Octavius Beale Explained

Octavius Charles Beale (23 February 1850 – 16 December 1930) was an Irish-born Australian piano manufacturer and a philanthropist.^[1]

Beale formed a company to import sewing machines and pianos in 1879, after which he established Australia's first piano factory in Annandale, 1893.^[2] The factory ceased production in 1975.^[3]

He served as president of the New South Wales Chamber of Commerce and a trustee of the Australian Museum, and the Bank of New South Wales (Westpac).^[4]

In 1903, Beale was appointed one of twelve members of a Royal Commission into the decline of the birth rate in New South Wales. He later conducted, at his own expense, a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Secret Drugs, 1905-1910. The two-volume report records the criminal unscrupulousness of manufacturers and advertisers.

Marriage and family

Beale married Elizabeth (Lilly) Baily (1856 – 1901) at the Congregational Church, Woollahra, New South Wales, and they had twelve children. After Lily's death he married her sister Katherine on 4 March 1903. The children from the first marriage were:^[5]

• Margaret Elizabeth (Mado) (1875–1964)
  Margaret married the Rev A.P. Campbell OBE (1881–1963), a Congregational church minister and chairman of the Congregational Union of Australia and New Zealand from 1937 until 1939. They had a daughter and three sons.^[6]
• Lionel Charles (1877–1961)
• Ruth Beale (1879–1964)
• Reginald Hugo (1880–1924)
• Ronald Matheson (1882–1966)
• Edgar Francis (1884–1918)
• Rupert Octavius (1887–1957)
• Harold Strangman Beale (1889–1936)
  Harold was educated at Newington College^[7] commencing in 1904.^[8]
• Octavius Cyril Beale (1891–1969)
  Cyril was educated at Newington College commencing in 1904. He was a Gunner in the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade serving during WWI from February until August 1917.^[9] He married Alice Gertrude Marion Burford (1886–1925) on 11 November 1914. She was a daughter of William Burford of Adelaide.
• Dr Hector Llewellyn Beale (1892–1959)
  Hector was educated at Newington College commencing in 1904. He graduated MB ChM from the University of Sydney in 1916. He was a medical officer serving during WWI from 1917 until January 1919. He married Florence Henderson in Aberdeen.^[10]
• Hilda Dorothea Beale (1896–1970) married Reginald Thomas Lamble on 11 March 1924.^[11]
• Mary Patricia Beale (1898–1972)

On his death in a motor vehicle accident in Stroud, New South Wales, Beale was survived by his second wife and ten of his 12 children.^[12]

See also

• Beale Piano

Notes and References

1. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070224b.htm Australian Dictionary of Biography – Octavius Beale
2. http://divainternational.ch/spip.php?article611 Irish in Australia
3. Book: Robert Palmieri. Margaret W. Palmieri. The Piano: An Encyclopedia. 2 January 2013. 2003. Taylor & Francis. 978-0-415-93796-2. 28.
4. Book: Michael Atherton. Australian made, Australian played: handcrafted musical instruments from didjeridu to synthesiser. 2 January 2013. December 1990. New South Wales University Press. 42. 9780868403236.
5. http://belindacohen.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/mathesonfamilyregister.pdf Family Free
6. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/campbell-alexander-petrie-9675 Australian Dictionary of Biography – Rev A P Campbell
7. Newington College Register of Past Students 1863-1998 (Syd, 1999) pp11
8. News: DEATHS OF OTHER CITIZENS. . . 30,755 . New South Wales, Australia . 29 July 1936 . 18 May 2017 . 10 . National Library of Australia.
9. https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1776160/ AWM Octavius Cyril Beale
10. https://books.google.com/books?id=LxT5AwAAQBAJ&dq=Hector+Llewellyn+Beale&pg=PA29 Australian Doctors on the Western Front
11. News: Weddings . . 26,890 . New South Wales, Australia . 12 March 1924 . 1 June 2018 . 8 . National Library of Australia.
12. News: MR. O. C. BEALE. . . NSW . 17 December 1930 . 26 January 2015 . 13 . National Library of Australia.