Captain Goldsmith & death at sea of Antarctic circumnavigator Captain John Biscoe 1843

CAPTAIN JOHN BISCOE
CAPTAIN EDWARD GOLDSMITH
THE JANET IZAT 1843



State Library of NSW
Mrs John Biscoe, nee Emma Crowe, ca. 1872 / photograph by J.F. Blenner-Hasset, Islington & Pentonville
Call Number P1 / 176
Digital Order No. a4176076

1842: Subscriptions
By October 1842, Captain John Biscoe was in such poor health and so impoverished from "the hardships and privations" endured on his voyages of circumnavigation and exploration of the Antarctic and desperate enough to return to England that a subscription was advertised for charitable donations to pay the costs of sending him and his family home. With urgency attending the voyage, Governor Sir John Franklin initiated the subscription and underwrote the cost for Captain Biscoe, his wife Emma Biscoe nee Crowe, and their four children to sail on board the barque Janet Izat, commanded by his good friend Captain Edward Goldsmith.



Source: Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857) Tue 25 Oct 1842 Page 1 ;Advertising

TRANSCRIPT

THE CHARITABLE DONATIONS of the public are earnestly solicited on behalf of Captain John Biscoe, late of the Marian Watson, and formerly of the schooner Tula, of about 120 tons, in which vessel, accompanied by the cutter Lively, of forty-six tons only, he explored the Southern Regions, generally, for the space of three years; whose unexampled intrepidity on that occasion, in the search of scientific knowledge, is admitted by public testimonials from the British and foreign governments, and whose tract is marked on the present Admiralty charts; the hardships and privations of that voyage gave a blow to his constitution, which, after a long series of illness, has at last incapacitated him from following his profession.
His friends now seek the means to enable him to return with his family to England, and confidently appeal to the benevolence of the Van Diemen's Land public to effect it.
Subscriptions received at all the Banks, and by Mr. William Carter, Treasurer.
Sir John Franklin . 10 10 0 Sir John Pedder. 5 0 0 G. T. W. B. Boyes. 2 0 0 [etc]

Captain Goldsmith had departed London on the bark Janet Izat, 229 tons, on 24th June 1842, arriving at Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on 26th October 1842. A week later, on November 1st, he dined with Sir John and Lady Frankiln at Government House in the company of Messrs Calder, Boyes and Mulligan. Their plan for the safe return passage of Captain Biscoe and family with Captain Goldsmith was chief among topics of discussion at dinner, and on the topic of polar exploration, John Franklin no doubt foreshadowed his desire to reprise a commission from the Admiralty to lead a naval expedition to the Arctic. The Janet Izat stayed in Hobart with preparations for departure nearly complete by January 20th, 1843.



Source: Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857) Tue 1 Nov 1842 Page 2 SHIP NEWS.



Departing, the Janet Izat, Cpt Edward Goldsmith, master at Hobart
The Hobart Courier, 20th January 1843

TRANSCRIPT

FOR LONDON. - To Sail on 15th February - The fine bark JANET IZAT
EDWARD GOLDSMITH (late of the Wave), Commander, having all her oil and a great part of her wool on board, will positively sail as above. For freight or passage, apply to Captain Goldsmith on board, or to KENNARDS, CHAPMAN & Co.
The above vessel has excellent accommodation for steerage passengers. New Wharf, January 20.

1843: Died at Sea
The Janet Izat sailed without delay on February 15th 1843, with twelve cabin passengers - Captain Biscoe listed simply as Mr. Biscoe - and eleven in steerage.



Sailed, the Janet Izat, Cpt Edward Goldsmith, master
The Hobart Courier, 17th February 1843

TRANSCRIPT

15. - Sailed the bark Janet Izat, 220 tons, Goldsmith, for London, with oil and wool - passengers, Mr. and Mrs. Doughty, Mr. amd Mrs. Biscoe and family, Mr. Barnard, Mr. Tennyson, Mr. Arthur Sutherland, Miss Rowe; and eleven in the steerage.

News of Captain Biscoe's death at sea was not published until November 1843. He had died on the voyage between February 15th and the arrival of the Janet Izat back in London in June 1843.



DIED. - At sea (on board the Janet Izat.) on his passage to England, Captain Biscoe

Cornwall Chronicle, 24 November 1843

1849: Widow Biscoe in Distress



Appeal to assist Captain Biscoe's widow and children
The Nautical Magazine. v. 18 (1849). p.168

TRANSCRIPT

THE LATE MR. JOHN BISCOE, R.N. - Our readers who delight in deeds of charity, will find in our advertisement sheet, a tale of sad distress that will call forth all their commiseration. The case of the Widow and Four Children of the late Mr. Biscoe, Acting-Master R. N. , was happily discovered in time to prevent them from perishing by mere want of sustenance and common apparel.
So distressing a case among the widows of Naval Officers we have never before met with, and such a one is scarcely credible in this land! We trust some of the influential individuals whose name we see among the subscribers, will not stay their efforts in the good work thus commenced, until the objects expressed in the advertisement are achieved. And were those objects and the condition of Mrs. Biscoe and her children, made know to Her Majesty the Dowager Queen Adelaide, the real friend of the sailor's widow in distress, we are satisfied they would not be unheeded.

