Showing posts with label Archives State Library Tasmania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Archives State Library Tasmania. Show all posts

The Poulter album: "Weekly Courier" reprints 1900s of 1870s photographs by T. J. Nevin

Reprints 1900s of 1870s Tasmanian photographs
R. C. Poulter's tourist's album 1900s
The Weekly Courier Tasmania's Premier Pictorial (1900-1907)



Page on left from an Album of photographs of Tasmania compiled by R. C. Poulter ca. 1901-1907
Source: Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, State Library of Tasmania.
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/ILS/SD_ILS-1173205

On page at left, these five black and white reprints of original mugshots of Tasmanian prisoners (aka "convicts" in tourism discourse), taken by government contractor T. J. Nevin for police at the Hobart Gaol in the 1870s, are held in an album of photographs accessioned in the owner's name inscribed on verso of cover - "R. C. Poulter" - at the State Library of Tasmania.

Each of these items in Poulter's album is a cropped black & white copy of the full sepia photograph, some uncut but mostly set in a buff carte-de-visite mount, that were originally acquired by the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston in the 1930s from collector John Watt Beattie's estate. Beattie had salvaged a bundle of the originals in the early 1900s from the Sheriff's Office and the old photographer's room at the Hobart Gaol, Campbell Street, Hobart. Together with another fifty or so similar cdvs of 1870s prisoners, these five cdvs were removed from the QVMAG for an exhibition at the Port Arthur Historic Site in 1983, at the conclusion of which they were not returned to the QVMAG, deposited instead at the Tasmania Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, where they remain today. Copies also held in Hobart were made at various points in the 20th century for book publications and exhibitions by the Tasmanian Archives Office.

Given that the owner and compiler of this album, R. C. Poulter, arrived in Tasmania ca. 1901 and died in 1908, he may have sourced these reprints from John Watt Beattie's "Port Arthur Museum" at 51 Murray Street, Hobart, in the first decade of the 20th century Hobart. Beattie's vast collection of convictaria which included two hundred and more of these 1870s police mugshots was acquired by the QVMAG on his death in 1930. The cdv's were numbered verso and inscribed with the name of the prisoner, the ship on which he arrived in Tasmania, and with the addition of the generic note -"Taken at Port Arthur, 1874" - in many cases, purely to attract intercolonial and interstate tourism to the ruins of the Port Arthur penitentiary on the Tasman Peninsula when neither the date - "1874" - nor location - "Port Arthur" - factually reflected the place, date and circumstances under which each prisoner was photographed. These prisoners were photographed by Thomas J. Nevin at the Hobart Gaol and Mayor's Court, Hobart Town Hall, on incarceration and discharge for use in court, police and prison administration.

Numbers: each of these mugshots was missing from the list held in the Beattie Collection at the QVMAG when it was complied ca. 1990 and received here at this weblog in 2005. The full list is posted in this article about prisoner Cornelius Gleeson.

THE MUGSHOTS

1. Top line on right: No. 43. Jas Smith per "John Calvin"

James Smith was an alias used by Thomas Archer. After his arrival in Van Diemen's Land in September 1846, and at the termination of his initial sentence of ten years, Thomas Archer as Smith was regularly incarcerated for periods of eight or ten years for burglary and larceny. Police gazette records document his trials and sentences between 1855 and 1884.

Convict James Smith photo by T J Nevin

Prisoner: Thomas ARCHER alias Thomas SMITH or James SMITH
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin, July 1875
Location: Hobart House of Corrections (Hobart Gaol)
TMAG Ref: Q15583

The following information is from this record -
"Nominal Return of all Prisoners whether under Remand or Sentence, in the Gaol and House of Correction for Males at Hobart Town, on the 8th December 1874 (page 7) is from (No.49) 1875. TASMANIA. HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY. PENAL DISCIPLINE. REPORT OF COMMISSION. Laid upon the Table by the Attorney-General, and ordered by the House to be printed, August 10, 1875. List of offences of male prisoners, Hobart Gaol, December 1874: Superior Courts."

Age: 70
Offence for which imprisoned: Perjury
Date of Sentence: 1.12.74
Extent of sentence: 12 months
How employed on 8th December 1874: Awaiting Sheriff's instructions as to disposal
Remarks as to Character: Good

No. 43 is missing from the QVMAG list posted here in 2005: QVMAG ref: no number
Held at the TMAG scanned for this weblog in 2015, TMAG ref: Q15583
Reprint held at the State Library of Tasmania, TAHO ref: 30/3256
Read more about Thomas Archer as James Smith in this post here


2. Middle line on left: No. 60. Wm Ryan per "City of Hobart"

William Ryan had not long arrived in Tasmania when he was tried for uttering a forged cheque at Launceston on 29th December 1868 and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Within months of discharge, he was arrested and sentenced at the Hobart Supreme Court to ten years' imprisonment for uttering forged cheques. The newspapers of the day took pleasure in reporting the ingenuity of the police in catching him, and the antics of the prisoner in the dock at the Police Court before His Worship the Mayor.

Convict Wm Ryan photo by T J Nevin

Prisoner William Ryan
Photographed by T. J. Nevin 1874
TMAG Collection Ref: Q15576

No. 60 is missing from QVMAG list posted here in 2005: QVMAG no reference
Held at the TMAG scanned for this weblog in 2015, TMAG Ref: Q15576
Reprint held at the State Library of Tasmania, TAHO Ref: PH30_1_3262
NB: This photograph held at the TMAG is inscribed verso with the photographer's name " NEVIN, T. J. 1874, the number "60" which also appears on recto, and "248" William Ryan per City of Hobart...."
Read more about Wm Ryan here


3. Middle line on right: No. 27. Cornelius Hester per "Equestrian"

PRESS Report Cornwall Chronicle- 29 Oct 1870:
Cornelius Hester, who pleaded guilty on Thursday to stealing goods in a dwelling house at Longford, called on Dr Lewis to speak for him.
Dr. Lewis said that Hester had been suffering from disease of the heart when at Port Arthur.
His Honor reviewed the past career of the prisoner and sentenced him to five years' imprisonment.

Convict Cornelius Hester photo by T J Nevin

Prisoner HESTER, Cornelius
Photographed on discharge at Hobart (not Port Arthur) October 1874
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin, government contractor, Hobart, Tasmania
TMAG Ref: Q15581

Summary of trials after arrival in Tasmania:
Trial Id 582695
CORNELIUS HESTER MALE HOUSEBREAKING 1876-01-06 S. C. LAUNCESTON 10 YRS.
Trial Id 598135
CORNELIUS HESTER MALE LARCENY 1888-01-03 DELORAINE 1 MTH
Trial Id 601137
CORNELIUS HESTER MALE HOUSEBREAKING 1876-01-06 S. C. LAUNCESTON 10 YRS.
Trial Id 605875
CORNELIUS HESTER MALE LARCENY 1888-01-07 DELORAINE 1 MONTH
Trial Id 618722
CORNELIUS HESTER MALE ABSCONDING 1865-11-01 HOBART 5 YEARS
Trial Id 620427
CORNELIUS HESTER MALE LARCENY IN A DWELLING 1870-10-20 S. C. LAUNCESTON 5 YEARS
Trial Id 99704
CORNELIUS HESTER MALE LARCENY 1857-04-15 GUILTY 2 YEARS
Trial Id 112331
CORNELIUS HESTER MALE LARCENY IN A DWELLING HOUSE 1870-09-29 GUILTY 5 YEARS
Source: The Prosecution Project Search Results (griffith.edu.au)

No. 27 is missing from QVMAG list posted here in 2005: QVMAG no reference
Held at the TMAG scanned for this weblog in 2015, TMAG Ref: Q15581
Reprint held at the State Library of Tasmania, TAHO Ref: ?
Read more about Cornelius Hester in this post here


4. Bottom line on left: No. 183. James Martin per "Ld. Ptre"

James Martin was convicted at the Barbados Court Martial, transported for 14 years, departing on the Lord Petre on 3 July 1843, arriving at Hobart, Van Diemen's Land, on 15th October 1843 in the company of 237 other convicts.  A Catholic deserter from the army, he re-offended in every decade following, dying in 1892 while still under sentence at the Hobart Gaol.

