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Dramatic Lives of Mr & Mrs Bakewell of Coogee

The saga of Mr and Mrs Bakewell of early 20th century Coogee has it all: vast wealth, huge jewellery theft, raging matrimonial disputes, intrigue, gruesome murders and buried treasure. Fact can sometimes be truer than fiction and Hollywood would find it difficult to match their story.

Gwen's First Stormy Marriage
Mary Gwendoline Cantwell married Phillip James Bruell, sometimes described as an engineer and also as a motor mechanic but who had in the past also been the chauffeur to legendary Sydney newspaper man John Norton (1857-1916), in January 1917 at St. Canice's Catholic Church, Sydney. But within months of the marriage it seemed that all was not well with the romance and the bride thought that her husband was paying too much attention to another young woman. By 1921 she told the court she had had enough of his indescretions and she obtained a decree nisi on the grounds of her husband's adultery. The Crown prosecutor, however, was miffed that Mrs Bruell had had "adulteress" relations with Tom Bakewell before divorce proceedings commenced and intervened to rescind the decree. (1)

Messy Divorce Laws
In the days before divorce law reform under the Whitlam Government in the 1970s, those seeking to end a marriage had to show one party at fault. This usually involved lurid details of the results of private detectives bursting into bedrooms and hotel rooms to catch guilty parties in corpus delecti - which the newspapers of the day lapped up with glee and splashed across their front pages. The more lurid the details, the more newspapers sold. And as Gwendoline was to discover, not for the last time much to the delight of the press, judges tended to refuse a divorce when both parties were in what could be euphemistically called, "a sophisticated relationship".

In 1924 Bruell, second time around, successfully divorced Mary Gwendoline Bruell (nee Cantwell) for adultery with Tom St. Aubins Bakewell. Tom Bakewell and Gwendoline married at Randwick in 1924.

Thomas Bakewell
1920s Coogee resident, Thomas "Tom" St Aubins Bakewell (1889 to 9th January 1942) was a very good "catch" for Gwendoline. He was a fabulously wealthy member of Society, grazier, industrialist, and race horse owner. Bakewell was the son of wealthy Scone grazier William Bakewell (d.1917) and Caroline nee Jagelman (1854 - 1921). He inherited the St Aubin's Estate at Scone NSW and was also the owner of the large manufacturing concern of Bakewell Brothers, manufacturers of bricks, tiles and pottery of Coulson Street, in the inner-city suburb of Erskineville. This type of manufacture seemed to be a relatively dangerous occupation and the press of early 20th century Sydney reported a number of industrial accidents causing death at the factory. For instance, a John Jarvis died from electrocution at the factory in November 1927. (1b) In August 1925 a man was killed when a brick kiln collapsed on him. (2) Part of the Bakewell factory site is now heritage listed. (2a)

Huge Jewellery Robbery
Presumably, the Bakewells then settled into marital bliss, at their Alfreda Street, Coogee home overlooking Coogee Oval, including attending horse racing events at nearby Randwick Racecourse. Mr Bakewell attended to his businesses, looked after his race horses and at one stage was involved in a major motor accident at Belmore Road Randwick on his way home to Coogee.

In January 1927, Mrs. Bakewell reported to the police that when she arrived home, after spending the afternoon at the Randwick races, she found that her home at 11 Alfreda Street, Coogee, had been broken into and jewellery valued at about £2,000 had been stolen. The valuable articles had been left in a small safe, but the thieves drilled it open. The work, in the opinion of the police, was performed by expert safe breakers and that the thieves must have taken several hours to perform the work. (7)

Alfreda Street Coogee where the Bakewells lived in the 1920s
No. 11 is now the cream coloured block of apartments in mid-field

£2,000 in 1927 was a huge amount of money. According to the Reserve Bank of Australia's inflation calculator, would be the equivalent of about $176,000 in today's value. Or if you considered that average annual earnings in 1927 was about £150, then in today's value, it would be around $800,000. However you look at it, it was a lot of money.

