PHOTOGRAPHERS and wedding guests
REV. James HUTCHINSON
Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day (1847-1914)
Original photograph by her husband Thomas J. Nevin ca. 1874
Photo copyright © KLW NFC Group KLW NFC Imprint ARR
Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day, wife of Thomas James. Nevin (1842-1923), was born in London on 26th March 1847, and christened at St Mary’s, Rotherhithe, London, UK on 28th April 1847, the eldest daughter of Captain James Day and Rachael Pocock who were married at St David’s Church Hobart Tasmania on January 6th, 1841. Her younger sister Mary Sophia Day was born in Hobart on 9th March 1853. Their father, master mariner Captain James Day (1806-1882), was born on 10th June 1806, in Yorkshire, UK, and died in Hobart, Tasmania on 21st November 1882.
Elizabeth Rachel Day was named after her aunt, her father’s older sister, Elizabeth (Day) Goldsmith, who married Captain Edward Goldsmith in 1829, at Liverpool, UK. Elizabeth's middle name, which came from her mother Rachael Pocock who died of consumption at New Town, Tasmania, in 1857, was changed to "Rachel" on all BDM registration forms, but inserted as "Rachael" into the Mercury's notice of her marriage, suggesting it may have been lodged for publication by Elizabeth's widowed father Captain James Day.
Elizabeth Rachel Day married Thomas James Nevin on 12th July, 1871 at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley, Hobart Tasmania.
The following marriage notice appeared in the Mercury of July 14th, 1871.
NEVIN-DAY - On Wednesday, 12th July, at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley, by the Rev. J. Hutchison [sic], Thomas, eldest son of Mr. J. Nevin, of Kangaroo Valley, to Elizabeth Rachael [sic], eldest daughter of Captain Day, of Hobart Town.They had seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood. Thomas J. Nevin died on March 12th, 1923, aged 80 yrs. His wife Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin died on June 21st, 1914, aged just 67 yrs. Their graves are located at the Cornelian Bay cemetery, Hobart, Tasmania.
The Wedding Photograph, 12 July 1871
This photograph was taken at Thomas J. Nevin's studio, the City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, possibly by his younger brother Jack (Constable John Nevin or W. J. Nevin). The same studio decor - the lozenge-patterned carpet and floral-patterned drape - appears in several extant studio portraits by Thomas J. Nevin of family members and private clientele up to the late 1870s.
This is an albumen print on a plain buff carte-de-visite mount. Someone doodled in ink or biro in the lower left-hand corner of the image on the carpet, possibly tracing a photochemical stain. There is no studio stamp on the verso, indicating the image was taken for family viewing only.
Wedding photograph of Thomas J. Nevin and Elizabeth Rachel Day, married on July 12th 1871.
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2005 ARR.
Verso of wedding photo of Thomas J. Nevin and Elizabeth Rachel Day, July 12th 1871.
Inscriptions "Grandma & Grandfather Nevin" by one of their grandchildren
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2005 ARR.
Australia, Tasmania, Civil Registration, 1803-1933,
RGD 37/30. Marriages, 1871 (to no 571)
Archives Office of Tasmania, Hobart.
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD37-1-30p154j2k
Portrait of the Reverend James Hutchinson
Minister of Paterson Street Methodist Church, Launceston, Tasmania.1861-4.
QVMAG Collection Registration No: QVM:1983:P:0051
Type: cabinet
Produced By: Baily, H.H.
Place of Production:94 Liverpool St., Hobart, Tasmania
Inscription: handwritten: reverse print: "Rev James Hutchison"
The Group Photograph
The Methodist minister presiding at the marriage of Thomas J. Nevin to Elizabeth Rachel Day at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley, Hobart, was the Rev. James Hutchinson. He was captured here sitting at the table with the griffin-shaped legs which features in dozens of Thomas J. Nevin's portraits of private clientele taken at his city studio, 140 Elizabeth St., Hobart, an indication that the Reverend's photograph was likely taken by Thomas J. Nevin, although the QVMAG catalogue notes state that the photographer was Henry Hall Baily, a close friend of the Nevin family well into 1880s whose studio in the 1860s faced Nevin's on Elizabeth St. Hobart. H. H. Baily may have acquired Nevin's negative for further copies at the Rev. Hutchinson's request.
Then again, Henry Hall Baily may well have taken both the photograph of the couple, Thomas and Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin in wedding dress (above) and of the Rev. Hutchinson on the day; in fact, H. H. Baily may have been a wedding guest among the three men standing behind the seated bride and groom, with the fourth, younger brother Jack Nevin (William John) standing at extreme right, hand on hip in his typical pose.
It is possible that the man standing on Jack Nevin's right was Thomas Nevin's close friend and partner, photographer Samuel Clifford. If H. H. Baily attended the wedding, did he take this photograph, or was he one of the two remaining unidentified men? If the latter, then who was the fifth photographer present from Thomas Nevin's cohort - i.e. not Thomas himself or his brother Jack Nevin, not H. H. Baily nor Samuel Clifford, so who took it? Alfred Bock, perhaps, on a visit from Victoria, who was Nevin's former mentor and leasee of the City Photographic Establishment studio until his departure from Tasmania in 1867.
The two signatory witnesses on the marriage registration form were William Hanson, furniture dealer whose shop was located on the corner of Elizabeth and Warwick streets, Hobart (site of the former hotel the Black Prince), and Elizabeth's younger sister and bridesmaid (both wore the same floral hair pin), standing at her left shoulder. There is also the possibility that one of the men standing was their father, Captain James Day (1808-1882); their mother, however, had died of consumption in 1857, leaving questions as to the identities of the other two women present.
Group photograph, wedding day 12 July 1871, Kangaroo Valley, Hobart, Tasmania
Seated: photographer Thomas James Nevin and his bride Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin
Standing: family members and friends, younger brother Jack Nevin on extreme right
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2009 ARR
This is a very unusual photographic artefact, a sepia print on thin paper which was rescued recently from a modern album held in the estate of Eva Elizabeth Morris nee Nevin (1917-2008), a grand daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Rachel Nevin, eldest daughter of their youngest son Albert E. Nevin (m. Emily Davis 1917). The print had been pasted onto a glue-coated ridged sheet and covered with plastic, hence the deterioration from the ridges showing through the paper. The original photograph, taken in the studio, was not cropped before it was printed. The edges of the backdrop sheet, featuring an arch to the viewer's left, are clearly visible.
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