Prisoner Charles GARFORTH/GARFITT and the QVMAG

Mugshots in the BEATTIE Collection, QVMAG
Twentieth century exhibitions of T. J. NEVIN's mugshots 1870s



Prisoner Charles Garforth/Garfitt, photograph by T. J. Nevin, Hobart Gaol, February 1873
The Hobart Town Advertiser on Saturday 28 June 1862, page 2 reported that the Municipal Council had received a letter from Mr. Boyd announcing that John Garforth had been appointed a constable. But just two months later, in August 1862, Adolarious Humphrey Boyd was advising the Mayor's Court to fine Charles Garforth for being drunk on duty, and recommended his discharge from the constabulary.
See this later article about prisoner Charles Garfitt's experiences at Port Arthur.
"Prisoner Charles J. GARFORTH said he would make Superintendent Adolarious H. BOYD pay dearly, 1875":
Link: https://tasmanianphotographer.blogspot.com/2023/10/prisoner-charles-j-garforth-said-he.html

Exhibitions

At the QVMAG 1977:
A photograph and carte-de-visite of Charles Garforth/Garfitt, taken and printed by Thomas J. Nevin at the Hobart Gaol in February 1873 for police records, was among the 200 or so prisoner identification photographs accessioned to the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery from John Watt Beattie's estate in the early 1930s. Although some of these prisoner photographs arrived at the QVMAG still attached to the prisoner's criminal record sheet, the QVMAG has not digitised any of the complete records to which these photographs were attached, nor even acknowledged holding them, despite clear statements by the researchers Geoff Stilwell and John Mcphee of their existence when preparing the 1977 exhibition of these mounted carte-de-visite portraits by Thomas J. Nevin, all sourced from the Beattie Collection.



Letter to Specialist Collections Geoff Stilwell at the State Library of Tasmania from the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery curator John McPhee, dated 24th February 1977.

TRANSCRIPT

Dear Geoffrey,
Enclosed is a photostat of a convict history sheet, featuring a photograph. I think we have a couple of these.
Should you be interested in including them in your exhibition or any of our T.J. Nevin photographs, do let me know.

Best wishes,
John

[24.ii.1977]

Source: Stillwell Files, courtesy of the Archives Office of Tasmania 2005

At the PACDP 1983
This wall chart or poster of Tasmanian prisoners taken by Thomas Nevin at the Hobart Gaol in the 1870s was produced by the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority in 1983 from prisoner mugshots held in the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery's Beattie Collection. The title - "Who Were They? The convicts of Port Arthur" was used by the curators of the Port Arthur Conservation and Development Project (PACDP) in 1983-4 to suggest these photographs were taken in 1874 at the Port Arthur prison by the non-photographer prison commandant A. H. Boyd, a claim intended to flatter Boyd's descendants without proof or substance of any kind. Charles Garfitt's headshot is the last on the left, third row from top on this poster.



Wall chart or poster of Tasmanian convicts produced by the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority from photographs held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery Beattie Collection taken by Thomas J. Nevin in the 1870s.
Photo copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2009 ARR.

The Mugshot
Charles Garforth/Garfitt's photograph was reproduced in duplicate (usually 4 were printed) by government contractor Thomas J. Nevin from his original negative taken at the Supreme Court sittings and Oyer sessions per government regulations (up to 25 prints were required in NSW). This one may be a loose duplicate, but it is unlikely to ever have existed without being pasted to Garforth/Garfitt's prison rap sheet, whether in a regional police office, or at the Hobart Gaol and the Municipal Police Office, Hobart Town Hall. It was removed and transcribed with "Taken at Port Arthur 1874" by John Watt Beattie in order to attract tourists to the ruins of the Port Arthur prison site in the 1890s (renamed Carnavon), and to Beattie's convictaria museum in Hobart in particular in the early 1900s.