Mrs Gwendoline Bakewell

Costly Marathon Divorce Case
Alas, after only a few years Gwendoline went back to the Divorce Court to charge Bakewell with adultery with three women named and one unnamed. Bakewell countered with charges that his wife had committed adultery with her former husband, Bruell, and with a Samuel Tobias.

This series of well publicised, bitter, marathon divorce proceedings (9) during 1928 and 1929 at the time were said to have been the most costly court proceedings ever undertaken in New South Wales until then. The Bakewells were not spared any embarrassment by the press who splashed every salacious detail across their pages. This included Mr Bakewell positioning himself in a car with a private detective in Dolphin Street Coogee where he could observe his wife across Coogee Oval dallying with her former husband over in their Alfreda Street home. At one stage, Mrs Bakewell burst into a hotel room with a detective in tow to observe her husband intimately entertaining another woman.

Mr. Justice Owen found that Mrs. Bakewell had been guilty of misconduct with a Samuel Tobias at various places and he also found that she had been guilty of misconduct with her former husband Bruell, at Bayswater Road, Rushcutter Bay in October, 1927. He also found that Tom Bakewell had been guilty of misconduct with Rene Leyland Annette Higgins and Doris McDowell. But the vagaries of Divorce Law at the time once again meant that because both were guilty parties, they were denied their divorce, and presumably had to stay together.

It took another effort a couple of years later by Mr Bakewell. In 1936 he again sought a divorce, again charging adultery by his wife with Samuel Tobias. This time he secured his divorce. (2b) Thomas Bakewell married Doris Marie Arnold (d.1970) in 1937 and the newly married couple settled down in the suburb of Mosman where Thomas died in 1942, aged only 53. Maybe the depredations of his romantic life had taken its toll - or perhaps he died with a smile on his face?

Gwendoline Bakewell Settles Down as Glamourous Divorcee
By 1944 Mrs Bakewell was living in a house in 277 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst. Press reports described her as a wealthy, attractive divorcee with substantial cash and property holdings. She had an active social life and entertained well and often. The Sydney Truth and other publications implied she was operating what was then called a "a house of ill-repute":

Strange Associates The story of Mrs. Bakewell's strange and immoral associations had already been told. Before she became involved in the sordid environment in which she met her end she had been twice divorced. Her Divorce Court appearances had already brought her notoriety.

And then a little later put her demise down to her lifestyle:

Gruesome Exit Mrs. Bakewell then drifted into the life from which she was to make a sensational and gruesome exit. To the last, despite her unusual associations, she did not fall into physical degeneracy. She was a comely woman, whose appearance and carriage would have stamped her as a respected matron of one of Sydney's better-class suburbs. And her humble, unpretentious East Sydney home knew no squalor, but was kept in spotless cleanliness and was comfortably furnished.

Gwendoline Murdered; Violent Fatal Attack
Mrs Bakewell was found violently murdered at her home on 10 October 1944. (7a) A coronial enquiry heard later that one of the suspects in the murder, Cyril Norman, had told another witness that he attended parties at Mrs Bakewell's house on a number of times and had heard rumours that she kept large amounts of cash in her home. (Police located £250 in cash when they searched her home). Norman was said to have returned later with the intention of robbing her and murdered her in the process. He was said to have returned to his room on the night of the murder covered in blood and threw £600 on his girlfriend's bed. One of the key witnesses at the enquiry disappeared and could not be found to testify, and the Coroner eventually made an open verdict. The suspicion remained that Mrs Bakewell was not the victim of a random attack, or the victim of someone that she knew well, but the victim of one of Sydney's mid-century mass murderers.

Buried Treasure
During the enquiry, one witness and a friend of Mrs Bakewell, a Mrs Frances Durack of Crown Street Surry Hills, told how Mrs Bakewell had recently sold 500 pounds of jewellery and that year ealier she had told her that she had buried £750, in two-shilling pieces, (that would be 7,500 92.5% silver coins) in the garden at her cottage at Faulconbridge because she was afraid there may have been a Japanese invasion and they might get her wealth.