Convict James Martin photo by T J Nevin

Prisoner James MARTIN
Photographed on 24th October 1874 at the H.M. Goal, Hobart
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin
Numbered "183" on recto in 1983
Numbered "224" on verso in 1915
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery:
TMAG Ref: Q15614

The following information is from this record -
"Nominal Return of all Prisoners whether under Remand or Sentence, in the Gaol and House of Correction for Males at Hobart Town, on the 8th December 1874 (page 7) is from (No.49) 1875. TASMANIA. HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY. PENAL DISCIPLINE. REPORT OF COMMISSION. Laid upon the Table by the Attorney-General, and ordered by the House to be printed, August 10, 1875. List of offences of male prisoners, Hobart Gaol, December 1874: Superior Courts."

Age: 56
Offence for which imprisoned: breaking and entering
Date of Sentence: 24.10.6
Extent of sentence: 10 years
How employed on 8th December 1874: Whitewashing
Remarks as to Character: Very good

No. 183 is missing from QVMAG list posted here in 2005: QVMAG no reference
Held at the TMAG scanned for this weblog in 2015, TMAG Ref: Q15614
Reprint held at the State Library of Tasmania, TAHO Ref:PH30/1/2023
Read more about James Martin in this post here


5. Bottom line on right: No. 6. Wm Sewell per "Siam"

PRESS REPORT Mercury - 19 Sept 1867:
CHARGE OF BURGLARY AGAINST TWO SOLDIERS AND THREE YOUNG GIRLS.-William Sewell and Ralph Neill, private soldiers of H.M. 2-14th Regiment, and three young native girls, Emma Farrell, Margaret Graham, and Jane Manning, were placed in the dock on a charge of burglary at the licensed house of Sarah Harris, Watchorn-street, at two o'clock this morning, and stealing therein seven bottles of champagne cider, value 1s. a bottle, and two print dresses.
The female prisoners in this case also made light of their position; the soldiers are the same men who were charged at a recent session of the Supreme Court, and acquitted, on a charge of burglary at the Mr. Mattheson's public house, Old Wharf.
The Stipendiary Magistrate told the girls there was nothing to laugh at; they ought to be ashamed of themselves to be in such a position, and probably they would, some day, be made to laugh the other side of their mouths. At the instance of the detective the prisoners were remanded until Friday.
William Sewell and Ralph Neill were both sentenced to 10 years at the Criminal Court, Hobart, in November 1867 for the burglary of seven bottles of champagne cider and two print dresses from Sarah Harris, licensee of the Royal Oak Inn, Watchorn St. Hobart.

Convict Wm Sewell photo by T J Nevin

Prisoner William SEWELL photographed in October 1873 at the Hobart Gaol
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin
TMAG Ref: Q15573

The following information is from this record -
"1870 Tasmania. Convicts. Paupers and Lunatics at Port Arthur. Return to an Order of the House dated 8th September 1870 (Mr. C. Meredith)Laid upon the Table by the Colonial Treasurer, and ordered by the House to be printed October 13, 1870."
Source: https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/PPWeb/1870/HA1870pp128.pdf

CONVICTS - (Colonial Funds)
Name: Sewell, William
Ship: Siam
Age to 1870: 29
Sentence: 10 yrs. impt.

No. 6 is missing from QVMAG list posted here in 2005: QVMAG no reference?
Held at the TMAG scanned for this weblog in 2015, TMAG Ref: Q15573
Reprint held at the State Library of Tasmania, TAHO Ref: no reference?
Read more about William Sewell in this post here

Other photographs by T. J. Nevin in Poulter's album, ca. 1901- 1908
The photographs in this album certainly belonged to Reginald Clifford Poulter by the time he compiled the album in the early 1900s, but none were taken by him, none are personal portraits of him or his family, and none are attributed to the original photographers, with the exception of one featuring the government photographer John Watt Beattie.

Although several date from the early 1860s, very few are "real" photographs originating from the era in which they were produced. The majority are reprints which Poulter sourced from tourist destinations such as John Watt Beattie's shop, photographic studio and convictaria museum in Murray Street, Hobart (and not at Port Arthur). Poulter's other source was the Hobart Weekly Courier which published a Pictorial edition on Saturdays featuring beautifully reproduced photographs of contemporary events by living photographers. To save space, the Weekly Courier cropped each photograph to fit as many as possible on each page, only crediting their contracted studios, called their "Representatives" such as Beattie's, or Spurling's & Son, or Harvey and Sutcliffe's, at the bottom of each page.

Those photographs which Poulter cut from the Weekly Courier and pasted into his album were clearly already cropped of their cdv frame and mount and any accompanying photographer attribution. Instead, on each page of Poulter's album there are pencilled inscriptions next to each  item giving information about the content or subject of each photograph and no more, written by an anonymous hand.

Shortly before Poulter's death in England in 1908, perhaps even after his death, the album somehow arrived at the newspaper offices of the Examiner, publisher of the Weekly Courier (1901-1935) in Launceston, Tasmania. The album may well contain photographs collected on Poulter's travels but he was not the photographer. Nor, it would seem, did the Weekly Courier publish his photographs in this album after his death, or at all, which is inferred by the SLTAS catalogue note (see below) since the Weekly Courier had already published them. Poulter - or indeed his wife Evangeline Watson whom he married at Longford in Tasmania in February 1901 - had cut and pasted many of these photographs during the first decade of the 1900s from Weekly Courier Pictorial issues while visitingTasmania.

Poulter album Tas photos

Apart from the paper reprints pasted in this album of T. J. Nevin's prisoner mugshots taken for official police records in the 1870s, Poulter included several reprints of Thomas Nevin's commercially produced landscapes in stereograph and cdv format, all invariably without their original mounts which otherwise would show at the edges if printed from the originals, and all without a photographer attribution. Of interest on these  pages in the album are photographs taken of St. Mary's Cathedral before and after the tower was removed, (above) as well as reprints of Nevin's (and Clifford's) 1870s photographs taken from Lime Kiln Hill of panoramic views of Hobart from south to north (above and below).