John Biscoe's discovery of Enderby Land



Enderby Land top right of map
Transantarctic Mountains, West Antarctica, East Antarctica (NASA)

Biography: John Biscoe (1794-1843)
Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/biscoe-john-1784

John Biscoe (1794-1843), sea captain, was born at Enfield, Middlesex, England, the son of Thomas Biscoe of Waltham Abbey and his wife Anne, née Tibbs. In 1812 he joined the navy and served during the American war in the San Domingo, Colibri and Moselle, of which he became acting master. After the war he joined the mercantile marine, sailing as mate and master to the East and West Indies and to most parts of the known world. In 1830 he was appointed by the London whaling and sealing firm of Enderby to command the brig Tula, 150 tons, and the cutter Lively, 49 tons, on a voyage of discovery to high southern latitudes. The vessels circumnavigated the Antarctic continent, visited the South Sandwich and South Shetland Islands, and discovered Enderby Land (28 February 1831), Adelaide Island and the northern Biscoe Islands (February 1832). They also discovered and annexed part of the Antarctic peninsula (21 February 1832) in the name of King William IV, calling it Graham Land. After the discovery of Enderby Land the ships were separated during a gale. The Tula put into Hobart Town where she was eventually reunited with the Lively, which made her landfall at Port Phillip.
On return to London, Biscoe published the account of his voyage and was awarded the royal premium of the Royal Geographical Society and was similarly honoured by the Paris Société de Géographie. In 1833, despite the lack of commercial success of the previous voyage, Biscoe was nominated by the Enderbys to command a second exploring expedition to the Antarctic in the Hopefull and the Rose, but for reasons unknown the vessels sailed without him and he returned to more humdrum commands trading between Liverpool and the West Indies.
On 8 September 1836 Biscoe married Emma Crowe in London. Next year he sailed for Australia in the Superb. He made an abortive southern sealing and exploring voyage from Port Jackson in 1838-39 in the brig Emma. His family moved from Sydney to Hobart in 1840, while Biscoe became master of various intercolonial vessels sailing between Hobart, Sydney and Port Phillip. An appeal headed by Sir John Franklin was made in the Hobart newspapers of 1842 for money to send Biscoe back to England. He was described as being incapacitated by much illness due to the privations of his great Antarctic voyage. He and his family sailed for London in the barque Janet Izat in February 1843, but Biscoe died at sea. In 1849 an appeal was made in the Nautical Magazine for his widow and four children.
Biscoe followed James Cook and Fabian Bellingshausen in circumnavigating the Antarctic continent. Although organized on much smaller lines than these two national expeditions, his voyage had important geographical results. He was the first to chart portions of the Antarctic continent other than the peninsula. His courage in the face of great difficulties and dangers was admirable, and his perseverance, despite damaged ships, treacherous ice and a diminished crew, went far beyond duty.

1845-48: Sir John Franklin in the Arctic
Sir John Franklin departed Van Diemen's Land for Port Phillip, Victoria, on board the Flying Fish, in the same year, 22nd November 1843,. He embarked on the British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition in 1845 only to lose his life in the Canadian Arctic in 1847, along with his entire crew, Members of the expedition were photographed by Richard Beard before departure. Lt. Graham Gore was among those who perished.



Portrait of Lt Graham Gore
Photographer: Richard Beard. Expedition: British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition, 1845-48. Location: Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge. Original format: daguerreotype
Three-quarter length portrait of Lieutenant Graham Gore, Commander, seated with arms folded.
Copyright © Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
Media ID 11475802

Supply ship John Biscoe 1964
In recognition of the achievements of John Biscoe, Crown agents bought a wooden, diesel-electric-powered ex-boom defence vessel, 194 feet long with a displacement of 1000 tons on behalf of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey to deliver supplies to the Antarctic bases for a year, and named it the John Biscoe.



At YouTube: The John Biscoe 1964 NB: this is silent footage

Documentation on file regarding supplying the British Antarctic Survey and refers to the Captain of 'John Biscoe' as William Johnston.

LS. Supply ship stuck in ice. LS. Iceberg and pan to men walking on ice and then the ship again. MS. Man climbing up side of ship 'John Biscoe' on rope ladder. Angle MS. Looking down on men working in ship's hold. LS. Man working winch on deck. High angle shot of supplies being raised out of hold. MS. Winch turning. VS. Supplies being loaded into smaller boat. LS. Smaller boat floating away with supplies on. CU. Pilot of supply boat. VS. Small supply boat come alongside ice pack and it's unloaded. VS. Snowmobile (Powered sledge) being pulled ashore. VS. Snowmobile in action on the snow and ice. VS. Of the snowmobile pilot and view out of window. MS. Snow mobile pulling supply sledge along. LS. The 'John Biscoe'. LS. Otter Helicopter on the snow to take away supplies. LS. R.N. Otter helicopter in flight taking the supplies away. VS. Helicopter landing on ice and supplies unloaded. VS. Small plane arriving and giving supplies to a small expedition camp and it takes off again. GV. Antarctic landscape pan.