Once acquired by the QVMAG in the 1930s from Beattie's estate, this cdv and another 300 similar mugshots of Tasmanian prisoners (termed "convicts" in tourism discourse) held in the Beattie Collection were handled further and transcribed with more numbers verso and recto, many even copied, and others permanently removed: in 1934 for an exhibition of Beattie's work at the Launceston City Council; in 1958 for storage at the QVMAG; in 1977 for the Thomas J. Nevin exhibition at the QVMAG; in 1982 for the PAHSMA "Who were they?" poster; in 1983 for the Port Arthur Conservation and Development Project (PACDP); in 1985 for the National Library of Australia's exhibition; in 1987 for the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, who requested originals and copies from the PACDP exhibition; again in 1995 for the TMAG publication of Tasmanian Photographers 1840-1940; and finally for digitisation, post 2000.

Many of these dates and archivist's numbers are visible on both recto and verso. Oddly, those museum and library workers still alive today will not come forward with an honest account of their involvement and their reasons for wanting to sideline or trivialise photographer Thomas J. Nevin's attribution. To do so might eradicate the flim-flam arising in the 1980s as a "belief" (and hearsay) about the corrupt commandant of Port Arthur A. H. Boyd being the "author" of these mugshots (Chris Long with Warwick Reeder 1990s), reaching absurd heights in 2007 as pure nasty politics at the NLA (Julia Clark with Margy Burn). Their vacuous claims have only magnified the charismatic hold Thomas J. Nevin's mugshots of Tasmanian prisoners can have on simple minds. After all, his work was greatly admired by Beattie in the first instance, and that is why he salvaged them for the tourist market, and why these mugshots have survived today from the 1870s.

NUMBERS
This cdv of Charles Garfitt was numbered "174" on the mount under the photograph when it was removed from the QVMAG in 1983 for display at Port Arthur during the Port Arthur Conservation and Development Project. The number "283" verso applied used by Beattie and Searle in the early 1900s when arranging this cdv and 300 more mugshots they designated "Taken at Port Arthur 1874" for exhibitions in the name of tourism.



Black and white print from the sepia cdv, QVMAG collection
Prisoner Charles Garforth/Garfitt, photograph by T. J. Nevin February 1873
Source: QVMAG Ref: 1985: P: 0111



Verso inscriptions (incorrect information):
"283 Charles Garforth written over Garfitt per M. S. Elphinstone 2(1848) Taken at Port Arthur 1874".
Source: QVMAG Ref: 1985: P: 0111

Police Records



Two arrests were gazetted by police on 10th January 1873: Thomas Griffin, also photographed by T. J. Nevin, was arrested by Acting D. C. Berrisford, of the Hobart Territorial Police, and Constable Murray of the Glenorchy Municipal Police.
The property stolen from Samuel Butterworth was recovered and Charles Garfit [sic] was arrested by Acting D. C. Ruddock and Constable Badcock of the Hobart Territorial Police, convicted on 25 January sentenced to one year.



Charles Garfitt per M.S. Elphinstone was arrested for larceny and convicted on 23 January 1873. He was tried two weeks later, on 18-19 February at the Supreme Court, Hobart when Thomas J. Nevin photographed him on incarceration at the Hobart Gaol.



Charles Garfoot [sic] or Garfitt was tried at the Supreme Court, Hobart for housebreaking, sentenced to 8 yrs on 18 February 1873 and imprisoned at the Hobart Gaol. He was photographed by Nevin on the same day with two other prisoners with lengthy sentences - Henry Brown transported as Broadmore ( 8 years) and William Marsden transported as Johnson (5 years).



Charles Garfitt was discharged from the Hobart Gaol on 28 August 1878, the residue of his sentence remitted. His details: native place Rutlanshire, 53 yrs old, 5 fet 4 and half inc tall, light brown hair , Free isn Service (FS), left eye weak, Two years later he was tried again at the Supreme Court Hobart for breaking and entering a dwelling and sentenced to six years.



Charles Garfitt was 60 years old when he was discharged from the Hobart Gaol on 12 December 1885, having been tried again and convicted at the Supreme Court Hobart on 14 December 1880 for breaking and entering.

Michael Gilmore per Prince Regent was also discharged on 12 December 1885. Two copies of his taken by T. J. Nevin are held at the National Library of Australia - see this article.

photo by Thomas J. Nevin of prisoner Michael Gilmore

Prisoner Michael Gilmore
Photographed by Thomas J. Nevin on 15 October 1874 at the Hobart Gaol.
Photos taken at the NLA, 16th December 2016
Copyright © KLW NFC 2016 ARR

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