Title: Album of photographs of Tasmania / [compiled by] R. C. Poulter.
Production: [Tasmania?] : R.C. Poulter, [between 1860 and 1920]
Physical description: Approximately 200 photographic prints in 1 album, with 68 unnumbered pages : black and white, chiefly silver albumen ; in album 375 x 290 mm, boards 364 x 263 mm.
Binding: Full leather binding, covers in brown, corners and spine in red, with gold stripe detail.
Medium: paper; silver albumen; positive
Format: album photograph image (online)
Source note: Title devised by cataloguer based on contents; 'R.C Poulter' inscribed inside front cover.
Accession number: FA1304
Notes: Title assigned by cataloguer.
History note: Reginald Clifford Poulter was born in Bath, Somerset, England, in 1847. By 1901, Poulter had found his way to Tasmania and married Evangeline Watson. The couple travelled to Melbourne on the Coogee on 25 March and departed Sydney for Honolulu on the Souoma via Auckland on 9 May 1901. They returned to Melbourne on 18 December 1905 per Grosser Kurfurst. Poulter sent photos of his travels to the Weekly Courier between 1904-1907, and his death at his home in Dorking, Surry (England) was reported in the Examiner on 2/9/1908.--Acquisition notes.
Link:https://stors.tas.gov.au/ILS/SD_ILS-1173205

RELATED POSTS main weblog

A missing photograph and missing letter: John SMITH (x 2) per "Mangles" and Lord Calthorpe

Prisoners called John SMITH per Mangles 1835
Lord CALTHORPE's missing letter
T. J. NEVIN's missing mugshot(s) of a John Smith



Convict ship Mangles, master John Coghill
Date [ca. 1858-ca. 1911]
Identifier(s) H92.410/20
State Library of Victoria
Link: http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/132516

This is a very interesting ship with a colourful history. A logbook of the Mangles on this voyage, listing passengers, crew and prisoners, is held at the New York Public Library (Archives and Manuscripts). It contains entries made by Edward Roberts (3rd officer on board) from April 10, 1835-April 1, 1836, commanded by Captain William Carr. The ship left Deptford and Portsmouth, voyaging to Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), disembarking a company of soldiers, convicts, and some of the passengers before proceeding to Timor and Lombok, Dutch East India. A thoroughly engaging account written by Veronica Peek of the arrival of the Mangles and crew at Murray Island in the Torres Strait on the voyage to Dutch East India details the discovery by the crew of a white man living among the islanders.

Further reading:
https://archives.nypl.org/mss/2588
https://veronicapeek.com/2012/06/16/part-two-voyage-of-the-barque-charles-eaton/

The short John Smith and the tall John Smith

Two convicts called "John SMITH" were transported from Britain to Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on the ship Mangles, arriving at Hobart, 1 August 1835. One of these men was 5ft 4½ inches tall, the other was 5ft 10½ inches tall.

Ship Mangles (7) (1835)
Ship Name: Mangles (1835) (7th voyage)
Rig Type: S.
Built: Calcutta
Build Year: 1802
Size (tons): 594 Voyage
Master: William Carr
Surgeon: Peter J. Suther
Sailed: 21 April 1835
From: London
Arrived: 1 August 1835
Port: VDL
Route: Days Travel: 102
Convicts Landed: 310 males & 0 female convicts

Details for the two convicts called John SMITH per Mangles (1835)
1. Convict Name: John Smith (no. 2035, the short one, 5ft 4½ inches tall)
Trial Place: Suffolk Quarter Session
Trial Date: 21 October 1834
Sentence: Life

2. Convict Name: John Smith (no. 2045, the tall one,5ft 10½ -11 inches tall)
Trial Place: Wilts Quarter Session
Trial Date: 14 October 1834
Sentence: 7 years

Source of notes: Hawksbury on the Net
Link:https://www.hawkesbury.net.au/claimaconvict/shipDetails.php?shipId=594

One of these two men called John Smith per Mangles, prisoner no. 2035 arrived with a letter of reference from his former employer, Lord Calthorpe, addressed to the Governor who would have been Lt-Gov Colonel George Arthur in  August 1835 at the time of the ship's arrival, the letter now apparently lost. The other prisoner called John Smith per Mangles, no. 2045 reportedly absconded from the Port Arthur prison on December 3, 1873. According to the Tasmanian police gazette notice of his escape on December 12, 1873 (p. 203), the police had in their possession photographs of prisoner no. 2045 which they stated they had distributed (see police gazette record below). Lacking further information, we are assuming the photographs were police mugshots rather than private studio portraits, and that the police had distributed them to colleagues in regional police stations. Those photographs, apparently, are now lost as well. A recidivist who consistently offended from 1860s to the 1880s, he would have been photographed by T. J. Nevin as a matter of course at the Hobart Gaol.

Prisoners photographed at the Hobart Gaol
When Sheriff of Tasmania and Inspector of Police, John Swan was questioned on Penal Discipline in Tasmania for the Commissioners' Report, tabled on July 24th, 1883, he stated that prisoners tried at the Supreme Court Hobart. Tasmania, were photographed on incarceration. He made no mention of photography for prisoners admitted at the Launceston Gaol in the north of the island. His description of the procedure dated back to its inception in Victoria and NSW when T. J. Nevin's contractual arrangements were formalised for 14 years' duration, from 1872-1886, for the provision of prisoner identification photographs to the Tasmanian colonial government.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1883
JOHN SWAN, Esq., further examined.
12. Do you hold any other office besides that of Sheriff?
Yes; I am the Inspector of Police.
13. What steps are taken for the classification of prisoners in each Gaol respectively?
Proper classification is impossible under existing arrangements. This has been reported, and was pointed out by the Commission of 1874. Parliament voted a sum for effecting certain alterations. Plans were prepared, and a report from Mr. Hunter furnished. In Hobart, first and second convicted prisoners from Supreme Court are kept in the Gaol, old offenders in the House of Correction. In Launceston, there is no separation during the day. At night first and second convicted prisoners occupy cells, old offenders dormitories.
14. Are the Gaols and Houses of Correction sufficient to accommodate the present . number· of prisoners? [etc etc ....

..pages 11 & 12:



TRANSCRIPT
20. Describe the course a convicted prisoner passes through from reception to discharge?
At Hobart, a prisoner tried at the Supreme Court on reception is bathed, shaved, has his hair cut, is dressed in prison clothing, and photographed; he is then put into H. Division to serve a certain period of his sentence in separate treatment. At the expiration of such period he is put to hard labour, either at a trade or gang labor. He is bathed once a week, and attends Divine Service on Sundays; those who wish to attend school at night are allowed to do so. An Inferior Court prisoner on reception is bathed, shaved, and hair cut according to regulations; is then dressed in prison clothing, and put to hard labour either in the quarry or garden gangs; is bathed once a week, and attends Divine Service on Sundays. At Launceston, on admission he enters the receiving-room, his personal description is recorded, searched, and then taken to the male house of correction, where he is bathed, deprived of his clothing, dressed in a grey suit, hair cut, and whiskers shaved. If he is an effective he is placed in the stone-yard until Sheriff's authority is received to employ him outside the prison, He is then drafted into one of the gangs, where he usually remains until his sentence expires.
Source Parliamentary Papers 1883
Link: https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/PPWeb/1883/HA1883pp41.pdf

ESTIMATED VALUE of a WRITER and PHOTOGRAPHER at the HOBART GAOL
Constable John Nevin (1852-1891), younger brother of professional photographer and government contractor Thomas J. Nevin, was resident at the Hobart Gaol on salary as Gaol messenger when he contracted typhus and died on 17th June 1891. He had assisted his brother Thomas J. Nevin with prisoner admissions since 1875 at the Hobart Gaol when Thomas was needed to photograph the prisoner on sentencing at the Hobart Supreme Court (next door to the Gaol) and incarceration. With John Nevin's death, and his brother's retirement from professional photography in 1886, the colonial administration advertised in 1892 for the employment of  one or two civil servants to replace the services of the Nevin brothers.

This document records the cost of employing a "writer and photographer" at the Hobart Gaol in 1892 was £77.0.0. No similar cost was incurred at the Launceston Gaol, so it would seem that prisoners there were not photographed until or unless they were relocated to the Hobart Gaol if their offense was serious enough to warrant imprisonment for longer three months.

