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The tiny cottage on the corner of Beale and Grey Streets is Hamilton's oldest remaining house. The land was originally owned by Private Thomas Jackson of the 4th Waikato Militia Regiment but it is best known as the house of the Hamilton surgeon, Bernard Charles Beale.
Dr Beale was an imposing man in stature and by nature. Tall, with a dark beard, he was professionally brilliant and widely respected for his work but he was also uncompromisingly principled and had a quick temper. Before he came to Hamilton in 1864 to take up a position as assistant surgeon with the 4th Waikato Militia Regiment, he worked at Nelson Hospital but was dismissed after criticising the work of other surgeons.
In 1865, after assisting with the scarlet fever epidemic in Auckland, he returned to Hamilton and the following year was appointed the town's first coroner and registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. In need of a family home and a place to run his practice, he designed and built the simple cottage in 1872 using locally-grown kauri and kahikatea. Soon after, he added several more 'lean-to' rooms. One room in the house was used as a surgery.
Like many settlers, Dr Beale also became involved in political life and, despite his forceful manner, was elected mayor in 1880, a position he held for just 10 months. In one infamous incident, he successfully sued a man for pulling his son's ears at an election meeting. His political career coincided with a downturn in his financial fortunes during the depression of the late 1870s (possibly aggravated by the fact that some patients paid in kind rather than cash) and in 1879 he filed for bankruptcy. The cottage was sold and, with his wife Catherine and nine children, he left to practice in Auckland. He died in 1910, aged 79.
The house was bought by Edward Harker and later sold to John Edgecumbe, one of Hamilton's most eligible bachelors at the time, who lived there for 25 years before subdividing the land. The house and two lots were sold for 1200 pounds to George Forrest, and George's daughter Maisie went on to live there for most of the 20th Century, selling it to Hamilton City Council shortly before her death in 1992. Miss Forrest remembered her father growing and selling tomatoes from the property after war injuries prevented him from working as a builder. For many years, the garden was dominated by greenhouses.
The house is now smaller than it was when Dr Beale owned it and some parts, such as the verandah, have been replaced or modernised, but other features remain intact. One doorway is just 1.5 metres high and 40 centimetres wide, which must have been awkward for the doctor to navigate. A framed photo of Dr Beale is displayed above the fireplace.
Beale House was declared a Historic Reserve in 1994.
Writer: Phillipa Yalden
Photographers: Katrina Bieleski, Katie Morris  | 
