Showing posts with label Clothing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clothing. Show all posts

Thomas J. Nevin's studio decor: the plinth

Photographers Alfred BOCK and Thomas J. NEVIN, studio furniture and decor 1870s
Portraits of children by Thomas J. NEVIN 1860s-1870s
T. J. NEVIN's carte-de-visite portraits held in Lucy Batchelor's Album 1892

Thomas J. Nevin's full-length studio portraits
The ten or so pieces of furniture listed below appeared frequently in Thomas Nevin's commercial studio portraits. If you find they were useful to you in terms of identifying the photographer, the date and place the photograph was taken, and even the identity of the sitters when wondering if there is more to find out about your old (family) photographs from the 1860s-1870s, let us know here. Tinting the print and pasting it to a plain buff mount also characterised Nevin's practice in those years.



Thomas J. Nevin's studio decor items and printing preferences 1870s:
Tapis floor covering, dining chair, drape, backdrop with vista, tinting, eyepricks, book, plain mount

Alfred Barrett Biggs ca, 1872-4 (ca. 45 yrs)
Photographer : Thomas J. Nevin, City Photographic Establishment, Hobart (verso stamp)
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania
View online: LMSS754-1-9

Objects
1. the plinth
2. the shiny slipper chair
3. the drape, sometimes coloured crimson
4. the canvas backdrop featuring a painted Italianate patio and a cart path or stream disappearing to distant mountains on a low horizon
5. the wooden table with griffin-shaped legs
6. a book or tinted flowers in vase on the table with griffin-shaped legs
7. the big box table-top stereoscopic viewer on the table with griffin-shaped legs
8. the thick shag carpet with diamond pattern
9. the thin tapis floor covering with chain link and diamond pattern
10. the dining chair with ornate carved back

Prints
1. tinting of the sitters' clothing, headwear, cheeks, lips, pinpoints in eyes
2. the sepia print pasted on a plain buff rectangular mount without a studio mark on front

The Plinth
Plinths were standard studio furniture in commercial portraiture of the 1860s-1870s. Not just decorative, they were essentially a solid object at waist height where the standing subject could place a hand to hold themselves steady while waiting a minute or so for exposure of their image on the glass negative. The plinth was a far more attractive proposition for a person standing than the metal headrest holding the back of the neck.

There appears to be just one plinth featured in several portraits of children and young adults taken by Thomas J. Nevin in his studio at 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart during the late 1860s-mid 1870s. At least two sides of the plinth differed in small details of decoration. Damage to the plinth visible in these cdv's include cracks through the top and plaster broken off the corners. 

DIAGONAL VIEW: full-length portrait by Thomas J. Nevin
Thomas Nevin took this full-length portrait of his younger brother Jack Nevin (1852-1891) posed leaning on a corner of the plinth in 1868 while in partnership with Robert Smith, operating as the firm Nevin & Smith at the studio, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, formerly leased by photographer Alfred Bock from builder Abraham Biggs.

The diagonal positioning of the plinth with the triangular point where two adjacent sides face the viewer would have created an empty space above the plinth top, resolved to some extent by the added elements of two pot plants and Jack's new hat. Each side of the plinth shows different plaster decorations running under the top and inside and along the edge of the cartouches. The side closest to Jack Nevin shows a single leaf motif under the top and a large floral wreath in relief enclosed in the cartouche; the other side shows a double line of motifs under the top and a smaller ring in relief at the centre of the cartouche. The point or corner at which the two sides meet under the top is broken off. In Nevin's portrait of the (Del Sarte) boy (below), the broken corner is clearly visible near his left foot.

Jack Nevin 1868 by T. J. Nevin

Jack Nevin 1868

Subject: William John Nevin (1852-1891), known as Jack to the family; also known as Constable John Nevin from 1870-1891.
Photographers: Thomas J. Nevin (older brother) and Robert Smith, as the firm Nevin & Smith.
Location and Date: 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart, Tasmania, January 1868.
Details: verso stamped with the Prince of Wales blazon of three feathers, coronet and Ich Dien;
"From Nevin & Smith late Bock's, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town"
Source: Private Collection, Sydney Rare Books Auction, June 2019

PARTIAL VIEW: full-length portrait by Alfred Bock
Thomas J. Nevin acquired the plinth from Alfred Bock's auction of his studio furniture and stock-in-trade on Bock's insolvency and departure to Victoria in 1867. The plinth in this full-length portrait of Elizabeth Bayles shows the same side with its cartouche enclosing a large wreath as the side closest to Jack Nevin's figure in Thomas Nevin's portrait. In Bock's portrait of Elizabeth Bayles, a partial view of the plinth on right of frame afforded a full view of her voluminous dress. Another partial view of a smaller plinth on left of frame was placed there perhaps for balance, or simply to hold the drape up and off the floor .



