Site Map No.1: Thomas J. Nevin: family biographica

Thomas James Nevin (1842-1923)
Professional photographer Thomas James Nevin was known by a number of variations of his name, and several of these are now used in books, articles, theses, and public holdings catalogues. His published names, including advertising, newspaper reports, signature on official documents and business name on studio stamps have appeared as the following:

Thomas Nevin
Thomas James Nevin
Thomas J. Nevin
Thomas Nevin senior
Thos Nevin
T. Nevin
T. Nevin late A. Bock
T. J. Nevin
Nevin & Smith
Clifford & Nevin.

Mispellings include Neven, Navin, Navan and McNevis.
Photographer Thomas James Nevin is not to be confused with his son by the same name, Thomas James Nevin (1874-1948) who was not a professional photographer.

Thomas Nevin's portraits of self, wife, brother and sister 1860s-1880

Family portraits taken by Thomas J. Nevin of himself and three of his wife Elizabeth Rachel Day (top row);
his brother William John aka Jack Nevin, himself, his sister Mary Ann Nevin, and himself again (bottom row).
Copyright ⓒ KLW NFC Imprint & Private Collection 2007

Please note that not all posts in each of these categories are listed below, and some links may be broken.

Family portraits of Thomas Nevin's parents, siblings, wife, in-laws and children

At Kangaroo Valley, Hobart, Tasmania 1854-1887

Captain Edward Goldsmith, uncle of Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day

Descendants and in-laws

Axup, Day and Genge families

Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin’s children: Davis, Bates and Drew families

Thomas & Elizabeth Nevin’s grandchildren
Grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren: only a few posts are included here out of respect for the living or recently deceased descendants and their families of Thomas and Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day.

Summary: The Generations
Below is a brief summary of three generational levels of the immediate families of photographer Thomas J. Nevin and his wife Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day. Only a few articles are available of living or recently deceased descendants.

GENERATION ONE:

Nevin, John and wife Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson
Nevin, John and second wife Martha Salter nee Genge
Day, Captain James and wife Rachael Day nee Pocock
Goldsmith, Captain Edward and wife Elizabeth Goldsmith nee Day

Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson (1810-1875) and John Nevin snr (1808-1887) had four children, all born near Belfast, Ireland between 1842 and 1852, prior to arrival as free settlers at Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) on the convict transport Fairlie in July 1852. Mary Ann Dickson was born at the Borders, UK and moved with her brother, rose grower Alexander Dickson to Newtonards, Ireland where she met and married John Nevin in 1841. John Nevin snr was a former soldier of the Royal Scots First Regiment, a journalist, poet, teacher, Wesleyan and gardener. They were settled at Kangaroo Valley (known as Lenah Valley since 1922) near Hobart, Tasmania by 1854. John Nevin married a second time in 1879 to widow Martha Salter nee Genge after the death of his first wife Mary Ann Nevin in 1875.

Thomas J. Nevin's portraits of his parents ca. 1872
Copyright ⓒ KLW NFC Imprint & Private Collection 2007

Parents of Thomas J. Nevin
Mother: Mary Anne Nevin nee Dickson (1810-1875)
Father: John Nevin snr ca (1808-1887)

GENERATION ONE extended: John Nevin's second marriage: Genge and Chandler families
Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson (1810-1875), first wife of John Nevin snr (1808-1887) died in 1875. He married his second wife, widow Martha Genge (1833-1925) (formerly Salter), in 1879. There were no children born to Martha Genge and John Nevin, although they acted as step-grandparents to Minnie Carr (1878-1898) daughter of John Nevin's daughter Mary Ann Carr nee Nevin (1844-1878) who died in Victoria within weeks of giving birth.

Mary Chandler nee Genge (1835-1923), sister of Martha Nevin nee Genge was the second wife of shoe maker William Chandler. Of the three children born in this marriage, the youngest, James Chandler (1877-1945), who would become a professional photographer, was Thomas J. Nevin's successor to the vocation of photography within the extended family network.

GENERATION TWO

Nevin, Thomas James and wife Elizabeth Rachel Day
Axup, Hector and wife Mary Sophia Day, sister of Elizabeth Rachel Day
Goldsmith, Edward jnr, son of Captain Edward and Elizabeth Goldsmith nee Day (sister of Captain James Day)

NEVIN-DICKSON children
Children of Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson and John Nevin snr:

1. Thomas James (Thos) Nevin (1842-1923) m. Elizabeth Rachel Day (1847-1914)
2. Mary Ann Nevin (1844-1878) married John Carr in 1877
3. Rebecca Jane Nevin (1847-1865)
4. William John (Jack) Nevin (1852-1891)

Left: Thomas J. Nevin with stereoscopic viewer and white gloves mid-1860s.
Right: Portrait by Thomas Nevin of his brother Jack (Constable William John) Nevin ca 1880
Copyright ⓒ KLW NFC Imprint & Private Collection 2007

DAY-POCOCK children
Children of Rachel Day nee Pocock (ca. 1812-1857) and Captain James Day (1806-1882). Rachel Day nee Pocock died of “consumption” at Hobart in 1857, and Captain James Day died in 1882 at the home of his younger daughter Mary Sophia Axup, Battery Point, Hobart. Photographer Thomas James Nevin married Elizabeth Rachel Day on 11th July, 1871 at Kangaroo Valley, Hobart.