EXTERNAL LINKS



Her Home, The Antarctic: The Royal Research Ship John Biscoe
Author: Trevor Boult, Amberley Publishing Limited, 16 Jul. 2014
Google books

The Enderby Land Project
http://enderbylandproject.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/slicing-ice.html

The desecration of Minnie Carr's grave 1898

DEATHS of MARY ANN CARR and DAUGHTER
DESECRATION of GRAVE
MARTHA NEVIN, formerly SALTER, nee GENGE



Thomas Nevin's stereo of his sister Mary Anne Nevin ca. 1870 dipping a glass at the creek, Kangaroo Valley Hobart
Photo copyright © KLW NFC 2012. Private Collection.

There was tragedy awaiting Thomas Nevin's younger sister Mary Ann, though they would hardly have anticipated what it might be when he took this photograph - almost as a snapshot - of her ca. 1868-1870 at the New Town Creek, Kangaroo Valley (Tasmania). The family had  already lost one sister, Rebecca Jane Nevin to illness by 1865, the year that Mary Ann applied unsuccessfully to the Board of Education to establish a school at Kangaroo Valley with the support of family friend Morton Allport. But she persisted on her own account with support from her father, John Nevin snr, and used the schoolhouse adjoining the Wesleyan Chapel close by the house her father had built on land owned by the Wesleyan Trust, up the hill from the Lady Franklin Museum at Ancanthe.

In 1875, her father John Nevin snr was granted a license to teach adult males at night at the Wesleyan schoolhouse, Kangaroo Valley. His wife Mary Ann nee Dickson, (sister of the Newtonards nurseryman Alexander Dickson) and mother to Mary Ann and her two brothers, photographer Thomas Nevin and Constable John Nevin, had died in the same year. By May 1877 their surviving sister Mary Ann Nevin had married mariner Captain John Carr at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley, and moved to Victoria. In 1878, she died of peritonitis 22 days after delivering her daughter Mary Ann Carr at Railway Place, Sandridge. Her husband, mariner John Carr, remained in Victoria and surrendered the child to his father-in-law. Her daughter was returned to the care of Thomas and Jack Nevin's father John Nevin snr in 1879 at Kangaroo Valley, New Town, Tasmania. John Nevin snr made the heartfelt decision in 1879 to remarry in order to provide his grandchild Mary Ann Carr with a maternal presence. He married Martha Genge, the widowed daughter of his close friend, Wesleyan preacher William Genge. At the time of their marriage and their adoption of his daughter's daughter, John Nevin snr was 71 yrs old, and Martha Genge, (widowed as Salter) was 46 years old. The grandchild was named Mary Ann after her mother (Mary Ann Carr nee Nevin, 1845-1878), her grandmother (Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson, 1810-1875) and later nicknamed Minnie after her cousin Mary Anne Drew nee Nevin (1884-1974), who was born to Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin in 1884.



Archives Office of Tasmania
Marriage of John Carr to Mary Anne Nevin, 3 May 1877
NAME_INDEXES:884210
Resource RGD37/1/36 no 359

[Above:] Marriage of Mary Anne Nevin, 31 years old, gardener's daughter, to John Carr, 37 yrs old, seaman, on 3rd May 1877 at the Wesleyan Church, Kangaroo Valley, New Town Hobart.
Witnesses were her father John Nevin snr, her brother John Nevin jnr, her sister-in-law Mary Sophia Day (sister of Thomas Nevin's wife Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day) and Mary Hurst  (1839-1925), sister of Thomas Nevin's friend, surveyor John Hurst.

Thomas Nevin's niece, known thereafter as Minnie Carr who survived her mother's death three weeks after birth was raised by her grandfather John Nevin snr and his second wife Martha Nevin, formerly Salter,  nee Genge, When John Nevin snr died in 1887 (b. 1808), Martha Nevin moved from Kangaroo Valley (New Town) to 76 Patrick Street, Hobart and continued to care for her step-granddaughter Minnie Carr, but within a decade Minnie Carr would also "join the great majority", to use her grandfather's poetic turn of phrase. In 1898 and just  20 yrs old, she died suddenly of gastric poisoning and haemorrhage. The funeral notice simply stated that at the time of her death she was living at her mother's house, though that was not strictly correct. Martha Nevin was her step-grandmother by way of her grandfather John Nevin snr's 'second marriage, not her mother or even step mother, but because of Martha Nevin's relative youth in 1879 when she married John Nevin, she was most likely considered a step-mother rather than step-grandmother to the child whom she had raised, practically from birth.



[Above] Thomas Nevin's stereograph of his sister Mary Ann Nevin ca. 1870
Photographed with four children, one holding a toddler, and a tall man in shirt sleeves at the Kangaroo Valley school (in background) where both she and her father John Nevin snr were teachers.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Collection
TMAG Ref: Q16826.1.2 [scan 2015]. Verso below.



Verso: Thomas Nevin's stereograph of his sister Mary Ann Nevin ca. 1870
Photographed with four chidren, one holding a toddler, and a tall man in shirt sleeves at the Kangaroo Valley school (in background) where both she and her father John Nevin snr were teachers.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Collection
TMAG Ref: Q16826.1.2 [scan 2015].