Subject: Elizabeth Bayles
Photographer: Alfred Bock ca. 1864
Location: 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, Tasmania
Details: full-length carte-de-visite
Verso bears Alfred Bock's stamp with kangaroo atop a circular belt
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2020.

FULL-FRONTAL VIEWS: children's portraits by Thomas J. Nevin
These three portraits of young children posed on top of the plinth show the variations on at least two sides of the plinth visible in Thomas J. Nevin's portrait of his brother Jack (above). All three children were arranged in the same pose, right leg tucked under left, facing front.

The Del Sarte family child
The first, bearing Nevin's studio stamp, was sourced commercially from a dealer and is now in the private collection of the KLW NFC Group. Undeniably one of Thomas J. Nevin's finest portraits of children, this exquisite cdv of an unidentified young child - who is likely to be male rather than female and possibly one of three sons of the Del Sarte (or Delsarte) family - was taken between 1868 and 1874 at Nevin's studio, the City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, Tasmania.

The plinth on which the boy is posed shows the cartouche on the side with the small floral ring, the side that also appears closest to left side of frame in Thomas Nevin's cdv of his brother Jack (above). It is identifiable in each photograph from the missing piece of decorative plaster under the top, which on this side is near the boy's left foot.



Subject: Young boy ca. 3 yrs old, unidentified but possibly Camille Frederick Charles Del Sarte. (jnr)
He is wearing a costume jacket, bloomers, white socks and a feathered hat, perched on a plinth, holding a rose.
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Location: City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, Tasmania.
Date: ca. 1868-1874
Details: Carte-de-visite albumen print in buff oval mount (103 x 63 mm); light colouring of boy's cheeks and pink and green of the rose he is holding. Drape to viewer's right coloured deep maroon.
Provenance: Douglas Stewart Fine Books ex "Parisian photography dealer".
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2020 Private Collection. Watermarked.



Verso: note the light splattering of red watercolour from application of same to the rose and drape recto.
This photograph carries Thomas Nevin's most common commercial studio stamp which he modified only slightly from the design of Alfred Bock's stamp when he acquired Bock's lease of the studio and glasshouse in 1867.
He continued with its use despite the wording - "T. Nevin late A. Bock" - right through to early 1876 when he quit the studio in Elizabeth Street.
Subject: Young boy ca. 3 yrs old, unidentified but possibly Camille Frederick Charles Del Sarte. (jnr)
He is wearing a costume jacket, bloomers, white socks and a feathered hat, perched on a plinth, holding a rose.
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Location: City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, Tasmania.
Date: ca.1876
Details: Carte-de-visite albumen print in buff oval mount (103 x 63 mm); light colouring of boy's cheeks and pink and green of the rose he is holding. Drape to viewer's right coloured deep maroon.
Provenance: Douglas Stewart Fine Books ex "Parisian photography dealer".
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2020 Private Collection. Watermarked.

The Batchelor family children
The other two cdv portraits of young children sitting on the same plinth have not been removed since placed inside the album's gold leaf frames in Lucy Caroline Batchelor's album dated 1892, so there is yet no confirmation of an identifying mark or studio stamp, if any, on the versos. But because of their remarkable similarity to the above cdv by Thomas J. Nevin of the (Del Sarte) boy, they were most likely taken by him, whether of two unidentified brothers in the same session who exchanged the same jacket for their sitting, or of the same child taken a year or so apart.



Subject: Young boy ca. 3-4 yrs old, unidentified, sitting right leg tucked under his left, perched on a plinth. His serious gaze, mouth slightly open, is directed slightly to right of frame.
He wears a suit, a matching jacket embroidered with a design on the arms, a white kerchief in breast pocket, a waistcoat, bowtie lightly tinted blue, knee-length pants with frilled cuffs at the knees, white stockings and dark ankle boots. His hair is quiffed on top and parted on both sides.
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923) - probable
Location: City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, Tasmania.
Date: ca. 1868-1876
Details: Carte-de-visite albumen print in buff oval mount (103 x 63 mm), housed in a 19th century family album leaf in a gold frame.
Provenance: Complete album Google app album (you need a gmail acc)
Link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/oQ9pfRPdrQqCWUJ97
Copyright © Lucy Batchelor Album 1892, in the private collection of Peter and Robyn Bishop 2009


