Winter amd summer prison uniforms 1870s
Auction of copies of Tasmanian prisoner cdv's December 2024
Two different photographs are held in the National Library of Australia's collection of 1870s Tasmanian "convict portraits" - and not recorded in any other public collection - of a prisoner whom the Tasmanian police discharged as Charles Heys on 22nd July 1874, noting in the gazette that his alias was Ward, transported to Tasmania as Charles Heys on the Moffatt 2. He was 18 years old when transported for seven (7) years for stealing a handkerchief, arriving at Hobart on 1 April 1838.
Government contractor Thomas J. Nevin took both photographs at the Hobart Gaol, possibly of two different men, but which photograph is the one taken on discharge in 1874 of the prisoner identified by police as Charles Heys in 1874? If it is the same prisoner in both photographs, he was photographed on two separate occasions in two different sittings, in one wearing the standard issue winter uniform as Charles Hayes according to the verso, and in the other the summer uniform as Charles Ward.
The NLA has catalogued the first cdv here from information inscribed on verso as "Charles Hayes, per Moffat, taken at Port Arthur, 1874." (NLA PIC Album #P1029/74). For this sitting with Thomas Nevin he wore the standard issue prison heavy overcoat, so he was most likely the man recorded as Charles Heys - not Hayes - alias Ward when Thomas J. Nevin photographed him on discharge in the winter month of July, 1874.
NLA Catalogue (incorrect information)
Charles Hayes, per Moffat, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
Call Number PIC P1029/74 LOC Album 935
Created/Published 1874
Extent 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm. on mount 10.5 x 6.3 cm.
NLA Catalogue (incorrect information)
Charles Ward, per Moffatt, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
Call Number PIC P1029/46 LOC Album 935
1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm., on mount 10.4 x 6.4 cm.
Transport and Police Records
Charles Heys was 18 years old when transported for 7 years for theft of a handkerchief:
Archives Office Tasmania
Source: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON34-1-7/CON34-1-7P577
Last entries in main column:
Charles Heys, tried as Charles Brown Launceston Supreme Court 4 October 1860 for assault with intent - 7 years penal servitude at Port Arthur. Tried as Charles Ward Hobart Supreme Court 7 July 1868 - Burglary - 7 years imprisonment Port Arthur.
Remarks:
"To be discharged on 6/7/74 if conduct good Pauper Depot P.A. awaiting removal to Hobart Town 9/7/74".
Archives Office Tasmania
Conduct Registers of Male Convicts arriving in the Period of the Assignment System. (CON31)
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON31-1-22/CON31-1-22P50
POLICE GAZETTE RECORDS
Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police, J, Barnard, Gov't Printer
Charles Ward, alias Hayes, was convicted and sentenced to seven years for burglary at the Supreme Court Hobart in the July sitting 1868. He was discharged under the name he was transported - Charles Heys - alias Ward, six years later , in July 1874. Just possibly, the cdv which identifies him as Charles Ward first, and his alias as Hayes is the earlier one, posed facing to right of frame, taken when assigned to an employer (FS - free in servitude), and the cdv which identifies him as Charles Heys, transferred from Port Arthur and discharged from the Hobart Gaol in July 1874 is the cdv in which he is facing to left of frame.
Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police, J, Barnard, Gov't Printer
Charles Heys as Ward was sentenced to 7yrs for burglary at the Supreme Court Hobart on 7 July 1868. He was photographed by Thomas J. Nevin on discharge from the Hobart Gaol in the week ending 22nd July 1874. But which photograph was taken at that sitting? In which photograph does he look older, if he is the same prisoner? Or are these two different men?
The same or different prisoner(s) Charles Heys or Hayes or Ward?
National Library of Australia Collection
Left: Charles Hayes, per Moffat, taken at Port Arthur, 1874. NLA PIC Album #P1029/74
Right: Charles Ward, per Moffatt, taken at Port Arthur, 1874. NLA PIC Album 935 #P1029/46
Update 27 December 2024
A carte-de-visite of Charles Heys as Ward but inscribed verso with the names "Charles Ward or Hayes" taken in July 1874 by Thomas J. Nevin at the Hobart Gaol, was sold at Leski's auction, Melbourne, 7 December 2024. It was sold in a group of even (7) similar 1870s Tasmanian prisoner mugshots.
The verso clearly shows the factually incorrect inscription "Taken at Port Arthur 1874" plus two numbers - 312 and 313 - written in the 1890s-1900s when copies of this cdv along with several hundred more similarly inscribed were numbered and exhibited at John Watt Beattie's "Port Arthur Museum" in Hobart, and offered for sale on travelling intercolonial/interstate exhibitions associated with the fake convict hulk Success. The inscribed numbers "312 & 313" are clues to the provenance of this collection. First, both cdv's of Charles Heys as Ward or Hayes were listed one after the other in an assemblage of cdv's arranged alphabetically, where the cdv's of prisoners with surnames beginning with "W" were placed last, probably in an album for display at Beattie's museum. Second, that no more than a total of about 300 to 320 or so cdv's were collated and displayed in the sequence in the album.
Screenshot detailing the display and sale of this cdv identified as "Charles Ward or Hayes" from this article posted here:
Link: https://tasmanianphotographer.blogspot.com/2024/12/leskis-auction-of-t-j-nevins-1870s.html