Jack Samuels (obscured), Howard Fletcher and Michael Patrick Ryan, 1 August 1930. endobj 477 0 obj '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.'. The four bedroom, one bathroom property is where she lived and ran her criminal empire until she died. endobj Tilleys was the quintessential feminist project; the tables, so to speak, were turned. <>]/P 629 0 R/Pg 628 0 R/S/Link>> [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. 339 0 obj 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). 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". Leigh came into her own in the 1920s, when she cornered the market in cocaine. endobj 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. 235 0 obj She swept into the building. , updated When cocaine was outlawed in 1927, Leigh sold both, at at huge profits. The subjects are not named, but the woman on the left is believed to be Eileen Leigh, daughter of Kate Leigh. She is well known for shoplifting valuable furs and silks from city department stores. <>]/P 687 0 R/Pg 677 0 R/S/Link>> Photo: Katherine Heigl Instagram. 2021-10-05T08:39:08-07:00 Since you've made it this far, we want to assume you're a real, live human. He also steals laundered articles from clothes lines. 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'. The controversy in Canberra, though, was not about Tilly Devines reputation. 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. 305 0 obj [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". After alcohol sales in pubs were banned in 1916, drinkers would come to 212 Devonshire Street (pictured) and Leigh's fleet of illegal grog shops throughout the inner suburbs. Barry (43) the daughter of Kate was shot through the right arm in her home in O'Sullivan Street, Surry Hills . She is an actress and director, known for Muppet Babies (1984), Adventures of the Gummi Bears (1985) and Dungeons & Dragons (1983). Toggle navigation. endobj 1 0 obj endobj Two years later she appeared at Central Police Court in Sydney charged with having phenobarbitone in her possession. 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. She gives parties.'. Kate's daughter Eileen also used the name 'Leigh' until she married in 1920. endobj '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. 457 0 obj Cowman (alias Divvers, alias Denvers) was eventually acquitted. It centred on the stipulation that the cafe was for women. By the age of 15, Kate married her first husband, Jack Lee, a half Chinese illegal bookmaker and petty criminal. 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'. 'She is tougher than most men, can punch, bite and gouge with the fierce courage of an animal,' the magazine wrote. [4] They separated in 1905 when Lee was imprisoned for assault and robbery. endobj But we need to be super sure you aren't a robot. 186 0 obj | women, 2023 Inside Story and contributors 2021-10-05T08:39:08-07:00 endobj Nancy Cowman, 19, and Vera Crichton, 23, 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. [16] Leigh was found in possession of cocaine and was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. She anglicised her name to Lee and by 1922 she was married to sly grog dealer Teddy Barry. Veronica Olive Moisa. 459 0 obj Katherine Heigl is raising her three kids away from the spotlight. Such a nice, agreeable dame! 31. The Nine network dramatized the book in the series Underbelly Razor, portraying Ms Leigh and Ms Devine as glamorous figures. endobj Elsie Hall, Dulcie Morgan, Jean Taylor c. 1920. <>]/P 618 0 R/Pg 611 0 R/S/Link>> Although she couldnt wait to turn eighteen and be released, as Straw observes, It was the perfect kind of training for the life that awaited her in the working-class slums of eastern Sydney.. | crime <>]/P 583 0 R/Pg 582 0 R/S/Link>> 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. 237 0 obj 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. Leigh married James Ernest 'Jack' Leigh in 1902. The industrial school was merely the latest iteration of the infamous Parramatta Female Factory, established soon after white settlement to house the most refractory of the female convicts. <>]/P 569 0 R/Pg 565 0 R/S/Link>> The subjects are not named, but the woman on the left is believed to be Eileen Leigh or Barry (daughter of Kate 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. endobj 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 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. <>stream 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 the alcohol she sold illegally. So was she a role model? State Library of NSW Digital Excellence Program, KATE LEIGH'S DAUGHTER MAKES AN EFFORT TO VINDICATE HERSELF, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article103475918, create private tags and comments, readable only by you, and. Her conviction was overturned on appeal, but the marriage was over. Paragraph operations are made directly in the full article text panel located to the left.Paragraph operations include: Zone operations are made directly in the full article text panel located to the left.Zone operations include: Please choose from the following download options: The National Library of Australia's Copies Direct service lets you purchase higher quality, larger sized 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. Convicted for having cocaine in her possession, for which she was fined ten pounds. 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. endobj 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. Facebook gives people the power to. Frederick Arthur Leigh. <>]/P 622 0 R/Pg 621 0 R/S/Link>> 370 0 obj [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. endobj Occasionally she was arrested for robbery, theft or, like in 1943 when police found 1001 bottles of beer, 84 bottles of whisky and one bottle of win underneath the floorboards of her Surry Hills house. 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 endobj endobj <>]/P 645 0 R/Pg 641 0 R/S/Link>> '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. After decades of being banned from public bars unless escorted by men, we women had a place of our own. By Hollywood Icons. Number 212 was the largest and known as 'Mum's'. Leigh, known as the Queen of Surry Hills, was a sly groger and fence for stolen property. Join Facebook to connect with Eileen Leigh and others you may know. 293 0 obj endobj <> Leslie Louis Bernstein, 29 November 1929. 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). He received 18 months hard labour on each charge. She gave birth to her only child when she was 23 years old, a daughter named Suzanne, and returned to acting afterward. Mrs Ryan, who was reported to be about 84, died on Tuesday night in St Vincent's Hospital. 214 0 obj The home where Sydneys Queen of the Underworld sold drugs and illegal booze for decades sold on Saturday for $1.7million nearly double its listed price. Thomas Maria, Arthur Wyatt, and Patrick Dangar (alias Brosnan), c. 1920. Eileen May Ranson formerly Beahan aka Beaham, Leigh, Earle, Byrnes Born 1900 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Ancestors Daughter of [father unknown] and Catherine Mary Josephine (Beahan) Ryan [sibling (s) unknown] [spouse (s) unknown] [children unknown] Died 12 May 1987 at about age 87 in Zetland, New South Wales, Australia 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. 'For she deals in a commodity that means the warping of the moral outlook, the damning of the eternal soul. 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). On 10 March 2012, twenty-eight years after the launch of Canberras Tilleys and forty-eight years after Leighs death, the cafe Sly was opened at 212 Devonshire Street, one of her homes and grog shops. photocopies or electronic copies of newspapers pages. endobj Rival gangs eroded her profits from cocaine by standing over and slashing decoys (often working prostitutes) with razors. 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.