Death of Thomas J. Nevin's sister Mary Ann Carr (1845-1878)
Public Records Office of Victoria No. 9830

Details: Death certificate of Mary Ann Carr nee Nevin, of Railway Place, Borough of Sandridge (Victoria), dated 27th July 1878. Buried at Melbourne General Cemetery. Registered as a married woman, 33 years old, born in County Down, Ireland, formerly of Kangaroo Valley, New Town, Tasmania, lived 6½ months in Victoria. Wife of mariner John Carr. Death due to peritonitis 22 days after the birth of her daughter, Mary Ann. Parents registered as John Nevin, listed here as a labourer, and mother Mary Ann Nevin formerly Dickson.



Mercury, 9th August 1878

CARR. - On July 27, at her residence, Sandridge, Victoria, in the 34th year of her age, Mary Ann, the beloved wife of John Carr, the only surviving daughter of Mr. John Nevin, Kangaroo Valley, New Town.

The Grandfather's Second Marriage
Four years after the death from bladder complications of Thomas J. Nevin's mother Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson (1810-1875), his father John Nevin snr (1808-1887) re-married, and to a much younger woman, widow Martha Salter nee Genge (1833-1925), daughter of his close friend, Methodist lay preacher and church sexton William Genge. At the time of their marriage in October 1879, John Nevin was 71 yrs old, and Martha Salter was 46 yrs old. The age difference  might even stir comment in this day and age, but there was an urgent reason behind this marriage which centered on John Nevin's grand-daughter, Minnie Carr.



John Nevin snr, (1808-1887)
Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office
TAHO Ref: NS434/1/155 copy
Original photo by his son Thomas J. Nevin taken at his New Town studio October 1879
Photo copyright © KLW NFC 2012

Martha Nevin, formerly Salter, nee Genge (1833-1925)
Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office
TAHO Ref: NS434/1/194 copy
Original photos by Thomas J. Nevin taken at his New Town studio October 1879
Photo copyright © KLW NFC 2012



Archives Office Tasmania
Marriage of John Nevin snr and Martha Salter 23 October 1879
Kangaroo Valley New Town Tasmania
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:888757
Resource RGD37/1/38 no 711

[Above]: The marriage registration of John Nevin snr and Martha Salter nee Genge, 23rd October 1879 at Kangaroo Valley New Town. His age was 71, and his status/rank was listed as gardener. Her age was 46, living with her father, Sexton of Church, Description given was John Nevin, widower, Martha Salter, widow. Her mark X was inserted between her first name and surname, possibly indicating that her maiden name was to be added. Witnesses were James Genge, Martha Salter nee Genge's father, and F. R Alomes, a 30yr old farmer. Henry Moore officiated as Clergyman.

Disambiguation: Mary Ann Carr
Four women across three generations in Thomas Nevin's family were given the name "Mary Ann" at birth:

1. Thomas J. Nevin's mother, Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson (born Edinburgh 1810, sister of Alexander Dickson, nurseryman of Newtonards, Ireland) who died in Hobart on 13th April 1875, aged 65 yrs, wife of John Nevin snr, and mother of Thomas James, Rebecca Jane, Mary Ann and William John Nevin. The family arrived as free settlers on board the Fairlie in July 1852.



[Above:] Thomas Nevin's photograph of his mother Mary Ann Nevin ca. 1873
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint and Shelverton Family Collections 2007

2. Thomas J. Nevin's sister, Mary Ann Carr nee Nevin (born Newtonards Ireland 1847) who married John Carr, son of Captain James Carr, at Kangaroo Valley, New Town, Hobart in May, 1877 and died at Sandridge Victoria in 1878 giving birth to her daughter, also named Mary Ann Carr..



[Above] Thomas Nevin's mounted carte-de-visite portrait of his sister Mary Anne Nevin ca. 1874
Married John Carr 1877. Photo copyright © KLW NFC 2005. Private Collection.

3. Thomas J. Nevin's daughter, Mary Ann Nevin (Hobart 1884-1974), known as Minnie to the family, and as Minnie Drew when she married. Grand daughter of John Nevin snr, and cousin of Minnie Carr.



Minnie Nevin (1884-1974), aged 15yrs, ca. 1900
Daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin
Photo by Thomas Nevin, New Town Studio
Tasmanian Archives Collection (TAHO)
Black and white copy deposited 30/8/1974
Ref: NS434/1/230

4. Thomas J, Nevin's niece, Mary Ann Carr, known as Minnie Carr (born Sandridge Victoria 1878 - died Hobart 1898), daughter of his deceased sister Mary Ann Carr nee Nevin, She was brought back to Tasmania in 1879. Her grandfather John Nevin snr  married Martha Salter nee Genge in October 1879, who then became her "mother", young enough at 46 yrs old to cope with a  toddler, hence the reason for the marriage between John Nevin snr  and Martha Salter nee Genge, sister of Mary Chandler nee Genge.