Subject: Young boy ca. 3 yrs old, unidentified, sitting on a large pillow lightly tinted red, his right leg tucked under his left, perched on a plinth. His gaze is direct to camera.
He wears a dark jacket embroidered with a design on the arms, a waistcoat, a bowtie lightly tinted in blue, light-coloured knee-length pants with white stockings and dark ankle boots His hair is flat on top and parted on his left.
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923) - probable
Location: City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, Tasmania.
Date: ca. 1868-1876
Details: Carte-de-visite albumen print in buff oval mount (103 x 63 mm), housed in a 19th century family album leaf in a gold frame, slightly askew.
Provenance: Complete album Google app album (you need a gmail acc)
Link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/oQ9pfRPdrQqCWUJ97
Copyright © Lucy Batchelor Album 1892, in the private collection of Peter and Robyn Bishop 2009

Older generation: Caroline Elliott & James Batchelor
The similarities with this photograph of Caroline Elliott & James Batchelor, parents or possibly grand parents of the two Batchelor boys (above) in terms of hand-tinting and the backdrop which, although faded, looks like Nevin's Italianate patio, arch and vista etc, suggests their portrait was also taken by Thomas J. Nevin.



Subjects: Caroline Elliott and James Batchelor
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923) - probable
Location: City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, Tasmania.
Date: ca. 1868-1876
Details: Full-length carte-de-visite albumen print in buff oval mount (103 x 63 mm), housed in a 19th century family album leaf in a gold frame. Hand-tinted blue on the neck ties of both Caroline and James, and pink on the flowers
Provenance: Complete album Google app album (you need a gmail acc)
Link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/oQ9pfRPdrQqCWUJ97
Copyright © Lucy Batchelor Album 1892, in the private collection of Peter and Robyn Bishop 2009

This cdv of Caroline and James Batchelor appears in a gold frame album leaf next to the boy's cdv (see directly above) in the order in which Lucy Batchelor placed them back in 1892. 

Other portraits by Thomas J. Nevin in Lucy Batchelor's album
Several more cdv's in Lucy Batchelor's album are identifiable as the work of Thomas J. Nevin, firstly in terms of his studio stamp on verso; secondly, by the items of studio decor apart from the plinth, including his slipper chair and big box tabletop stereoscopic viewer; and thirdly, by his characteristic methods of printing and hand-colouring.







Carte-de-visite portraits by Thomas J. Nevin, Tasmania, 1870s
Copyright © Lucy Batchelor Album 1892, in the private collection of Peter and Robyn Bishop 2009

RELATED POSTS main weblog

First published on
Categories and tags:: , ,

Confusion for the press, 1879: was she/he/they a female or a male "impersonator"?

Celebrating Mardi Gras 2024

Sensational case of Ellen Tremaye aka Edward De Lacy Evans,1879
The press in 1879 headlined their report about a woman who wore men's clothing as a "female impersonator" when clearly the person in question, Ellen Tremaye (1830-1901), was living as a transgender man, or - to use the terminology of the day - she was "impersonating" a male not a female.

Living as a man with the name Edward De Lacy Evans, Ellen Tremaye married three times: - to Mary Delahunty (m. 1856; Sep. 1862); to Sarah Moore (m. 1862; d. 1867) and to Julia Marquand (m. 1868). It was the birth of a daughter to Julia Marquand, fathered by her brother-in-law, that triggered Ellen/Edward's mental distress and episode which resulted in a sentence to the Lunatic Ward where Ellen's female biological sex was revealed.

Quoted in this article is Mrs Thompson, who recognised Ellen on delivering milk to the household of Edward De Lacy Evans and wife at Eaglehawk north of Melbourne ca. 1865. She reported to the press that she had met Ellen Tremaye on the voyage out to Melbourne in 1857 on the Ocean Monarch, yet later said she fully believed Ellen Tremaye was actually a biological man impersonating a woman called Ellen Tremaye.

The newspaper account (full text below) of this case of "personation" and "imposition" which stirred international interest in 1879 was meant to raise a laugh at the expense of everyone named, while also raising suspicions regarding Ellen/Edward’s role in the death of Ellen’s intimate friend Rose Kelly on the sea voyage out to Melbourne, and Mary Delahunty’s missing money once she had married Ellen/Edward on arrival in Melbourne. That - and Ellen/Edward’s insistence that Mrs Thompson refrain from mentioning anything of her/his/their previous marriages in second wife Sarah Moore’s presence – played the story to its coda, a joke as meta comment for the generic male reader about gender, about girls who think men to be stupid while women know they need them to father their children.

