David Beattie [35842]

  Noted events in his life were:

• Court: Index to Deposition Registers, 1864 Dec 23, Goulburn District, New South Wales. ¹ 4627
BEATTIE
David
-
Goulburn
23 Dec 1864
Bigamy
Goulburn
212
NRS 849
1
2760

• Registration: Death, 1867, Goulburn District, New South Wales, Australia. ² 5110/1867
BEATTIE, DAVID
DAVID
MARGARET
GOULBURN

David married Mary Margaret Christie [1656] [97F7-34L] [MRIN: 13651], daughter of James Christie Esq. [5184] [9JBD-FBV] and Margaret Dunbar Bailey [5185] [LXSN-Y8R], in 1859 in Goulburn District, New South Wales, Australia. The marriage ended in separation on 1860 Oct 6. (Mary Margaret Christie [1656] [97F7-34L] was born on 1839 Apr 1 in New South Wales ³ and died on 1868 Jun 7 in Lost River, Wheoo, Yass, New South Wales, Australia ⁴.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Registration: Marriage, 1859, Goulburn District, New South Wales, Australia. ⁵ 1912/1859
BEATTIE, DAVID
CHRISTIE, MARY MARGARET
GOULBURN

• Newspaper: Empire, 1861 Jul 3, Sydney District, New South Wales. ⁶ MAITLAND AND MORPETH RAILWAY COMPANY. (1861, July 3). Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 -1875), p. 5. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60492790>

BIGAMY.-A short time since, a charge of bigamy was preferred at the Goulburn police court against a young -woman named Beattie, the wife of a person who formerly was a constable in the police of that district. It appeared from the evidence that the defendant, whose maiden name was Christie, and who is connected with a respect-able family at Wheeo, was married about two years ago, by the Hon. William Ross, of Goulburn, to David Beattie, with whom she lived for some time. Disagree-ment taking place, a separation followed, and we believe the parties have lived separate for some period. Subse-quently the young woman. Beattie being yet alive, con-tracted a second marriage at Carcoar, represent-ing herself as a spinster. At the examina-tion of the defendant, the celebration of the first marriage was proved, and secondary evidence of that at Carcoar was offered, but the further bearing was postponed for the evidence of the clergyman who offici-ated at it. A summons was issued for his attendance, and on the day it was returnable be did not appear ; a warrant was consequently issued for his apprehension, and yesterday evening (says the Courier) he arrived in Yass, on his way to Goulburn, in charge of the chief con-stable of Carcoar. It is somewhat extraordinary that the reverend gentleman did not procure bail for his appearance, as so long a journey in the custody of the police must be far from agreeable leaving alone altogether the humiliation of the position for a clergyman and a gentle-man. We understand that while in Yass he was accom-modated with private lodgings, although in the first in-stance application was made for quarters at the look-up, but as they did not suit, it was decided on providing for him elsewhere.

• Newspaper: The Sydney Morning Herald, 1861 Jun 28, Sydney District, New South Wales. ⁷ CARCOAR. (1861, June 28). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 -1954), p. 2. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13057797>

A case of great hardship has befallen the Rev. J. A. Burke, the Episcopalian clergyman of this district, who has been apprehended on a warrant-issued by the Goulburn Bench, for being unable to attend to a summons, owing to illness and the heavy expenses of the journey, which would amount to nearly £30. It appears that sometime ago the rev. gentleman married a couple by licence, the female's mother being present, who certified to her daughter's fitness for marriage, when afterwards it was discovered that the daughter had been married before, and that her first husband was still alive. Proceedings were accordingly com-menced against her for bigamy. The Rev. Mr. Burke was summoned to give evidence, but being unable to attend he wrote the following letter to the Goulburn Bench of Magistrates:-
To the Magistrates Court assembled at Goulburn on the 12th
June, 1861.
Gentlemen,-I have received from the chief constable of Car-coar a summons to appear before you as a witness in the case, of the " Crown v. Mary Margaret Beattie, late Christie, James Christie, and Margaret Christie," to be tried at Goulburn on the 13th instant, with which I would willingly comply if I were in my power. While most, anxious to further the ends of justice in the above named case, I must, at the same time, plainly state I have not at my disposal the menus to defray my expense from Carcoar to Goulburn and back again. The coach-hire alone would amount to about £16, while the time occupied ingoing and returning would amount to about a fortnight, daring which my per-sonal expenses would be not less than 15s per diem. I know the consequences of not being present at Goulburn on the 12th June, and should the magistrates resolve upon the enforcement of them, I shall have to submit to a very serious hardship, I have already forwarded to Goulburn a copy of the entry made in the parish register at the time of the marriage of " Mary Christie and Harry Bailey," and I will readily identify the persons should they be brought before the bench of magistrates at Carcoar where, it is supposed, the offence has been committed, or before any other magistrates in whose presence I could appear without in-curring a debt which it might take some years to pay off.
I am, Gentlemen, your obedient servant,
J. A. Burke.
The Parsonage, Carcoar, 4th June.
A warrant was subsequently issued for his appre-hension. When brought before their worships at this place, the rev. gentleman stated that he was unable to walk, or ride on horseback, from Carcoar to Goul-burn within a reasonable time, and Dr. Rowland, his medical attendant, certified to his unfitness to under-take so long a journey either by walking, or riding on horseback. The worships decided upon sending Mr. Burke to Goulburn by mail or some other suit-able conveyance, admitting him out on his own bail until Monday. The hardship in this case is that Mr. Burke -will have to go to Goulburn either three or four times before this case can be settled, which will cost him a considerable sum. Surely if clergymen are liable to be taken to such distances from their homes they should be allowed their expenses. As the offence was committed in this district, people think the case might have been brought before the magistrates of this place.