The loss to Thomas Nevin and his younger brother Jack (William John) of their sister Mary Ann in childbirth in 1878 was a sudden shock,and yet one more loss to the family of immediate female relatives. Their only other sister Rebecca Jane Nevin had died in 1866 at Kangaroo Valley, aged 18 years, and their mother had died in 1875. In 1879, their father John Nevin made the in loco parentis decision to adopt his motherless grand-daughter Mary Ann Carr by bringing her back to Tasmania from Victoria, and marrying Martha Salter nee Genge, as a means of providing the child with a maternal carer. She became the fourth female in the Nevin family over three generations to be known as Mary Ann, and the second with the moniker "Minnie".

Mary Ann poisoned
Living at Kangaroo Valley, New Town Tasmania, Mary Ann or Minnie Carr, John Nevin's granddaughter was brought up within the family circle of her cousins of about the same age, the children of her aunt and uncle, Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day and photographer Thomas J. Nevin. But she was soon to lose her grandfather John Nevin. When he died in 1887 at Kangaroo Valley, she moved to 76 Patrick Street, Hobart, with her step-grandmother, Mrs Martha Nevin (formerly Salter, nee Genge) who was a widow again at 54 yrs old. Minnie Carr was not listed in the Post Office Directories at Martha Nevin's house in 1898, the year of her death or earlier because she was under 21 years old.



Martha Nevin, mispelt as NIVEN, 76 Patrick St Hobart
Post Office Directories, p.100, 1897 and p.106, 1898

At 76 Patrick Street, Hobart, widowed Mrs Martha Nevin took in a lodger, a young clerk called Arthur William Thomas Edwards, aged 22 yrs old. He was living there under the same roof in 1898 when Mary Ann or Minnie Carr, 20 years old, died suddenly of gastric poisoning and haemorrhage. The funeral notice said she died at the home of her mother, which was incorrect because her mother had died giving birth to her in 1878, twenty years previously. Her step-grandmother, Mrs Martha Nevin, 63 years old by this time, was regarded as her mother. The Post Office directories of the years preceding and following 1898 mispelt her name as Mrs Martha "Niven". Other variations recorded in 19th century documents for Thomas Nevin's family include "Nevan" and "Navin".

So what really caused 20 year old Minnie Carr's death in 1898? Had she self-administered poison because she might have fallen pregnant to the 22 yr old Arthur W T Edwards? Did Minnie Carr want to end an affair going on under the nose of her "mother" Mrs Martha Nevin  because the eligible Arthur W. T. Edwards had  met Jane Wale and loudly proclaimed his intention to marry said Jane. who also resided in Patrick Street. Strange indeed that Arthur W. T. Edwards had moved out of Mrs Martha Nevin's house to another lodging in Melville Street between the time of Mary Ann's death and his marriage to Jane Wale just a few months later, on February 19th, 1899. Had Mary Ann been raped, to have suffered such haemorrhaging? Had he poisoned her? Was Arthur more than just a cad? Was he totally innocent of the misadventure, or was his fiancee the perpetrator and his accomplice?



Marriage certificate of Arthur William Thomas Edwards to Louisa Jane Wale, 19th February 1899.
Marriages, Australia, Tasmania, Hobart. Archives Office Tasmania.



Title: Photograph - Panoramic view of Hobart from Holy Trinity tower- shows Church Street and Patrick Street buildings and details of St Andrew's burial ground and city centre in background
Description: 1 photographic print
Format: Photograph
ADRI: NS2960-2-3
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania

Desecration of Mary Ann's grave
By the time of his cousin Minnie Carr's death in September 1898, Tom Nevin, known as Sonny (i.e. Thomas J. Nevin jnr), the eldest son of photographer Thomas J. Nevin was the closest she had to an older brother. The death notice stated that her mother's residence was at 76 Patrick Street, Hobart but in fact that was the address of her grandfather's widow, Martha Nevin who became her step-parents when Minnie's mother Mary Ann Carr died soon after giving birth in Victoria. Family members had left ribbons and cards at her graveside but within days, these tokens were stolen.



Death notice for Mary Ann Carr
Mercury 30 September 1898

TRANSCRIPT

DEATHS
CARR. - On September 28, 1898 at her mother's residence, 76, Patrick -street, Mary Ann Carr (Minnie), aged 20 years. Funeral will leave her late residence on SATURDAY, at 3 p.m., for Cornelian Bay Cemetery.

Sonny Nevin inserted an angry notice in the Mercury, offering a reward to anyone who knew about the thief responsible for the desecration of his cousin's grave.


Sergeant Thomas James Nevin jnr, aka “Sonny”  ca. 1940s, in Salvation Army uniform.
Son of Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin, and cousin of Minnie Carr,
Taken shortly before his death in 1948.
Copyright © KLW NFC Pivate Collection 2009 ARR.



Sonny Nevin's notice in the Mercury 3 October 1898
Not to be confused with his father with same name
Desecration of his cousin Minne Carr's grave at Cornelian Bay cemetery.

TRANSCRIPT

DESECRATION OF A GRAVE
Ribbons and Cards have been STOLEN from the grave of my cousin, Miss M. A, Carr, who was interred in the Cornelian Bay Cemetery on Saturday last, a reward will be paid for information as to the thief.
Apply
T. J. NEVIN, Elizabeth-street.