1.Elizabeth Rachel (Lizza) Day (1847-1914) m. Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
2. Mary Sophia Day (1853-1942) m. Hector Charles James Horatio Axup (1843-1927)

Elizabeth Rachel Day, married Thomas J. Nevin in 1871
Taken by Thomas Nevin at Nevin & Smith (late Bock's) ca. 1868 at 140, Elizabeth Street Hobart Town.
Full-length portrait, carte-de-visite. Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint. Watermarked.

GOLDSMITH -DAY children
Children of Elizabeth Goldsmith nee Day (1802-1875), sister of Captain James Day, and Captain Edward Goldsmith (1804-1869). These were the Goldsmith cousins of the Day sisters, Elizabeth Rachel Day and Mary Sophia Day. Richard died in Hobart, 24 yrs old, in 1854 and Edward jnr died in Rochester (UK) in 1883.

1. Richard Sydney Goldsmith (1830-1854)
2. Edward Goldsmith jnr (1836-1883) m. Sarah Jane Rivers (1835-1926)

Grave of Captain Edward Goldsmith and family
Large ledger with rocks and horizontal cross
St Mary the Virgin Church, Chalk Kent UK
Photo copyright © Carole Turner March 2016

GENERATION THREE:

Nevin, Thomas J. and wife Elizabeth Rachel Day
Axup, Captain Hector and wife Mary Sophia Day

AXUP-DAY children
Mary Sophia Axup nee Day (1853-1942) and Hector Charles James Horatio Axup (1843-1927) had five children between 1878 and 1891.

Studio portrait of Ella Axup (Patience Ella Mary Axup, 1889 -1913)
Taken at the VANDYCK Studios, Launceston, Tasmania ca. 1911.
Postcard format. Verso inscribed: "Cousin Ella Axup"
Copyright © KLW NFC Group Private Collections 2020

Children of Mary Sophia Axup nee Day and Hector C. Axup
NB: These dates may not be totally accurate.

1. Rachel Frances Eva Axup (1878-1978) m. P. Baldwin
2. Sidney James Vernon Axup (1882-1975) m. Emily Tyson
3. Edward Harold Leslie Axup (1885-1964) m. ?
4. Patience Ella Mary Axup (1889-1913)
5. Olive Lilian Ethel Axup (1891- ? ) m. Charles Wilshire (10 March 1920)

This notice of Olive Lilian Ethel's marriage appeared in the Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, on Wednesday 10 March 1920, page 6:

WEDDING BELLS, WILSHIRE--AXUP A quiet (Lenten) Anzac wedding was celebrated in St. John' Church yesterday morning. Those united in holy matrimony were Sergeant Charles Wilshire (late A.I. F.), of Wiltshire, England, son of the late Mrs. Wilshire, former private secretary to Mr. W. Long (Colonial Secretary), also great-grand son of the Duke of Wellington's aide-decamp at Waterloo; and Ethel, youngest. daughter of Captain H. C. Axup, of Launceston. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. F. C. Crotty. Miss Fiora Good was the only bridesmaid, and the bride was given away by her father. The happy couple travelled to Melbourne by the Loongana in the afternoon for their honeymoon. They will subsequently return to King Island, where the bridegroom intends to pursue agricultural interests.

NEVIN-DAY children
Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day (1847-1914) and Thomas James Nevin (1842-1923) had seven children, six surviving to adulthood. Three sons – Sydney, William and George – were born at the Hobart Town Hall during their father’s residency as Office and Hall Keeper. Sydney died four months after birth.

Children of Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day and Thomas J. Nevin:

One of Thomas and Elizabeth's four adult sons -

Possibly George or Tom (Thomas J. jnr) or Bill (William John) Nevin ca. 1901

Posed in best suit - full length portrait with wicker whatnot.
Family photograph taken at home by his father Thomas Nevin snr
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2020 ARR.

1. Mary Florence Elizabeth (May) Nevin (1872-1955)
2. Thomas James (Sonny) Nevin (1874-1948) m. Gertrude Tennyson Bates (1883-1958)
3. Sydney John Nevin (1876-1877)
4. William John Nevin (1878-1927)
5. George Ernest Nevin (1880-1957)
6. Mary Ann (Minnie) Nevin (1884-1974) m. James Henry Alfred Drew (1878-1963)
7. Albert Edward Nevin (1888-1955) m. Emily Maud Davis (1891-1971)

Above: an old webshot taken from the Archives Office of Tasmania website in 2005 of births to photographer Thomas J. Nevin and his wife Elizabeth Rachel Day.