The cost and estimated value of labour performed by the incumbent(s) as writer and photographer, £77.0.0, was shown on this return of 1892:



Source: Tasmanian Parliamentary Papers 1856 - 1901
Link: https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/PPWeb/1893/1893pp44.pdf

Following legislative requirements introduced in NSW and Victoria in 1872 for prisoner identification photographs to be taken on sentencing and discharge, the colonial government in Tasmania engaged professional photographer T. J. Nevin in prisons to produce up to six duplicates from his capture on glass in a single sitting with every prisoner when merited. In all likelihood, he photographed one prisoner or several who called himself "John Smith" over more than a decade, yet no mugshot identified as either prisoner, whether the short one or the tall one, or indeed another using the name as an alias, has survived, or been suggested as likely among the handful yet to be identified in the Beattie collection held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston.  As each primary document - the letter and the photograph - appears to be lost, these details of each prisoner's criminal career may assist in differentiating one from the other. A further problem appears to be the conflation of records for both men as one catalogue entry at the Archives Office of Tasmania. See this set of records, for example, at -
https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1435437

If a mugshot and duplicates were made of prisoner no. 2045, John Smith per Mangles (1835) as the police gazette attests, there is no reason to assume that the prisoner (a) was not photographed at the Hobart Gaol, or (b) that the photographer was not government contractor Thomas J. Nevin. There is not now, nor will there ever be any factual evidence that the commandant at the Port Arthur prison, A. H. Boyd had photographed this or any other prisoner in 1873 while in charge. As Julia Clark - the most recent and the most ardent fantasist wanting to "believe" in a Boyd accreditation for the National Library of Australia's collection of "convict portraits" which were correctly attributed to T. J. Nevin before she started her whimpering to them that she thought Boyd "should get the guernsey" in 2007 purely in self-interest in her quest for a PhD degree - as Julia Clark all too clearly reveals here in her ignorance of jurisdictional procedures of the era, her laziness in not conducting proper research, her confabulation of circumstance to prove her case, and her willingness to buttress these naively conceived fictions about Boyd with abuse of T. J. Nevin AND his descendants, she has not one iota of information to offer on the subject:-
A John Smith arrived on the Mangles on 1 August 1835 but his record stops for lack of room in the 1840s and I have not been able to find any further record of him. No image inscribed ‘John Smith’ has been found and he does not appear in the supplementary lists.... One might then expect that there would be some mention of this project in Boyd’s reports and official correspondence for 1873 and/or 1874; none has so far been found, which is curious....Boyd does not mention photographs in his Annual Reports from Port Arthur, which seems strange given that they include quite detailed accounts of expenditure that note, for example, what it cost to feed the working dogs.654 Perhaps photography was seen as an inexpensive, one-off project rather than a recurring expenditure....
From: Clark, Julia ‘Through a Glass, Darkly’: the Camera, the Convict and the Criminal Life
Unpublished, PhD thesis 2015, University of Tasmania  pp148-149.
Read our comments on this sad little thesis here:
The LONG con: our comments on Julia Clark's fraudulent thesis


Two prisoners called John SMITH

1. Prisoner no. 2035 John Smith per Mangles and the letter
Age: 38 years old on arrival at Hobart in 1835, born ca. 1797
Crime: larceny, stealing money
Trial place: Suffolk Quarter Session
Trial Date: 21 October 1834
Sentence: Life
Height and description: 5ft 4½ inches; hazel eyes; dark brown hair.
Occupation: groom and coachman
Religion: Protestant
Literacy: can read
Native Place: Worcester.
Family: Wife Sophia at Hampton; 6 children.
Stated he had lived with Lord Calthorpe for 25yrs.
Letter from Master Lord Calthorpe addressed to the Lt Governor.
1835 and 1837 Musters in Van Diemen’s Land: assigned at Government House, Hobart.



No. 2035 John Smith per Mangles. His Conduct Record noted this statement:
"I lived with Lord Calthorpe for 25 years"
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-40$init=CON31-1-40P131JPG

Frederick Gough, 4th Baron Calthorpe (1790–1868) lived at Perry Hall Staffs, at the time prisoner no. 2035 John Smith per Mangles (1835) claimed he lived with him as a servant for 25 yrs. If this John Smith, servant to Lord Calthorpe, was 38 years old on arrival in Hobart, born therefore ca. 1797, and had "lived with" Lord Calthorpe for 25 years, he must have begun service at Perry Hall ca. 1810 when he was 13 years old.



Frederick Gough, 4th Baron Calthorpe (1790-1868) and Lady Calthorpe (1790-1865)
Carte-de-visite 1860 by Disdéri of Paris.
Source: http://www.19thcenturyphotos.com/Lord-and-Lady-Calthorpe-125853.htm

More information regarding a letter from Lord Calthorpe was noted twice on the opposing page of the INDENT record for No. 2035, John Smith per Mangles:



"Letter deposited in the M M Office from his Master Ld Calthorpe"
written in original script, and the second, enclosed in quotation marks, added in original script in faded blue coloured pencil -
"In possession of the Lieutenant Governor"
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON14-1-4$init=CON14-1-4P49

Assuming that the letter accompanied the prisoner no. 2035 John Smith on the Mangles, it was deposited on arrival in 1835 at Hobart. The second note states the letter was then placed in the possession of the Lieutenant Governor, who was George Arthur in 1835, and Sir John Franklin by January 1837. John Smith's CONDUCT record states that during 1837- 1838 he was a coachman assigned to Government House when he committed further offences. The contents and purpose of this important letter from Lord Calthorpe, probably testifying to John Smith's capabilities as groom and coachman despite his criminal offences which earned him transportation for life, must have worked in his favour, since his first assignment was to the highest official in the colony, the Governor.  The letter might therefore be among the letters held by Sir John Franklin until his departure or those of this successors, still undiscovered at the Archives Office of Tasmania along with relevant documents pertaining to employment of prisoners at Government House in those years.

Police no. 2035, John Smith per Mangles 1835 received a Conditional Pardon on 29 August 1848 and soon after departed, probably for the Victorian gold fields. He may not have returned to Tasmania.



Prisoner No. 2035 John SMITH per Mangles
Detail: Conditional Pardon 1848
Archives Office Tasmania Ref: CON31-1-40P131

TRANSCRIPT (where legible)
2035 SMITH John
Mangles 1st August 1835
Suffolk QS 21st Oct 1834. Life

Transported for Larceny. Gaol Report. Bad character convicted before, a drunkard. Hulk. Report orderly. Married. Stated this offence, Stealing a purse from Maria Vickers once for Beer, 12 months, Married, 6 Children, Wife Sophia at Hampton. I lived 25 years with Lord Calthorpe, Surgeon's report Good.