• Newspaper: THE BIGAMY CASE AT CARCOAR, 1861 Jul 5, Sydney District, New South Wales. ⁸ THE BIGAMY CASE AT CARCOAR. (1861, July 5). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 -1954), p. 8. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13064718>
THE BIGAMY CASE AT CARCOAR.
To the Editor of the Herald.
SIR, \emdash A paragraph, headed as above, and taken from the Yass Courier, has appeared in yesterday's Herald, in which there is not one word of truth, with the exception that I arrived on Friday evening last in Yass in charge of a con-stable, but not the chief constable of Carcoar. I did not apply for " quarters at the lock-up," and therefore could not disapprove of them as " unsuitable ;" and I was not "accommodated with PRIVATE LODGINGS" during the night I stayed in Yass.
A brief but correct report of the hardship to which I have had to submit appeared in the Herald of the 25th ultimo, from the pen of your Carcoar correspondent, and I only wish to add that, having com-pleted a very disagreeable and dangerous journey of 200 miles in the custody of policemen, I arrived in Goulburn on Saturday night, at half-past twelve o'clock, and on Monday, the 1st July, the woman, Margaret Christie, was committed on my evidence for aiding and abetting bigamy, to take her trial at the Quarter Sessions to be held at Goulburn on the 12th August next. But why at Goulburn ? The woman Mar-garet Christie resides on the Lost River, Wheeo, at a place not within the police district of Goulburn, and the crime has been committed in the district of Carcoar, how then has it come to pass that criminal proceedings have been initiated by the Goulburn Bench of magistrates ? If the law sanc-tions any bench of magistrates to take cognisance of crime, irrespective of the place where it has been committed, and of the place where the criminals reside, and to compel the
attendance of witnesses before them from one end of the colony to the other, no matter at what personal inconveni-ence and expense, then, in my opinion, the sooner the law is altered the better, for at present it tends neither to the discovery of crime or conviction of criminals.
I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
J. A. BURKE. Parramatta, 4th July.

David next married Celia Willmott [35843] [MRIN: 13652] in 1863 in Cooma District, New South Wales. (Celia Willmott [35843] was born before 1848 and died after 1865.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Registration: Marriage, 1864, Cooma District, New South Wales. ⁹ 1791/1863
BEATTIE, DAVID
GRANT, CELIA
COOMA

• Newspaper: QUARTER SESSIONS, SOUTHERN DISTRICT. GOULBURN, 1865 Jan 26, Sydney District, New South Wales. ¹⁰ QUARTER SESSIONS, SOUTHERN DISTRICT. GOULBURN. (1865, January 26). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 -1954), p. 8. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13110764>
David Beattie, a man about fifty years of age, charged with bigamy in having married one Celia Grant, in Novem-ber, 1863, at Cooma, while Mary Christie, whom he had married in June, 1859, was still alive, \emdash pleaded not guilty. The Crown called Celia Grant, who stated that she did not remember having been married to prisoner ; she might have been, but all she knew was that she had lived with him ; did not know when she was at Cooma with him ; did not know how old she was then, nor how old she was when she arrived in the colony, nor how long she had been in the colony ; thought sixteen years ; that her maiden name was Willmott ; had been married to a man named Grant (who died) for twenty-one years be-fore she lived with prisoner ; had lived with prisoner for two years ; was then living with him ; had no recollection whatever of having been married to prisoner ; could not say whether she was a drunkard ; might have been drunk at the time now referred to as that at which she went before the Registrar at Cooma, but had no recollection of having gone before the Registrar or of having been drunk ; all she knew was that she lived with prisoner, and did not care whether she was married to him or not. The certificate of the marriage in question was proved. Prisoner stated that his first wife Mary had run away from him eight months after his marriage with her, and had married another man, by whom she had two children, and with whom she was still living ; that he had not ill-used her, but she had been influenced by her mother, who had always opposed her marriage to him. The fact of the first wife having left him, and of her mar-riage as stated was corroborated. Sentence, two months imprisonment in Goulburn goal.