GENERATION FOUR
Grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren: only a few posts are included here out of respect for the living or recently deceased descendants and their families of Thomas and Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day.

Thomas & Elizabeth Nevin’s grandchildren

Navigation

Site Map No. 1: Biographica - Nevin Family
Site Map No. 2: Thomas J. Nevin - Professional Work
See also Key Chronology 1842-1923
The complete blog posts archive by label

IN HIS OWN WORDS...

"T. J. NEVIN
PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTIST,
Returns his sincere thanks to his friends and the public for past favours, and having made a considerable Reduction in his Prices to suit the times, he solicits a continuance of their patronage, and invites attention to his circulars, showing particulars of the small cost for a first-class faithful Likeness.
140 ELIZABETH-STREET"
Hobart Mercury, 1st February 1873

“I hope that you have not got it in your mind that I am implicated with the ghost“.
Hobart Mercury, 4 December 1880

"Defendant said that he was the father of a large number of children, and did not know which one was referred to. (Laughter.)"
Hobart Mercury, 11 August 1886

"Mr. Thos Nevin was under the impression that the police should be under stricter supervision."
Hobart Mercury, 19 July 1888.

BIOGRAPHY: professional photographer Thomas James Nevin snr (1842-1923) produced large numbers of stereographs and cartes-de-visite within his commercial practice, and prisoner identification photographs on government contract. His career spanned nearly three decades, from the early 1860s to the late 1880s. He was one of the first photographers to work with the police in Australia, along with Charles Nettleton (Victoria) and Frazer Crawford (South Australia). His Tasmanian prisoner mugshots are among the earliest to survive in public collections, viz. the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston; the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart; the Tasmanian Heritage and Archives Office, Hobart; the Port Arthur Historic Site, Tasman Peninsula; the National Library of Australia, Canberra; and the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, Sydney. Thomas J. Nevin's stereographs and portraits are held in public and private collections in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, France and Switzerland.

Click here for KEY DATES 1842-1923

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Important Notices

INDIGENOUS NOTICE:
lutruwita/Tasmania/Van Diemen's Land (loo-tru-wee-ta) always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

This weblog pays respect to the ancestors and elders past, present, and emerging of the first Australian peoples and acknowledges their continued connection to land, sea and culture as the traditional custodians of this country.

Irish-born Thomas J. Nevin would have been keenly aware that the residence and photographic studio he occupied at No's 138-140 Elizabeth St. Hobart in the 1870s were built on the traditional lands, nipaluna of the palawa people. It is no small irony that today, the very same property, which is renumbered as No. 198 Elizabeth St. Hobart and is occupied by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, has returned to its traditional owners.

Looking east from the corner of Patrick St., the Royal Standard Hotel, 142 Elizabeth St. then T. J. Nevin’s studio and residence, 140-138 Elizabeth St. Hobart, 1870s

We also acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation as the traditional custodians of the City of Sydney, and the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, the traditional custodians of the Kamberri/Canberra region on whose lands this site is maintained.

PLEASE NOTE: images on this weblog represent deceased people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Viewing such images may cause sadness and distress.

DISCLAIMER: We have not voluntarily contributed to any publication which supports the misattribution of T. J. Nevin's prisoner/convict photographs (300+ extant) to the non-photographer A. H. Boyd, nor do we condone any attempts by public institutions or private individuals to co-opt the work on these Thomas J. Nevin weblogs and associated sites to apply the misattribution.

Our 20th Anniversary 2005-2025

Click on image for full list tagged "About women"

TWENTY YEARS ago (before 2005 actually) we started blogging about Tasmanian photographer Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923). We look forward to another year or so as the project draws closer to completion. Contributions and donations are most welcome, and many thanks for your involvement.

SABBATICAL 2025: We are taking a short break from regular posting through 2025 but will be available to answer queries.

Anthony Trollope at Port Arthur

Thomas Nevin's VIP commission 1872

VISIT TO PORT ARTHUR.- Mr. Trollope and the Hon. Howard Spensly, Esq., Solicitor-General of Victoria, accompanied the Hon. the Premier, J.M. Wilson, Esq., and the Hon. the Attorney-General, W.R. Giblin, Esq., embarked in the Government schooner late last night, some time after Mr. Trollope had concluded his lecture on "Modern Fiction, as a recreation for young people," and left for Port Arthur. Their visit to the Peninsula will be a very hurried one, and will afford them only scant opportunity of inspecting the penal establishment, it being the intention of Messrs. Trollope and Spensly to leave Hobart Town for the North, en route for Victoria in a few days ...

Source: The Mercury 2 February 1872