April 27th 1837, Gov't House Charged by Mr Hepburn in assaulting David Webster. Solitary Cell at nights for 10 nights after his labour by day. [? initialled by authority] To be recorded in his favour his good conduct at the recent fire of Gov House [? initialled] Vide Sup 2 Dec 1837. Nov. 8th 1838 Coachman Govt Ho/ In a public House after hours [? initialled] January 22nd 1839 Drunk and ill using his masters horses Cells on bread one week [? initialled] July 8, 1839 [? initialled] Being in a public house after hours. All 7 nights doing his work by day [? illegible, struck through -"refusing to work.." initialled] June 23, 1840 making use of obscene language - 14 days cells [? initialled] August 24th 1840 [?..Wal?] Stealing 15lb of flour the property of his master To be [? ] to hard labor in chains for 6 mos [months- two sets of initials] Oct 9, 1849 C J [initialled] Ch (chain) Gang. Misconduct in leaving the church during divine service without leave, Rept disch Tol [ticket of leave] 1.3.44.
12 Sepr 1845 TL Breach of Police Act fined 20/- JP/ Recommended for a Con Pardon 29/8/48
Although commended for good conduct when a fire broke out at Government House, Hobart on 21st December 1837, John Smith was not among the three assigned convicts who received a public commendation. In 1837, with the arrival of Sir John Franklin, costs of the forty (40) convicts who were assigned to Government House, Hobart, to Government Cottages at Launceston and New Norfolk, the Domain and Gardens, called "billet men", were defrayed to the Colonial Revenue (page 3, Launceston Advertiser, Thursday 7th December 1837).



... The Lieutenant-Governor has been pleased to grant tickets-of-leave to the following men as a reward for their meritorious exertions on the occasion of the recent fire at Government House: — William Morrow, Moffatt ; James Wicks, Roslyn Castle ; John Adams, Bussorah Merchant.
Source: THE HOBART TOWN GAZETTE. Friday, December 15, 1837).

1852departure probably for the Victorian gold fields
Name: Smith, John
Record Type: Departures
Rank: Steerage
Status: Conditional Pardon
Departure date: 18 Mar 1852
Departure port: Launceston
Ship: Shamrock
Ship to colony: Mangles
Bound to: Melbourne
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:609880
Resource: POL220/1/1 p617

2. Prisoner no. 2045 John Smith and the photographs
Age: 21 years old on arrival at Hobart in 1835, born ca. 1814
Crime: house breaking
Trial Place: Wilts Quarter Session
Trial Date: 14 October 1834
Sentence: 7 years
Height and description: 5ft 10½; 2 blue marks, brown complexion; black hair; blue eyes.
Occupation: ploughman/farm labourer
Religion: Protestant
Literacy: can read
Native place: Osborne
Family: single, brothers - David and Thomas. Sisters - Jane and Sophia. Supreme Court, Hobart 17/04/1844 - sentenced to another 7yrs.



Prisoner No. 2045 John Smith per Mangles (1835) family members, housebreaking offence
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
CON14-1-4P64, CON14-1-4P65



Prisoner No. 2045 John Smith per Mangles (1835) criminal record 1830s
Source; Archives Office Tasmania Ref:CON31-1-40P135



Prisoner no. 2045, John Smith, criminal record 1840s
CON32-1-2P135
Police number: 2045
Index number: 65510
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1435437
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1435437



Prisoner no. 2045 John Smith per Mangles (1835) criminal record 1850s-1878
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
CON34-1-5P710

EXTRACT (loosely transcribed)
22 May 1860 Tried Supreme Court Oatlands 26 September 1860 Assault & Robbery being armed. Death recorded. Commuted to Penal servitude for life. Never again allowed to engage with the community.
4 August 1864, Port Arthur. Absconding from the Penitentiary PA, 5 years imprisonment with hard labour in chains, the first six months in separate prison
10 August 1868 Misconduct PA 4 days in solitary conf
13 November 1869 PA Misconduct 7 days solitary conf
19 December 1873 Absconding 12 months SP Separate Prison first month in solitary confinement
22 May 1875 Misconduct 6 months solitary confinement PO police office Torquay
25 6 1878 Larceny 2 months

SIDEBAR column:
To be released from heavy chains & placed in medium irons until further orders. C. O. 27.9.67
Released from chains 30.11.68
The Gov in C declines to interfere 20. 12. 70
H.C. (House of Corrections, Hobart) 7/8/75
Gov inf 20/11/76 T of L. granted Not to reside in Hobart Town
Died Invalid Depot New Town [Hobart] 11 January 1892

1873: "Photographs distributed" of absconder John Smith
This notice was to inform police that prisoner no. 2045, John Smith per Mangles, 60 yrs old in 1873, 5 ft 11 inches tall was wanted on warrant. His mugshot and its duplicates, in existence by December 1873, have disappeared, whether lost, damaged, stolen or destroyed. If he was at the Port Arthur prison prior to absconding in December 1873, and not on a chain gang in Hobart at the Domain with the Gregson brothers among others, he was photographed there during the visit of partners Samuel Clifford and Thomas J. Nevin in August 1873



TRANSCRIPT
ABSCONDED: -
On the 5th instant, from Port Arthur, whilst under-going a sentence of life passed on him at S. C. Oatlands, 26th September, 1860, for assault and robbery.
John Smith, per Mangles, aged 60, 5 feet 11, sallow complexion, brown to grey hair, hazel eyes, long nose, medium mouth, round chin, native of Hampshire, England, 2 blue marks inside right arm. Photographs distributed.
Tasmanian police gazette notice, 5 December 1873. John Smith was arrested within a week and sentenced to 12 months. His record shows he petitioned the Attorney-General in 1870 who declined to interfere. He was transferred to the Hobart Gaol, Campbell St. on 7th August 1875 where Nevin may well have photographed him again on being received, as well as on discharge in November 1876, per regulations in force since 1872. 

1876: discharged from Hobart
Prisoner no. 2045, John Smith per Mangles, 64 yrs old in 1876, 5 ft 11 inches tall, discharged.



John Smith per Mangles was tried at Oatlands S.C. on 26 September 1860 for assault and robbery being armed.
Sentence extended to life.
Native place: Hampshire
Age: 64 years old
Height: 5 ft 11 inches, grey hair, mole near left temple
Discharged 29 Nov 1876. Ticket of Leave.

1878: ticket-of-leave, convicted and discharged
This again was prisoner no. 2045, John Smith per Mangles. When convicted of larceny at Port Sorell (20 kms east of Devonport, northern Tasmania) per this police gazette notice of June 29th, 1878, John Smith per Mangles (1835) held a ticket-of-leave (TL). Now 64 years, 5 feet 11 inches tall, (still growing?) a baker by trade and resident of the Midlands district (Tasmania), the notice recorded a sentence of two months for theft of a watch, and quite remarkably, failed to record any of his prior convictions.



He was discharged two (2) months later, per this notice 31 August 1878.



According to this notice in the Tasmanian police gazette of discharges between 31 August and 4 September 1878,  John Smith, transported per Mangles, 64 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall, with grey hair and mole near left temple, born England, was tried at Torquay, the former name of Devonport (Tasmania - see Addenda below) on 25 June 1878 for larceny, sentenced to two months' incarceration, and was discharged in late August 1878

1880-1890: Health and Welfare Records
Which of the two men called John Smith per Mangles (1835) do these records describe? Records for the short prisoner John Smith no. 2035 cease after 1852. Given the death date of the tall John Smith in 1892, these records most likely pertain to the former prisoner with the record no. 2045. From 1880 to 1890, John Smith was admitted and discharged at Invalid Depots in Hobart. For example, this notice recorded his admission in 1880 because of disobedience of orders, and his discharge because he was able to work in 1881.
Feb 2, 1881, return of paupers discharged from Invalid Depots Tasmania
Authority No. 64. John Smith per Mangles admitted at Campbell Town on 12 July 1880,
Date discharged: 1 February 1881,
Remarks: Discharged because of disobedience of orders, able to work.
Archives Office Tasmania Ref: POL709-1-18P28