This published newspaper image in 1879 of Ellen/Edward was made as a wood engraving from a full-length carte-de-visite photograph attributed to A. Flegeltaub  (1873) of Stawell, Vic. by the process of half-toning. Photogravure and the printing of real photographs in the press was not technically possible until the late 1890s. A clever cdv (see below) was created in 1880 from a photograph of Ellen/Edward in women’s clothing on left, coupled with the cdv by Flegeltaub of Edward in men’s fashions on right, cut and pasted to seem as if taken in the one studio sitting. These cdv’s were used to promote Ellen/Edward as the “mysterious man-woman” at the Waxworks and fairground shows in the 1880s.

Ellen Tremaye 1879

Caption: "ELLEN TREMAYE, ALIAS EDWARD DE LACY EVANS, THE FEMALE IMPERSONATOR."
From the Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 11 October 1879, page 32

TRANSCRIPT
Ellen Tremaye, alias Edward De Lacy Evans, the Female Impersonator.

SOME very strange revelations have been made consequent on the discovery which took place some two or three weeks ago, that a lunatic named Edward De Lacy Evans, who was remanded from Sandhurst [Bendigo, Victoria] to the Kew Lunatic Asylum [in Melbourne], was not a man but a woman. The discovery was made in consequence of the refusal of the lunatic to take the bath usual on admission. The fact being mentioned in the papers attracted notice at Sandhurst, where the past life of Evans was well known, and some very singular statements were the result. In our issue of September 6 we gave very full particulars, to which we now subjoin the following abridged from the AUSTRALASIAN SKETCHER:—

"It was on the 22nd July that Evans was admitted to the hospital as a lunatic. The hospital record is as follows:—'Edward De Lacy Evans, male, married, admitted 22nd July, native of Kilkenny, Ireland, religion Church of England, dangerous to others, demented on the day of his admission.' The attendants, as usual, proceeded to give him a bath, but Evans struggled violently, and finally got away from the place, but was recaptured, and brought back next day. He remained in the hospital six weeks, and during that time a warder slept in his room every night, but the secret was not discovered. There is some uncertainty as to the place of his birth. He says he was born at Paris, others say he was a native of Jersey, whilst, as shown above, the hospital record gives Kilkenny as his birthplace. He speaks with an Irish accent. He has claimed to be a nephew of the late General Sir Charles De Lacy (De Lacy Evans?) Dr. Poland, resident-surgeon of the hospital, having examined Evans, states that she has herself had one or more children. It is rumoured that Evans was married several years ago in Melbourne, but regarding this the evidence is not complete.

"On September 6, the Sandhurst correspondent of the ARGUS wrote:—The De Lacy Evans case has created great excitement here. The man-woman having resided in the district about 20 years, was well known amongst the miners, but no one appeared ever to have supposed that she was other than as she represented herself to be, and the discovery of her sex has caused the greatest astonishment. The police have not yet moved in the matter of the discovery of her antecedents, but from the result of inquiries I have made, there seems to be no room to doubt that the woman is identical with the girl Ellen Tremaye, referred to in yesterday's telegram as having arrived at Melbourne by the ship Ocean Monarch in June, 1857. The nurse at the hospital, Mrs. Holt, is positive she is the same, and says the opinion was held amongst those on board the vessel that Tremaye had been well connected, and that she had left home in consequence of some misconduct. The Ocean Monarch was an immigrant vessel, and on the voyage Tremaye and another young woman, named Rose Kelly, were very intimate, but the latter, being seized with a dangerous illness, was left at Rio Janiero. Mrs. Evans, the wife of the supposed man, states that she frequently heard Evans say that she came out by the Ocean Monarch. But the most satisfactory information of Evans's previous history yet received has been obtained from a Mrs. Thompson, a charwoman at Myers's Creek, who was also a shipmate of the girl Tremaye. At the time she made the voyage she was unmarried, and was accompanied by Miss Mary Ann Delahunty, a young lady who was very well connected, and who came from the same village as herself, named Monakine, on the north bank of the river Suir, in Kilkenny. Miss Delahunty was an orphan, and brought with her about £900. After Rose Kelly was taken ill, Tremaye resorted to Miss Delahunty's berth, and the passengers appeared to think there was something strange about the manner in which Tremaye conducted herself, and she had been observed to wear a man's under-clothing. Upon the arrival of the ship in Hobson's Bay, Tremaye declared herself to be a man, and told Mrs. Thompson she intended to marry Miss Delahunty.

