarcerated in Parramatta Industrial School for Girls. 391 0 obj 2021-10-05T08:39:08-07:00 478 0 obj <>]/P 569 0 R/Pg 565 0 R/S/Link>> <>]/P 583 0 R/Pg 582 0 R/S/Link>> 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. Rival gangs eroded her profits from cocaine by standing over and slashing decoys (often working prostitutes) with razors. 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 [2] She died on 4 February 1964 at St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst, and her funeral was held on 7 February at St Peter's Catholic Church in Devonshire Street, Surry Hills and was attended by over 700 mourners. When appearing in court, Kate would wear diamond rings on every finger of both hands. He received 12 months hard labour on each charge. 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. It quoted her saying she and Tilly Devine had buried their rivalry in their old age. 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. 235 0 obj 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!. 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. ', 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. 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. endobj Katherine Heigl is raising her three kids away from the spotlight. ', 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. For all the fascination in Leighs story, Straw has been hobbled in piecing it together. 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). 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. A lot of people have commented on how Suzanne looks more like her father, but in photos. 268 0 obj She gives parties.'. 39 0 obj endobj Thomas Maria, Arthur Wyatt, and Patrick Dangar (alias Brosnan), c. 1920. (To remove the stigma of his Chinese name, she changed it to Leigh.) All this is speculative, of course, and this is where the biographer comes in, to land us on solid ground. There are the police records but they are sparse; Leigh was adept at keeping clear of the law. Since you've made it this far, we want to assume you're a real, live human. <>]/P 530 0 R/Pg 526 0 R/S/Link>> "It's been a full-time dream for me, part-time dream for them," said owner Richard Leigh, a Nashville Hall of Fame country music songwriter and Grammy Award winner. endobj 25 Vintage Police Record Photographs TwistedSifter Or was it about something more? In 1922, her second husband, John Barry, , Topics: Go ask Julia Gillard or Hillary Clinton. Leigh Straw has set herself the task, and it hasnt been easy. Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley's eldest daughter Nancy Leigh Kelley! 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.'. She had a daughter, Eileen, with the first guy, around 1903. She was best know for. <>]/P 606 0 R/Pg 602 0 R/S/Link>> 07:58 BST 02 Nov 2015 daughter. Many years ago I met a woman who said she was the daughter of Vivien Leigh. 37 0 obj Leslie Louis Bernstein, 29 November 1929. Numerous charges were heard against the 15 men and women arrested. endobj endobj Jimmy and Kate married two years later, but eight years after that he absconded, and Kate was left to fend for her daughter and herself. endobj Jones was further charged with stealing thirty horse rugs valued at 15 pounds and two bales of kapok valued 20 pounds. endobj endobj <>]/P 671 0 R/Pg 664 0 R/S/Link>> 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. endobj <>]/P 665 0 R/Pg 664 0 R/S/Link>> endobj 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. Pin on MOSTLY -- FEMININE FACES WE ALL KNOW -- OR SHOULD - Pinterest endobj (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. A POWERFUL car, with a chauffeur at the wheel, pulled up at "The Arrow" office one day during the week, and out stepped a woman. It is she replied, she was my mother. She began committing petty crimes with her siblings at a young age, and was sent to a reformatory school. She was previously married to Mark Pavlakovich. '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. Sydney's Surrey Hills house where Kate Leigh ran her drug den goes up Sidney Langby, 18, was one of a group of seven young men convicted in early 1925 of a series of break and enters in Sydney. 1 likes, 1 comments - Kasey Leigh (@kasey._._.leigh) on Instagram: " It's cover reveal day for BETWEEN NEVER AND FOREVER by @britbensonwritesbooks releasing June . Was it really because Tilly like Kate, her rival was successful in a field where men dominated? Her conviction was overturned on appeal, but the marriage was over. Kate's daughter Eileen also used the name 'Leigh' until she married in 1920. Hollywood Icons. endobj <>]/P 589 0 R/Pg 582 0 R/S/Link>> Every school lunch hour they cram her shop, laughing at her jokes. Since you've made it this far, we want to assume you're a real, live human. <> [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. This negative was found wrapped in a paper sleeve on which is written: Group of criminals, Central 1921. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Leigh wrote few letters and never kept a journal; her profession necessitated a degree of secrecy, never mind her limited education. The Cemetery Angel & The Queens of the Sydney Underworld They were called 'Mum's' as an allusion to the pass code of calling around 'to see Mum'. 305 0 obj He also steals laundered articles from clothes lines. 293 0 obj Tv Actors. Alone and poor, with no family support, she gravitated to Darlinghurst and then Surry Hills, where over the years she would come to be known as Queen of the Hills or, even more affectionately, simply Mum. The D prefix on the serial number indicates that the photograph was taken on behalf of the Drug Bureau, which in the late 1920s consisted of two men, Detectives Wickham and Thompson. 