Feb 2, 1881, return of paupers discharged from Invalid Depots Tasmania
Authority No. 64. John Smith per Mangles admitted at Campbell Town on 12 July 1880,
Date discharged: 1 February 1881
Remarks: Discharged because of disobedience of orders, able to work.
Archives Office Tasmania Ref: POL709-1-18P28
Source: Tasmania Reports for Police, (police gazette), February 1881

John Smith per Mangles was admitted again in 1889 and discharged in 1890.
Prisoner John SMITH per Mangles
Return of Paupers discharged from the Invalid Depots Tasmania
Authority No. 38, admitted from Hobart on 10 Sept 1889, discharged 11 Feb 1890
Remarks: at own request
Archives Office Tasmania
Ref: POL709-1-23_1890P47
Source: Tasmania Reports for Police, (police gazette), February 1881-1890



Source: Archives Office Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1605660

1892: Death of John Smith (prisoner no. 2045)
Unless both men transported on the Mangles (1835) called John Smith were bakers in late life, this record of John Smith's death at the New Town Charitable Institute of senile debility, 76 yrs old, on 10th January 1892, is the record of the taller one, former prisoner no. 2045, John Smith, 5ft 10½ -11 inches tall. Looking back to his Conduct and Indent records, he was 21 years old on arrival at Hobart in 1835 on the Mangles, so in 1892, he was ca. 78 years old, born ca. 1814.



Smith, John (former prisoner no. 2045)
Record Type: Deaths
Gender: Male
Age: 76
Date of death: 10 Jan 1892
Registered: Hobart
Registration year: 1892
Record ID:NAME_INDEXES:1236916
Archives Office Tasmania Resource: RGD35/1/13 no 977

Disambiguation: George MARSH alias John SMITH
None of these prisoners with the surname or alias of SMITH in the list below who were scheduled in July 1873 to be transferred from the Port Arthur prison back to the Hobart Gaol was prisoner no. 2045, John Smith per Mangles,(1835) 60 years old who reportedly absconded from Port Arthur in December 1873, and was sentenced to 12 months when arrested within weeks. Why wasn't he listed, if the place from which he absconded was Port Arthur? He was most likely a "billet man" working on a chain gang,  perhaps near Torquay (Devonport) in the north of Tasmania when he absconded, and not at Port Arthur, the original place of his incarceration and recidivism for most of the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s. He was confined again at the Police Office, Torquay in 1875 .

1. John Smith alias Wm Orrin, 42 years old, date of conviction 26 November 1872, tried at the Supreme Court, Hobart, Crime- Feloniously receiving, Sentence - 10 years. (DOB ca. 1830)
2. John Smith alias George Marsh , 55 years old, date of conviction 13 June 1871, tried at the Police Office Launceston, Crime - Larceny and absconding, Sentence - 6 months (DOB ca. 1816)
3. Henry Smith, 37 years old, date of conviction, 12 September 1871, tried at the Supreme Court, Hobart, Crime - Housebreaking, Sentence - 5 years (DOB ca. 1834)
4. Campbell, William alias Job Smith, 45 years old, date of conviction 19 March 1872, tried at Supreme Court, Launceston, Crime - Uttering a forged cheque, Sentence - 8 years (DOB ca. 1827)
5. John Smith, 42 years old, date of conviction 10 September 1872, tried at Supreme Court, Hobart, Crime - Attempt at burglary, Sentence 2 years (DOB ca. 1830)
6. Alexander Smith, 40 years old, date of conviction 26 November 1872, tried at the Supreme Court, Hobart, Crime - uttering counterfeit coin, Sentence - 2 years (DOB ca. 1832)

Public outrage in the press at judicial inconsistencies in sentencing mentioned prisoners George Marsh with Henry Page and Charles Downes as getting a reprieve while Job Smith aka Campbell was hanged in 1875. John Smith aka George Marsh was 55 years old in 1871, 5ft 4 inches tall, when he arrived at Port Arthur on 9 December 1876. He was sent back to Hobart in 1877 per this Port Arthur conduct record of earnings, which incidentally doesn't show any earnings. This prisoner was not photographed at Port Arthur during incarceration there, and if he was photographed on discharge, his photograph apparently has not survived either as George Marsh or the alias he used, John Smith, but by 1884 when he was admitted to the Insane Asylum at New Norfolk suffering hallucinations of animal attacks and found to be of unsound mind, he was admitted as George Marsh.



Source: George Marsh as John Smith
Archives Office Tasmania Ref: CON94-1-2P20
Hospital records George Marsh
HSD285/1/1891 Marsh, George dob c.1820 03 Jun 1884 03 Jun 1884
https://stors.tas.gov.au/AI/HSD285-1-1891

Addenda 1: Lord Calthorpe at Perry Hall



Frederick Gough, 4th Baron Calthorpe (1790-1868) and Lady Calthorpe (1790-1865)
Carte-de-visite 1860 by Disdéri of Paris.
Source: http://www.19thcenturyphotos.com/Lord-and-Lady-Calthorpe-125853.htm
A carte-de-visite portrait of Frederick Gough, 4th Baron Calthorpe (1790-1868), and his wife, Lady Calthorpe. Born in London on 14 June 1790, he was the son of Henry Gough-Calthorpe, 1st Baron Calthorpe and his wife Frances nĂ©e Carpenter. On 12 August 1823 he married Lady Charlotte Sophia Somerset, daughter of Henry Charles Somerset, 6th Duke of Beaufort and Lady Charlotte Sophia Leveson-Gower. The marriage produced at least three daughters and four sons; three of the sons succeeded in turn as Baron Calthorpe. He served as MP for Hindon from 1818 to 1826 and as MP for Bramber from 1826 to 1831. On 14 May 1845 his name was legally changed by Royal Licence to Frederick Gough. In September 1851 he succeeded his older brother George and became 4th Baron Calthorpe of Egbaston in the County of Warwickshire. Lady Calthorpe died, aged 70, on 12 November 1865 at Elvetham in Hampshire. Lord Calthorpe died, aged 77, on 2 May 1868, also at Elvetham. His will (dated 13 May 1856) was proved on 14 May 1868, at under £70,000.Photographed in 1860 by DisdĂ©ri of Paris.
Copyright © Paul Frecker 2021
Link: http://www.19thcenturyphotos.com/Lord-and-Lady-Calthorpe-125853.htm

Frederick Gough, 4th Baron Calthorpe (1790–1868) lived at Perry Hall Staffs, at the time prisoner no. 2035 John Smith per Mangles (1835) claimed he lived with him as a servant for 25 yrs.
Perry Hall was acquired by Sir Henry Gough of Oldfallings near Wolverhampton in 1669 and continued as the main residence of the family until 1923 when the estate was sold. The hall itself, which occupied the Northern end of a medieval moated site, bore the date 1576, although substantial additions and modifications had been made to it in 1788 and, by the architect S. S. Teulon, in the late 1840's. A two day sale of Perry's contents in March 1928 included parts of the structure itself, such as "1000 Stone Mullion & other windows", "120 Oak & Pine Doors" and "40 Marble & Oak Mantelpieces". It was demolished shortly afterwards but the moat remains as a boating pool in Perry Hall Park. In 1911 Perry, as part of the parish of Handsworth, was included within the City of Birmingham.