Source: Mercury 3 October 1898

Martha Salter nee Genge, relict of John Nevin snr
Martha Salter, widow, 42 years old, sailed from Plymouth (UK) on 21st June 1878 on board the Somersetshire. She disembarked at Melbourne (Victoria) and boarded the Tamar for Hobart Town, arriving on 16th August 1878 (Edward Freeman, agents). She was listed an an immigrant, 43 yrs old, without children, a Wesleyan who could read and whose stated qualification was "needlewoman".  She was born in Taunton, Somersetshire, England, to William Genge, her father who was already resident in Hobart, the sponsor who paid the bounty of £16 for her ticket (No. 215). His application, as noted on this document, was signed off by B. Travers Solly on 16th August 1878, and forwarded to Treasury on 22nd August 1878.



Salter, Martha
Record Type:Arrivals
Age:42
Arrival date:16 Aug 1878
Departure port:London
Ship:Somersetshire
Record ID:
NAME_INDEXES:1532439
Resource:
CB7/23/1/1 p124
Archives Office Tasmania

Little more than a year after arriving in Tasmania, Martha Salter nee Genge, daughter of William Genge stonemason at the Wesleyan Chapel, Melville St. Hobart, Tasmania, married John Nevin snr of Kangaroo Valley (now Lenah Valley), Tasmania.



John Nevin snr, (1808-1887)
Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office
TAHO Ref: NS434/1/155 copy
Original photo by his son Thomas J. Nevin taken at his New Town studio October 1879
Photos copyright © KLW NFC 2012

Martha Nevin, formerly Salter, nee Genge (1833-1925)
Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office
TAHO Ref: NS434/1/194 copy
Original photos by Thomas J. Nevin taken at his New Town studio October 1879
Photos copyright © KLW NFC 2012

 Martha Nevin formerly Salter nee Genge, was photographed at Thomas Nevin's studio, New Town in 1879, aged 46 years, on the occasion of her marriage to her second husband John Nevin, aged 71 yrs.



Martha Nevin nee Genge widow of John Nevin, taken ca. 1887-1890
TAHO Ref:NS434/1/194

By the early 1920s, Martha Nevin, formerly Salter nee Genge (1833-1925) was in her late eighties when her nephew James Chandler photographed her with his mother, Mary Chandler nee Genge.



Martha Nevin nee Genge ca. 1920
TAHO Ref: NS434/1/248



Photographer: James Chandler
TAHO Ref: NS434/1/103
Martha Nevin nee Genge (left) and her sister Mary Chandler nee Genge (right) at Mt Stuart, Hobart – ca. 1920.
Photos copyright KLW NFC 2012

Title: JAMES CHANDLER, PHOTOGRAPHER
Start Date: 01 Jan 1910
End Date: 31 Dec 1935
James Chandler was a Hobart photographer. For many years he was a member of the Photographic Society and well-known on the Hobart waterfront as a marine photographer in the 1930’s and 1940’s. He was the youngest son of William Chandler, a bootmaker, and his wife Mary (nee Genge), the first couple married at the New Town Methodist Church on the 14 Jan 1868. His uncle was Jacob Chandler, a ship builder in Battery Point. He died in Hobart on 8 July 1945 and was cremated at Cornelian Bay 9 July 1945 aged 67, having been born on the 12 August 1877 in Hobart
Information Sources: Mercury 30 March 1945 p16 [Archives Office Tasmania]

 A short notice reporting the death of Martha Nevin nee Genge appeared in the Mercury, 9 March 1925, with incorrect information. It stated she was the relict of William Nevin: she was the relict of the late John Nevin snr, father of photographer Thomas J. Nevin.

NEVIN. -On March 7, 1925, at the residence of her brother (Mr. J. Genge), Boden [sic- should be Bowden]-street, Glenorchy, Martha, relict of the late William [sic – should be John] Nevin, in the 92nd year of her age.

Source: Family Notices. (1925, March 9). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 – 1954), p. 1. Retrieved March 1, 2014, from https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23802630



Cemetery record for Martha Nevin, 9 March 1925

Sandridge, Victoria, 1870s,  a busy port where Mary Ann Nevin's husband, mariner John Carr worked, and where he remained after her death, surrendering his new-born daughter to his father-in-law, John Nevin snr, back at Kangaroo Valley, New Town, Tasmania in 1878.



View Sandridge Pier Melbourne (c. 1870s)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Accession Number 2002.406

RELATED POSTS main weblog

• John Nevin snr and the Genge family
• The early deaths of Thomas Nevin's sisters Rebecca Jane and Mary Ann

Woman with pink ribbons by Thomas Nevin 1870s

WOMEN CLIENTS clothing
HAND-TINTED cartes-de-visite Aboriginal Tasmania
CITY PHOTOGRAPHIC ESTABLISHMENT Thomas J. Nevin