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. 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. Just a few months after Emma's birth, Andrews moved to Hollywood with then-husband Walton and her daughter to film Mary Poppins,. 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. 480 0 obj 36 0 obj 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 anglicised her name to Lee and by 1922 she was married to sly grog dealer Teddy Barry. She was not indicted for the killing,[14] or for shooting Joseph McNamara[15] nearby in Liverpool St, Darlinghurst on 9 December 1931. The other, Kate Leigh, is the subject of this new biography. 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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. 490 0 obj 'No more remarkable woman ever strode upon the stage of Sydney's nightlife than this middle-aged, matronly dame,' the extract says. Straw finds it necessary to keep reminding us that she was. By the age of 15, Kate married her first husband, Jack Lee, a half Chinese illegal bookmaker and petty criminal. endobj "England & Wales General Register Office" GRO Online Indexes - Birth (accessed 16 July 2022) Leigh, Kate (Mother's maiden name: Vowles). 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. 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. B. Smith, Gertrude Thompson and Vera McDonald Leigh derived from her supplies from a corrupt network of doctors, dentists, chemists, and sailors, and amassed considerable wealth from the activity. ', The outdoor toilet at the back of the property (pictured) where thieves and prostitutes bought illegal alcohol after it was banned, allowing a flourishing trade in sly grog, Ms Leigh, pictured as a younger woman in her prison record when she served time at the Long Bay women's reformatory in Sydney, The kitchen inside Ms Leigh's old house has been left to fall into disrepair despite the front of the dwelling being renovated several times to house a flower shop and then a cafe. Leigh, known as the Queen of Surry Hills, was a sly groger and fence for stolen property. endobj 2 0 obj endobj 31. She resided at 212 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills from 1951 until her death in 1964. 3 0 obj Celebrating Kate: The criminal-celebrity of Sydney underworld figure 266 0 obj endobj 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. <>]/P 500 0 R/Pg 493 0 R/S/Link>> SYDNEY. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The house known as 'Mum's' (pictured) has fallen into a dilapidated state. The gallery was packed with friends of the accused, who loudly jeered the prosecution and police witnesses. In 1936, newly appointed Sydney Police Commissioner MacKay warned them both to tone down the violence or else risk serious imprisonment. Suzanne was born a month premature, in less than a year of the couple's marriage. But as long as theres a fight on our hands, we will disrupt things and be deemed ugly, even bad. endobj 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. 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. Smith was fined 20 pounds; Jones was sentenced to 18 months hard labour. Straw, a historian, is very good at setting the scene for each stage of her subjects life. 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. [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. 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 Barry (43) the daughter of Kate was shot through the right arm in her home in O'Sullivan Street, Surry Hills . Skip to content Skip to search. 26 Mar 1933 - EILEEN LEIGH STILL HERE - Trove 1894 - 1954), Sun 26 Mar 1933, Page 11 - EILEEN LEIGH STILL HERE. <>]/P 504 0 R/Pg 503 0 R/S/Link>> Kate Leigh. | crime <>]/P 517 0 R/Pg 513 0 R/S/Link>> , updated 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. 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. [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. endobj The Firefly Lane star shares daughters Naleigh, 13, and Adalaide, 11, as well as son Joshua, 6 . 15. endobj Nancy Leigh Kelley is the daughter of famous American-actress Katherine Heigl and American-singer Josh Kelley. Hazel McGuinness was charged along with her mother Ada McGuiness with having cocaine (in substantial quantities) illegally in her possession. Convicted for having cocaine in her possession, for which she was fined ten pounds. By Brianne Tolj and Candace Sutton for Daily Mail Australia, Published: 22:24 EDT, 14 November 2015 | Updated: 03:35 EDT, 15 November 2015. 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. [8] They were separated six months later, and Ryan died in Western Australia in 1954. Zach Giroux/Staff. 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. application/pdf 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. View the profiles of people named Eileen Leigh. Tilly Devine was one of two legendary Sydney crime bosses distinguished by the fact of their sex. 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. had, and I want my version of the story published.' Kate Leigh in April, 1915. endobj But it also leads to repetition, some of which can seem like padding. <>]/P 484 0 R/Pg 689 0 R/S/Link>> Draped in furs and dripping with diamonds, she willingly used the feminine wiles that we feminists emphatically rejected. endobj Suzanne Farrington Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements It's easy and takes two shakes of a lamb's tail! Anybody thirsty after then would come to 212 Devonshire Street, and Leigh's fleet of illegal grog shops throughout the inner suburbs.