Octavius Charles Beale (23 February 1850 – 16 December 1930) was an Irish-born

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

manufacturer and a

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. Beale formed a company to import sewing machines and pianos in 1879, after which he established Australia's first piano factory in Annandale, 1893. The factory ceased production in 1975. He served as president of the New South Wales Chamber of Commerce and a trustee of the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...

, and the

Bank of New South Wales The Bank of New South Wales (BNSW), also known commonly as The Wales, was the first bank in Australia, being established in Sydney in 1817 and situated on Broadway, New South Wales, Broadway. During the 19th century, the bank opened branches ...

(Westpac). In 1903, Beale was appointed one of twelve members of a Royal Commission into the decline of the birth rate in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. 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 Woollahra is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woollahra is located 5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woollahra. W ...

, 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: * Margaret Elizabeth (Mado) (1875–1964)
Margaret married the Rev A.P. Campbell OBE (1881–1963), a

Congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

minister and chairman of the Congregational Union of Australia and New Zealand from 1937 until 1939. They had a daughter and three sons. * 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 , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

commencing in 1904. * 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. He married Alice Gertrude Marion Burford (1886–1925) on 11 November 1914. She was a daughter of

William Burford W. H. Burford and Sons was a soap and candle-making business founded in Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Gr ...

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. * Hilda Dorothea Beale (1896–1970) married Reginald Thomas Lamble on 11 March 1924. * Mary Patricia Beale (1898–1972) On his death in a motor vehicle accident in

Stroud, New South Wales Stroud is a small country town one hour north of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Mid-Coast Council local government area. The major road through Stroud is the Bucketts Way. At the 2006 census, Stroud had a population o ...

, Beale was survived by his second wife and ten of his 12 children.

Marriage and family

References

See also