National Gallery of Victoria Catalogue Notes
No title (woman wearing a bonnet with a pink bow), carte-de-visite
(1865-1867)
T. NEVIN, Hobart
Medium albumen silver photograph, watercolour
Measurements 9.5 × 5.8 cm (image and support)
Place/s of Execution Hobart, Tasmania
Inscription printed in ink on support on reverse c. AD ALTIORA / CITY PHOTOGRAPHIC ESTABLISHMENT / T. NEVIN. / LATE / A. BOCK. / 140 ELIZABETH ST / HOBART TOWN. / Further copies / can be obtained at / any time.
Accession Number 2003.395
Department Australian Photography Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented through the NGV Foundation by John McPhee, Member, 2003

This carte-de-visite of an unidentified older woman, one of many older women who favoured Thomas Nevin's services for this type of full-length studio portrait, is unusual in that the pink tint applied to the ribbons tied in a bow at her neck is the same shade of pink applied to the ribbons worn by Pangernowidedic in a reprint, ca. 1875 of four Tasmanian Aborigines who were photographed originally in 1864 as a series at Government House (see below).



National Gallery of Victoria 
No title (woman wearing a bonnet with a pink bow), carte-de-visite
Photographer T. NEVIN, Hobart

The verso stamp of this cdv bears photographer Thomas J. Nevin's most common extant commercial design which he adapted from a late example of his predecessor's, Alfred Bock, when Nevin acquired the business, the City Photographic Establishment, on Bock's departure from Tasmania in 1867. The verso stamp on this carte-de-visite is identical to the cdv (below), taken of Elizabeth Bayley in late December 1874 (Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery collection), and printed in blue ink rather than black. The chair, carpet and table are the same in both cdvs, suggesting their captures date within days or months of each other, although the NGV has dated their photograph to 1865-1867. Both women were also photographed with the same body orientation to the viewer's left. The older woman directed her gaze to the right of the photographer, while the younger woman fixed her stare squarely at him. The cdv of Elizabeth Bayley held at the TMAG, however, is not tinted.





Verso of cdv which bears Nevin's common commercial stamp.
TMAG Ref: Q2012.28.28



Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Collection
TMAG Ref: Q2012.28.28
[Above]: Full length cdv on plain mount: Elizabeth Bayley, second wife of Captain James Bayley of Runnymede, New Town, Tasmania,
Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin late December 1874.
Verso with studio stamp: “Ad Altiora” above Kangaroo emblem, T. Nevin late A. Bock encircled by belt printed with “City Photographic Establishment” and address below, “140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town”. In italics below: “Further Copies can be obtained at any time”.

Pink and Blue Tinting
The original session in which this photograph was taken of Tasmanian Aboriginal people identified by Julie Gough (2014) as William Lanne (male, seated), Mary Ann (standing), Trucanini (on viewer's right) and Pangernowidedic (on viewer's left) is dated 1864 and widely credited to the studio of Henry Albert Frith of 19 Murray Street, Hobart. The original photograph was mass produced over the next 40 years in various formats, as a large albumen silver photograph (NGA), as a sennotype, as a lantern slide, and as a plain mounted rectangular carte-de-visite. A reproduction was obtained by Sir George Grey (1812-1898), Governor of New Zealand, probably ca. 1882 through requests in letters (Auckland PL manuscripts) made to the former Tasmanian Surveyor-General James Erskine Calder for long-neglected Tasmaniana. Calder sourced books mainly from bookseller William Legrand and photographs from John Watt Beattie whose major source of early Tasmanian photographers' work for his own commercial reproduction from the 1890s onwards was the Royal Society's Museum. This one sent to Grey was not a late Beattie reproduction; it was an older reproduction, a hand-tinted copy from the 1870s already held by the Museum when it was sourced and sent to Grey in New Zealand, and which he shortly afterwards donated to the Auckland Art Gallery in 1893.



Auckland Art Gallery
Title: The Last of the Native Race of Tasmania
Production Date:
Medium: black and white photograph, hand coloured
Size (hxw): 200 x 170 mm
Inscription:
THE LAST OF THE NATIVE RACE OF TASMANIA / ALL DEAD / THE ORIGINAL PICTURE TAKEN FOR THE TASMANIAN GOVERNMENT AND PLACED IN THE MUSEUM, HOBART, 1865. PHOTOGRAPHY BY H.A. FRITH. PUBLISHED IN THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON JOURNAL , 7TH JANUARY 1865 (PAGE 13). A LARGE COPY, TAKEN FROM THE ORIGINAL NEGATIVE, HAS BEEN PURCHASED BY SIR GEORGE GREY, TO BE PLACED IN THE ART GALLERY, AUCKLAND.
Credit Line: Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Sir George Grey,1893
Accession No: 1893/2 Other ID: 1893/2/A
http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/the-collection/browse-artists/723/henry-albert-frith

This second photograph dates from the same sitting in 1864 with minor changes to seating positions and clothing. It is also a hand-tinted reproduction dated ca. 1875 by Jane Lennon when John Hawkins published it in 2008. Hawkins notes the seating re-arrangement but not the fact that the balustrades on the upper internal balcony on either side of the sitters are more visible, while the tops of the columns are not. This may be another photographer's negative, perhaps one taken by someone working with Frith, Letitia Davidson, for example, who may have been present on the occasion, which was the annual Ball held at Government House in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday (May 27th, 1864). The print is not as carefully reproduced as the one above, and the hand-tinting differs slightly as well.