Location: Perry Barr, County WARWICKSHIRE
Year demolished: 1929
Reason: URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Source: Presented by Sir Richard Paget Bt, 1930.
Link: http://www.lostheritage.org.uk/houses/lh_warwickshire_perryhall_info_gallery.html

Perry Hall Park or Perry Hall Playing Fields is a park in Perry Barr, Birmingham, England, at grid reference SP059918. It was in Staffordshire until 1928.[1]
It was formerly the site of Perry Hall, demolished 1927, home of the Gough family, though only the hall's moat remains after the Birmingham Corporation had to choose between saving Perry Hall and the nearby Aston Hall for financial purposes. When Harry Dorsey Gough set up home in Maryland, United States, in 1774, he named his estate there Perry Hall. The site is protected by Fields in Trust through a legal "Deed of Dedication" safeguarding the future of the space as public recreation land for future generations to enjoy.[2]
The park is bisected by the River Tame, which was remodelled in 2005 to slow the flow, alleviate flooding and create improved habitats for wildlife, as part of the SMURF (Sustainable Management of Urban Rivers and Floodplains) project. The park has a small heronry.
The park is skirted by the Birmingham - Walsall railway line (the "Chase Line"), formerly the Grand Junction Railway and served by nearby Perry Barr railway station and, at the western end, Hamstead railway station.
In July 1913, the first International Scout Rally in Birmingham was held in the park, attended by about 30,000 Scouts.[3]
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Hall_Park

Addenda 2: History of Devonport (Tas)
* Prior to the arrival of Europeans the area around Devonport had been home to the Tommeginne Aborigines for an estimated 30,000 years.
* The first explorers into the area reached the Mersey River as early as 1823. Reports were not favourable with one explorer noting that the land was "mountainous, extremely barren and totally unfit for habitation".
* The arrival of the Van Diemen's Land Company in 1826 resulted in the district being explored and surveyed. Settlers began to arrive later that year.
* The local Aborigines resisted settlement. This culminated in the killing of Captain Bartholomew Boyle Thomas, the district's first settler, in 1829.
* The tiny settlement of Torquay was established on the east bank of the Mersey River in 1851.
* A settlement named Formby was laid out on the west side of the Mersey River in 1853.
* The port facilities - a store, wharf and warning beacons as well as the Don Railway - had been completed by 1854.
* Throughout the 1850s the port was used by timber cutters and boat builders. There was also some coal mining in the area.
* Prior to 1860 the only way to cross the Mersey was by boat or swimming.
* In 1860 a rough log bridge was built upstream at the village of Latrobe. Eventually a ferry plied the river.
* A local Marine Board was formed in 1868.
* The railway from Launceston reached Devonport in 1885.
* The Devonport Town Board was formed on 11 February 1890 when Formby and Torquay amalgamated.
* The port's lighthouse, now part of the National Estate, was completed in 1899. It still stands on Mersey Bluff.
* It wasn't until 1902 that a bridge was finally built across the river.
* Devonport Municipal Council was formed in 1908.
Source: Aussie Towns: Devonport, Tasmania


RELATED POSTS main weblog

Prisoner William RYAN wholesale forger at the TMAG

The Press described William Ryan as "respectably attired" in September 1870 at his appearance in court on charges of forgery. They also reported that he was someone who showed deep emotions when given sentence, and someone even prone to dissembling, fakery and over-acting. Care for his personal appearance was not attentuated by a prison sentence, it seems. When Thomas J. Nevin photographed Ryan for police and prison records at the Hobart Gaol during Ryan's six years of incarceration, the resulting photograph showed a clean shaven, nicely groomed and neatly dressed man in a prisoner's uniform, someone with a quiet and self-contained demeanour all round.



Prisoner William Ryan
Photographed by T. J. Nevin 1874
TMAG Collection Ref: Q15576



Verso inscriptions: NEVIN, T. J. 1874 "60"
"248" William Ryan per City of Hobart
Torn paper shows removal from the prisoner's criminal record sheet ca. 1916
Photographed by T. J. Nevin 1874
TMAG Collection Ref: Q15576

William Ryan had not long arrived in Tasmania when he was tried for uttering a forged cheque at Launceston on 29th December 1868 and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Within months of discharge, he was arrested and sentenced at the Hobart Supreme Court to ten years' imprisonment for uttering forged cheques. The newspapers of the day took pleasure in reporting the ingenuity of the police in catching him, and the antics of the prisoner in the dock at the Police Court before His Worship the Mayor.

The Newspaper Reports: William Ryan "wholesale forger"

Mercury, Tuesday 27th September 1870
POLICE COURT
Monday, September 20th 1870
Before His Worship the Mayor.
Forgery:- William Ryan was placed in the dock on three charges of forgery, viz. - First, for having on the 5th of September forged a cheque for  £5.12s. bearing the name of John McDermott, and passed it on Mr. W. F. Brownell, draper, of Liverpool-street; secondly , with having on the 17th of September forged and uttered a cheque bearing the name of John Swain for £3.10s. on Mr Winch, grocer, of Davey-street; and thirdly, with forging and uttering a cheque on Mr. Thomas Downey for £4.10s.
The police asked for the accused to be remanded till the 28th of September. Remanded accordingly.
Mercury, Tuesday 27th September 1870
Forgery Case:- A man named William Ryan, recently released from a two years' incarceration, was placed in the dock at the Police Court yesterday, charged with forging three cheques for £5.12s., £3.10s., and   £4.10s respectively, all of which he had succeeded in getting cashed at various business places in Hobart Town. The first cheque was cashed by an assistant of Mr. Brownell, draper, of Liverpool-street, on the 5th of September, since which time, up to Saturday last, the police have been vainly endeavouring to unearth the forger. On Saturday last, however, between the hours of five and six o'clock in the evening, these efforts were rewarded with success. Detective Vickers, accompanied by Sergeant Waller, at the time mentioned happening to be standing near the corner of Harrington and Liverpool-street, observed a man come out of Mr. McCormack's drapery shop, carrying some carpenter's tools. Directly the man caught sight of the constables he began to make off very rapidly, and in his haste dropped one of the tools he had been carrying. Detective Vickers sang out to him that he had dropped something, which only had the effect of quickening the man's pace. This aroused the detective's suspicions, and he ran into Mr. McCormack's shop, and ascertained from him that the man had endevoured to pass a cheque, which he (Mr. McCormack) had refused to accept. Preparations were then made for a capture, Detective Vickers going one way and Sergeant Waller another, so as to hedge the suspicious individual in, and to prevent his escape. This proved successful, for after a run of about a mile and a half, he was brought to bay, and conveyed to the watchhouse. On searching him, several £1 notes and a cheque for £3.10s., which he had been unable to get cashed, were found on him. The charge was not proceeded with yesterday, as the police, for certain reasons, asked for a remand till Wednesday, the 28th inst, which request was granted.
Mercury, Thursday 29th September 1870:
A Wholesale Forger:- William Ryan, a middle-aged, respectably attired man, was placed in the prisoners dock at the Police Court yesterday, on three distinct charges of forgery. The evidence in each case was of the most conclusive character, and left not the shadow of a doubt as to the guilt of the accused, who was accordingly committed to take his trial at the next Criminal Sessions, which commence in Hobart Town on the 22nd November next. Though the prisoner had only recently been liberated from Port Arthur from serving a sentence for a similar offence, he affected to be very much hurt as the position in which he found himself, turning his back on the people in court, and hiding his face in his hands, and when asked to sign his name in the usual way to the committment paper, he professed his inability to sign his name. The extraordinary spectacle of a forger unable to write caused a smile. The acting was overdone.