The Career of a Mass Murderer
Labourer Cyril Norman, 31, also known as Thomas Couldrey was a habitual Sydney criminal. One of his victims was an elderly gunsmith Maurice Hannigan of King Street, Sydney. Norman admitted that he had gone to the gun shop on January 9, 1945 with the intention of stealing a gun and ammunition. He asked to be shown some guns and after loading one of them, shot the shopkeeper and escaped with six handguns, ammunition, and 164 pounds in cash. At first the police thought that Hannigan's killer was Stephen Henry Cunningham, who shot himself after a siege with the police when they went to arrest him over an assault.

Meanwhile Norman continued with his usual trade of stealing the luggage of rail passengers. He picked up two suitcases, and finding they contained American naval uniforms, had them altered and travelled to Blainey in central western New South Wales posing as an American. While he was showering in the bathrooms, a maid noticed the guns on his bed and made a report. (6)

This led him to his next victim, the man believed to be the first New South Wales police officer to arrest his own murderer, Sgt. Eric Bailey stationed at Blainey. Sgt Eric Bailey (1906 to 1945) had only been transferred to Blainey on January 4, 1945. He confronted Norman, who was dressed in an American naval uniform, outside the Exchange Hotel in Adelaide Street, on January 12 1945 shortly after being told there was a drinker inside the hotel brandishing a revolver. When Norman was told the Sergeant intended to search his room, he pulled a gun and shot Bailey. Two more shots were fired in the ensuing struggle, but Sgt. Bailey was able to handcuff Norman and with the help of three railway workers, restrained Norman until another police officer arrived.

"He shot me through the back. Don't let him get away...I had a go. I didn't squib it," Sgt Bailey told the fellow officer. Fatally wounded by the first shot, Sgt Bailey died hours later in Orange Base Hospital, with his wife by side.

Sgt. Eric George Bailey GC

Sgt Bailey's actions on the night saw him posthumously awarded the George Cross for heroism, the first Australian police officer to receive the accolade. He was also recognised at a memorial service in Blayney in January 2015, seventy years after his death.

Norman was charged with Sgt Bailey's murder and that of Maurice Hannigan, with a death sentence later commuted to life imprisonment. (3, 4, 5) The murder of Gwendoline Bakewell remained unsolved, though circumstantial evidence and circumstances clearly point to Norman being her killer.

Conclusion
And so ended one of the most colourful episodes in Coogee's history - Mr and Mrs Bakewell and their associates living young and fast lives - not always acceptable to polite society, villains and victims, but never dull. Coogee is like that!

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References
1. 'In Divorce'The Sydney Morning Herald, Sat 30 Jun 1923 Page 9
1a 'Bruell's Behaviour; Truth (Sydney) Sun 20 Nov 1921 Page 12
1b. 'Fatal Shock from Electric Switch', Evening News (Sydney) Thu 17 Nov 1927, Page 13
2. 'Fall into hot kiln', The Argus (Melbourne) Wednesday, 26 Aug 1925
2a. 'Former Bakewell Brothers south-east warehouse including interiors' NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, (database of heritage items) https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=5062459 (accesseed 4 June 2020)
2b. Truth (Sydney, NSW : 1894 - 1954) Sun 17 Jun 1945 Page 18 Policeman's Killer Accused Of Bakewell Murder
3. 'Policeman's act of bravery remembered', Blayney Chronicle January, 15 2015
4. Christa Ludlow, 'Bailey, Eric George (1906 - 1945)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, (MUP), 1993
5. 'Eric George BAILEY GC', https://www.australianpolice.com.au/eric-george-bailey, (accessedd 25th June 2019)
6. Morton, James & Susanna Lobez Gangland Australia: Colonial Criminals to the Carlton Crew, MUP, 2007
7. 'Theft of Jewellery', The Mercury (Hobart) Thu 27 Jan 1927 Page 5
7a. 'Bakewell Murder Unsolved', The Sun (Sydney) Tue 24 Jul 1945 Page 2
8. Leek, Alan, The Killing Chronicle: Police, Service and Shattered Lives, 2019 (see Chapter 3, 'The Paradoxical Mrs Bakewell')
9. 'Bakewell Divorce' The Northern Champion (Taree, NSW) Sat 7 Dec 1929, Page 8

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