The note to this print dates it as ca. 1875 (Plate 13: Hawkins 2008)





[Source]: John Hawkins, A Suggested History of Tasmanian Aboriginal Kangaroo Skin or Sinew, Human Bone, Shell, Feather, Apple Seed & Wombat Necklaces
Published Australiana, November 2008 Vol. 30 No. 4
Note to this photograph (Plate 13: Hawkins 2008)
"Courtesy Jane Lennon Antiques, Hobart,"
http://www.jbhawkinsantiques.com/uploads/articles/TasmanianAppleseedNecklacesAustraliana-PDF.pdf

Both of these reproductions were hand-tinted after printing at dates later than the 1864 original sitting, These two images were not processed as sennotypes of the 1860s for which both Henry Frith and Alfred Bock were renowned exponents, nor were they reproduced in the genre of photographic portraits painted over in oils which were much sought after in the 1890s. These reproductions were delicately tinted by studio colorists in the 1870s, using three colours: blue, yellow, and pink, typically applied to some feature of apparel and to some facial features. This palette and application to prints is typically found on Nevin's portraiture of family, clients, and convicts. In similar manner to the tinting of NGV's full-length portrait of the unidentified woman by Nevin, the colorist ca. 1875 applied the same shade of pink tint to the same object of clothing in this image, namely to the ribbons worn by Pangernowidedic, seated next to William Lanne on extreme left.

Another photograph (below, and its negative) taken minutes apart from the tinted one above shows slight changes to the poses of the two sitters on the left, William Lanne and Pangernowidedic. Both face the front to look directly at the camera and photographer in this capture, whereas their heads in the tinted photograph (above) are orientated towards the viewer's right. Another change is the placement of William Lanne's right hand on his knee, which in the tinted photograph is in his pocket. Pangernowidedic's hand too is extended, whereas in the tinted photograph she held it clenched. The other two sitters, Mary Ann (standing) and Trucanini (on viewer's right) show barely any variation at all in their poses for each of the two captures.



Title: The last of the Tasmanian natives, 1864 / photographer Mr. Henry Albert Frith, Hobart Town
Item identifier: 93QVxNQ1
Permalink: https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/93QVxNQ1
State Library of NSW

The plate from which prints were obtained for this photograph was offered at auction recently by Gowans, Moonah, Tasmania, 19th June 2015. The first is the negative of the SLNSW copy, digitally flipped to show the composition as it appears on the positive print; the second is the negative of the SLNSW copy.



Above: this is the negative, digitally flipped to show the composition as it appears on the positive print of the SLNSW copy
Below: this is the negative of the SLNSW copy as it appeared when offered for sale.



The plate's provenance or previous ownership is unknown after its first use. The colonial government issued the commission first in 1864 to underscore the official narrative that the civilizing of Tasmanian Aborigines had been a successful endeavour, hence the dressing up of the sitters in elaborate European clothing and their presence at official events commemorating Queen Victoria's birthday. The plate may have arrived at Thomas Nevin's studio for reproduction in the early 1870s through requests for further prints by the colonial government as the belief that Tasmanian Aborigines were near extinction was becoming more widespread. Once Thomas Nevin ceased contractual work in 1888, his commercial and government stock was passed on to photographer and collector John Watt Beattie whose government commission from the 1890s was the promotion of Tasmania's heritage in intercolonial markets. The stock phrase to tout this and many more images of Tasmanian Aborigines in the name of tourism at the turn of the 20th century was "Last of Tasmanian Aborigines".



"Last of Tasmanian Aborigines".
Printing Plate 7 x 10cm
Gowans auction, Moonah, Tasmania, 19th June 2015

Vignetted portraits of Tasmanian convicts from the 1870s-1880s are relatively rare, and hand-tinted portraits even more remarkable, given the photographs were taken for daily use by police in the course of surveillance, detection and arrest. Prisoner identification photogaphs (portraits or mugshots) were taken and printed by commercial photographer Thomas J. Nevin from 1872 to 1876 for the Municipal Police Office registry, Hobart Town Hall, while he was still operating from his studio, the City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart, and thereafter to 1888 while in civil service. Nevin and his assistants printed several mugshots as vignettes (cloudy background) and hand-tinted the prison-issue, check-patterned scarf in light blue to better identify the sitter as a prisoner. At least seven of these hand-tinted prisoner photographs by Nevin are held in public institutions (NLA, TMAG, and SLNSW). This one taken of prisoner Job Smith, alias William Campbell, was hand-tinted by Nevin's studio with the same duck-egg blue tint used on the 1875 reprint of the four Tasmanian Aborigines. It dates to May 1874 when Nevin returned with Job Smith, known then by his alias William Campbell, from Port Arthur to be tried for rape at the Supreme Court, Hobart. Job Smith was executed on 31st May 1875.





Prisoner Job Smith alias CAMPBELL alias BRODIE
Photographed by T. J. Nevin, Hobart, February 1874
Vignetted copy (cloudy background) neck scarfand hand-coloured pale blue
Photo taken at the National Library of Australia, 16 December 2016
Photos copyright © KLW NFC 2015 ARR. Watermarked

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