Mugshots removed: prisoner William FORD 1886

PRISONER MUGSHOTS Hobart Gaol 1880s-1890s
MUGSHOTS printed in oval mounts

Above: William Ford, prisoner, booking photographs taken on 27 July 1886 when he was "disposed of by the Supreme Court". On the left, a semi profile photograph without hat, unframed; on the right, torso facing front, gaze deflected down and to left, wearing hat, printed as a carte-de-visite in an oval mount .William Ford was photographed at the Hobart Gaol by Constable John Nevin, produced by Thomas J. Nevin for the Municipal Police Office, Hobart Town Hall. Both photographs were taken and printed within the conventions of 1870s commercial studio portraiture, typical of Nevin's earlier mugshots of Tasmanian convicts. In 1886 Thomas J. Nevin was working with police in both capacities as photographer and assistant bailiff to Detective Inspector Dorsett, noted in The Mercury, 11 August 1886.

POLICE RECORD 1886
The police gazette published details of William Ford's sentence on 20th August 1886. He was locally born ("native" meaning born in Tasmania), and 22 years old when he was sentenced on 1 July 1886 to five years for assault with intention to rob.

William Ford, 22 yrs old, sentence to 5 yrs in 1886
Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police

POLICE RECORD 1892

William Ford was 27 years old when he was acquitted of burglary per police gazette, 23 February 1892.

POLICE RECORD 1893

Published on 4th August 1893, this police gazette notice recorded a new offence committed by William Ford on 16 May 1893. Now 29 years old and barely out of prison for serving out most of his sentence for the previous offense in 1886, he was sentenced this time to another six years for assault with intent to rob.

THE THREE RAP SHEETS
The photograph taken on incarceration in 1886, when William Ford was clean shaven and in prison clothing, was pasted to this blue form, the Hobart Gaol criminal sheet of offences, and then removed, to be included on the second criminal record dated 1893, together with copies of the sepia prints showing William Ford in street clothing.

William Ford's criminal record sheet dated 27 July 1886. The missing photograph taken from this sheet was pasted on the one below.
TAHO Ref: GD6719 Page 102

This Hobart Gaol record dated 25 July 1893, the day he was discharged from a sentence of five years, lists William Ford's offences and three mugshots on lower right, the first showing the prisoner clean shaven and in prisoner clothing.
Source: Archives Office Ref: GD63-1-1P216

Another criminal record sheet for William Ford, this one dated 27 November 1897. The last two entries show lengthy sentences of five and six years in 1886 and 1893. The photographs were taken for the police of William Ford in street clothing, printed in sepia and mounted within the typical conventions of commercial portraiture practiced by T. J. Nevin.
Source: Archives Office Tasmania Ref: GD12812 Page 292

Sourced from TAHO at Flickr

William Ford in street clothing, photographed for police by commercial photographer and government contractor T. J. Nevin. The printing of carte-de-visite portraits in an oval mount of prisoners as identification photographs was still a common format as late as the 1890s in Tasmania.

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.

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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

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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