Source: THE MERCURY. (1870, September 29). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 2. Retrieved July 12, 2015, from https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8863771

An extended account was also published in the Mercury on 29th September 1870, page 3, with detailed depositions from witnesses, and Superintendent Propsting conducting the case.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page785165

Mercury, Saturday 19th November 1870.
SUPREME COURT CRIMINAL SITTINGS.
The session of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery will commence on Tuesday next at 11. a.m., at the Court House, Campbell-Street, before Mr. Justice Dobson. A second Court will be presided over by the Chief Justice. The following is the calendar.
Eliza Osborne, wounding
William Ryan, uttering
Joseph Winters, unlawfully wounding
Francis Thomas Allison, wounding
William Triffett, forgery and uttering [etc]

Mercury, Thursday 24th November 1870
SENTENCE
William Ryan was placed in the dock to receive sentence for committing forgery. When asked if he had anything to say why sentence should not be passed on him, he said he hoped His Honor would temper mercy with justice as before committing the forgeries he had endeavoured to get assistance from Government to enable him to go to Launceston, where he had a wife and two children, and where he had left his tools. He had been unsuccessful in that endeavour, and he tried to get money by forgery.
His Honor, addressing the prisoner, said on examination he found that he (the prisoner) had been in the colony about two years. Shortly after his arrival he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for forgery; and before he had been out of custody many weeks he again committed forgery. He (the judge) could not accept the prisoner's statement as to his endeavouring to obtain relief from Government before he committed the forgery as extenuating the crime in the slightest degree. The maximum punishment for forgery allowed by the law was imprisonment for life, but he (the judge) would not sentence him to the full extent allowed by law, but would order him to be imprisoned for a term that would give him time for reflection.
The sentence, which he considered it his duty to inflict, was that he (the prisoner) be imprisoned for a period of ten years.
The prisoner, who seemed deeply affected, was then removed. The court then rose.
Source: LAW INTELLIGENCE. (1870, November 24). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 2. Retrieved July 12, 2015, from https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8872576

In denial: the TMAG database notes
Does the public need the opinions of museum and library cataloguists which go well beyond basic documented fact? Their so-called "research" which often appears accompanying old photographs may mislead, and in some cases, deliberately so, as this TMAG catalogue reference for Nevin's photograph of William Ryan demonstrates.



Verso inscriptions: NEVIN, T. J. 1874 "60"
"248" William Ryan per City of Hobart

Removed from the prisoner's criminal record sheet ca. 1916
Photographed by T. J. Nevin 1874
TMAG Collection Ref: Q15576



CALLOUTS: This is the database information for Nevin's photograph of William Ryan at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (received here in 2015). Even though Nevin's name and date of photographic capture was clearly written on the verso decades or even a century earlier, the cataloguist not only chose to ignore it, she wrongly transcribed Nevin's second initial "J" as "S", despite all prior research, publications and exhibitions of these Tasmanian mugshots in Nevin's name right throughout the 20th century.

No reference is given for the source of misinformation concerning A. H. Boyd. Note the use of existential sentence structure: "It is thought ...is known to have ..." which suggests objectivity, even common knowledge, when in fact the only source is the TMAG's own publication of an A-Z directory called Tasmanian photographers 1840-1940 (Long, C.; Winter, G. 1995), where the furphy about A. H. Boyd was included as a "belief" purely in the interests of promoting tourism to Port Arthur. In preparing the database notes, the TMAG cataloguist added a few more imaginative flourishes, viz:

1,  "keen amateur" ... A.H. Boyd was not a photographer, keen, amateur or otherwise. No photographic works exist by A. H. Boyd in public collections, nor have his descendants proffered or published a single photograph they can claim to be taken by Boyd from private collections.

2. "room .. studio ... darkroom" ... The so-called "room" at Port Arthur was the Officer's library established in 1866 by the previous commandant James Boyd and used as a studio by visiting photographers Alfred Bock (1866), Samuel Clifford (1873) and Thomas Nevin (1872-1874).

3. "instructions given to Boyd to photograph the convicts" ...The claim that a document held at the State Library of NSW refers to instructions given to Commandant James Boyd's successor at Port Arthur , A. H. Boyd (1871-1873) to photograph prisoners is incorrect. No such document exists. The so-called "document" in question is nothing more than cargo lists of photographic materials sent to Port Arthur for use by Samuel Clifford and Thomas J. Nevin in 1873. A. H. Boyd was not a photographer. He was not the photographer of police mugshots dating from the 1870s which found their way into public collections. Speculation to the contrary is a waste of time and effort, and potentially fraudulent. Instead of  wasting time doing so-called "research", cataloguists in museums and libraries would better serve the public by digitising and placing online the recto AND THE VERSO of photographs, and nothing more. The public will do the rest.

Police and Court Records for William RYAN



Name:Ryan, William
Record Type:Convicts
Arrival date:1 Jan 1868
Remarks:Free. Tried Launceston Dec 1868
Index number:61849
Document ID:NAME_INDEXES:1431630 (TAHO)
Conduct Record CON37/1/10 Page 5773

William Ryan was served a two-year sentence handed down on 29th December 1868 at Launceston. He was sent to Port Arthur from where he was "liberated" in 1870. For his second sentence of ten years, he was listed in the Hobart Supreme Court calendar for trial on Tuesday, 22nd November 1870. Whether he was sent back to Port Arthur  or remained at the Hobart Gaol is not clear. There is no mention of Port Arthur on the verso of his photograph, and his name does not appear on the Port Arthur conduct registers for 1868 to 1876. His name is also missing from the list tabled in Parliament in July 1873 of prisoners sent to Port Arthur and subsequently relocated to the Hobart Gaol by 1874. William Ryan was already at the Hobart Gaol in 1874 when Thomas Nevin took his photograph for the police registers and prison records.



Rough Calendar Hobart Supreme Court, 29th November 1870.
Supreme Court Records, TAHO Ref: GD70-1-1

Mercury, Saturday 19th November 1870.
SUPREME COURT CRIMINAL SITTINGS. The session of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery will commence on Tuesday next at 11. a.m., at the Court House, Campbell-Street, before Mr. Justice Dobson. A second Court will be presided over by the Chief Justice. The following is the calendar.Eliza Osborne, woundingWilliam Ryan, utteringJoseph Winters, unlawfully woundingFrancis Thomas Allison, woundingWilliam Triffett, forgery and uttering



Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police. J. Barnard, Gov't printer.

William Ryan was discharged from the Hobart Gaol in the week ending 3rd May 1876, residue of sentence remitted. He was described as 49 yrs old, dark brown hair, 5'5" tall.

The original Hobart Gaol book print
This print from Nevin's original negative was produced at a date later than the same image held at the TMAG. It shows evidence around the top right side of the oval mount of having been pasted over an earlier version, and it was not printed at that time for that purpose as a full carte-de-visite. It was probably one of the originals pasted to Ryan's criminal record sheet on his discharge which was then bound as the Hobart Gaol record book for 1874-1876, mysteriously missing now its original photographs (TAHO holdings). The TMAG item (at top) which is a full-carte-de-visite, probably one of Nevin's stand-alone duplicates, is in fair condition, and not greatly reproduced through scanning (2015), while this version (below) which is held at the State Library of Tasmania is in overall better condition, and has been digitized through photographic reproduction. Note too that this print does not bear the number "60" on the mount, which further suggests it was removed more recently from the Hobart Gaol book, while the TMAG item, which was originally held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery as part of convictaria collector John Watt Beattie's estate, was removed in 1983 for an exhibition at Port Arthur, where it was exposed to air, and deposited at the TMAG instead of being returned to the QVMAG.



Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office
William Ryan, prisoner carte removed from the criminal record sheet
Photographed by T. J. Nevin 1874
TAHO Ref: PH30_1_3262

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