Prisoner James MORGAN alias Morgan the Poet who sings in pubs

Records Source:
National Library of Australia TROVE and State Library of Tasmania record of the police identity photograph of James Morgan, taken by commercial and police photographer T.J. Nevin at the Municipal Police Office, Hobart Town Hall on or about 20th December 1876, the date of James Morgan's discharge, and the year - 1876 - when Thomas J. Nevin took the residential position of keeper of the Hobart Town Hall; was also photographer for the Mayor's Court police records held in the Municipal Police Office housed within the Town Hall; and office record keeper for the Hobart City Corporation.

Older webshot of the mugshot of James Morgan at the Archives Office of Tasmania

TRANSPORTATION RECORDS

James Morgan was 22 years old when he was tried at the Gloucester Assizes in 1844 for burglary and transported for 15 years, first to Norfolk Island in 1845 and then to VDL in 1847.

This part of Morgan's record is underscored on the conduct register:

"Tried Hobart Town S.C [Supreme Court} 11 December 1855 Buggery with James Rowe To be Hanged Mercy extended To be kept in Penal Servitude fo the term of his natural Life and to be sent to Port Arthur ..."

State Library of Tasmania Archives (TAHO)

Morgan, James
Convict No: 50625
Extra Identifier:
SEE Surname:
SEE Given Names:
Voyage Ship: Hyderabad
Voyage No: 368
Arrival Date: 19 Feb 1845
Departure Date: 21 Oct 1844
Departure Port: Downs
Conduct Record: CON33/1/86
Muster Roll:
Appropriation List:
Other Records:
Indent: CON14/1/29 p226c
Description List:
Remarks: Off Norfolk Island per Tory May 1847

POLICE RECORDS

Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime (Police Gazettes) Govt Printer James Barnard

".. known as Morgan the Poet. Sings in public-houses."

James Morgan was arrested on the 16th August 1872 for assault; notice of the arrest was printed in the police gazette on 23 August 1872. In 1872 he was listed as 50 years old.

The Conduct Record (above) notes in the right hand column;

On 3 March 1872,someone wrote on the Conduct Register:

"At the expiration of 4 yrs from 4/12/72 being 21 yrs from Life sentence without offence T of L to be granted ...11/12/76 To be enlarged wth T.L. "

And so Morgan the Poet was discharged of 20 December 1876, per this notice in the police gazette:

James Morgan's crime was listed "Unnatural Offences" for which he was sentenced in 1855 for life, discharged 20 December 1876

In this extract from the NSW Police Gazette of 27 March, 1878, (reprinted in the Tasmanian police gazettes on 5 April 1878) ) James Morgan was reported as missing by a relative, possibly a wife or sister-in-law, or mother, Mrs Caroline Morgan, resident of New Zealand. The information contained in this notice correctly identifies his physical features - 55 years old, medium build, fair complexion, and had left England in 1849. It would appear that Mrs Caroline Morgan believed he had settled in Victoria ca. 1865, 13 years previously. However, his transportation records show he left England in 1844, arrived on Norfolk Island and arrived in VDL off Norfolk Island in 1847.

James Morgan didn't remain at large for long.

James Morgan alias The Poet was arrested on the 2 August by the Kingston (Tas) Territorial Police, and the notice was published on 30 August 1878. What was the crime?

QVMAG RECORDS

Above: Verso of the carte-de-visite photograph of James Morgan, which was inscribed in the early 1900s to include details of the convict's date of arrival and name of ship, and the date "1874", a year in which T.J. Nevin was commissioned by the Municipal Police Office to visit Port Arthur to collate records and take photographs of prisoners whom he had not previously photographed at the Hobart Gaol, the central gaol for all offenders with sentences of longer than 3 months.

Taken at the Municipal Police Office, Hobart Town Hall by Thomas J. Nevin on or about 20th December 1876, the date of James Morgan's discharge.

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

Try thumbnail SEARCHING here and

here BIOGRAPHICA thumbnail index

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 19th Anniversary 2005-2024

Click on image for full list tagged "About women"

NINETEEN 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 2023-24: We are taking a short break from regular posting through 2024 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