The Mysterious Case of William Goodwin Geddes Jnr
William Geddes Jnr was born in Brisbane in 1856 and went on to have a successful career as a surveyor. In 1877 he approached AMP to take out two insurance policies on his life valued at £2,500, a very large sum for a young bachelor. The same year he made out his will, leaving all his possessions to his mother. One week later, while camping at a pastoral property near Caboolture owned by his father, William disappeared while swimming in King John’s Creek. His brother Henry reported having seen his head disappear under the water and his inability to locate him despite searching for up to two hours. An extensive search by police and volunteers also found no trace of William.
On 3 December 1877 AMP received notification from the Geddes family that William was dead, supported by a death certificate stating William had accidentally drowned although his remains were not found. The AMP Queensland Board paid out William’s policies on 3 February 1878 to his family. However, it wasn’t long before rumours surfaced that William wasn’t dead, with questions raised about his character and gambling debts.
AMP engaged detectives but no information about William’s whereabouts came to light, and although the Society’s head office questioned why the Queensland Board had so hastily paid out William’s policies, they had no proof he was indeed still alive.
In August 1889, the case took a dramatic turn when William’s parents were advised their “deceased” son William was living in the Parkside Lunatic Asylum in Adelaide. Curiously, they did not travel to visit William, but only inspected photographs of the man reported to be their missing son. When confronted by investigators they insisted the man was not their son William and they wished to put the painful matter to rest. However, the case was far from over.
With the media’s interest peaked, journalists began to piece together the mysterious case of William Geddes Jnr. In 1877 with the help of his family, William concocted an elaborate scheme to fake his death and defraud AMP. Reportedly drowned, William instead slipped away to Sydney where he sailed for New Zealand, working as a surveyor in Dunedin and Invercargill. On a secret trip back to Sydney, he met his parents and received part of the £2,500 paid out by AMP, which he used to return to New Zealand and fund a lavish lifestyle living under the name Louis Brennon. William / Louis returned to Australia, secretly meeting his parents again in Melbourne to receive more funds. He then moved to Perth, where he married, before settling in Adelaide and working as a draughtsman. He was audacious enough to take out a new policy with AMP under his assumed name of Louis Brennon, quite possibly with the intention of again defrauding the Society.
In Adelaide William / Louis became unwell and was eventually confined to an asylum. He admitted his crime to a visiting Queensland police officer, and it became clear his family was aware of and complicit in the scheme. With William / Louis incapacitated, AMP’s solicitors demanded his parents return the sizeable insurance payout plus interest, a sum of £6,000. They did not wish to pursue the case in court and William’s parents paid AMP this sum. William / Louis lived the rest of his life in the asylum, dying on 22 October 1894. He was buried in a pauper’s grave.