The next Mrs. Thompson saw of Ellen Tremaye was at Pegleg Gully, Eaglehawk. Tremaye had just established herself in a house there under the name of Edward De Lacy Evans, and Mrs. Thompson went to serve them with milk. "When she went to the house, she saw Evans sitting inside dressed in male attire, and immediately recognised him as her fellow-passenger, Ellen Tremaye. Evans had, at this time, married his second wife, Miss Moore, who was then present, Evans remarked to her—'I think I know you.' To which Mrs. Thompson replied—'I know you, too,' and added something to the effect that Ellen (referring to Tremaye) was a queer girl. 'Oh.' said Evans, evidently anxious that his then wife should not understand Mrs. Thompson's reference, 'It's a good job she is gone back to the old country.' Mrs. Thompson inquired as to what had become of Miss Delahunty, and Evans replied, 'Oh, my poor wife and boy both died of consumption, and are buried in the North Melbourne cemetery.' In reply to an inquiry as to what had been done with her (Delahunty's) money, Evans said she had sent it home to a nunnery. Evans's then wife had been absent during a portion of this conversation, but at this point she returned, and Evans went outside to the milkwoman, and said, 'For your life don't mention my dead wife's name; call me Mr. Evans. This missus of mine is death on the Roman Catholics, and she can't bear to hear my dead wife's name mentioned.' This conversation took place about 12 or 14 years ago, and Mrs. Thompson seems to have quite believed that Evans had personated a woman under the name of Ellen Tremaye on the voyage out, and was really a man. She lost sight of Evans soon afterwards, and took no further notice of the affair."
One for the Old Man.—This must have somehow set the old man to thinking. A mother and father were trying to persuade their daughter to marry a man she did not love. But the girl objected, and on being pressed for her objections, she replied: "Well, in the first place he is stupid." "Now, hold on my child," put in her mother: "that's no reason at all. Didn't I marry your father ?"

PICTURED: ELLEN TREMAYE, ALIAS EDWARD DE LACY EVANS, THE FEMALE IMPERSONATOR.
Source: Ellen Tremaye, alias Edward De Lacy Evans, the Female Impersonator. (1879, October 11). Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), p. 32.
Retrieved March 1, 2024, from https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70973757

On 4 September 1879, the Bendigo Advertiser ran with the headline 'Extraordinary Case Of Concealment Of Sex' and wrote:
"One of the most unparalleled impostures has been brought to light during the past few days, which it has ever been the province of the press of these colonies to chronicle, and we might even add is unprecedented in the annals of the whole world. A woman, under the name of Edward De Lacy Evans, has for 20 years passed for a man in various parts of the colony of Victoria... As it is almost impossible to give an account of the case without making use of the masculine pronoun when referring to Evans, we propose to use that appellation... "
Source: Extraordinary Case of Concealment of Sex". Bendigo Advertiser. Vic.: National Library of Australia. 4 September 1879. p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88216252

The Launceston Examiner on 9 September 1879 published the medical fraternity's opinion of the causes of Ellen/Edward's cross-dressing - what would be described today as lesbianism, or transexualism, or gender dysphoria but then as an "ailment" - with an optimistic prognosis:
As to " his" insanity it seems pretty clear that the attack is not a very bad one. The circumstances of " his" life make it very probable that "his" chief ailment is cerebral mania, which has caused the insane desire for marrying woman, and which of a necessity produces amentia. However, the disease is not incurable. The cause of none of the wives exposing the deception practiced on them has been without doubt nymphomania. It is considered likely by Dr. Poland - and his experience should be a sufficient judge - that in a few weeks the patient will be all right again. All required is rest, quiet, good nourishment, and the absence of the practices which have caused the mental weakness, to restore " him" to good health of mind, while "his" bodily health is excellent.
Source:AN EXTRAORDINARY PERSONATION CASE. (1879, September 9). Launceston Examiner, p. 3.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47801728

And by the 13th October the Hobart Mercury was re-assuring readers that : -
The woman Ellen Tremaye, who for twenty years passed as a man and went through many hardships, has recovered her reason, and has become reconciled to female attire. She expresses a desire to leave the colony.
Ellen Tremaye/ Edward De Lacy Evans died in the Immigrants' Home, St Kilda Rd, Melbourne on 25 August 1901, aged 70 [?]  years.  

Read more at Wikipedia: Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_De_Lacy_Evans

Ellen Tremaye/Edward De Lacy Evans

"A carte de visite of Evans created, most likely as a 'cut & paste', by photographer N. White, of Bendigo, after September 1879, to be sold as a curiosity." Source: State Library of New South Wales - [Ellen Tremaye alias Edward] de Lacy Evans, c, 1879 by N. White

The State Library of Victoria holds a collection of sepia photographs taken of Ellen Tremaye/Edward De Lacy Evans in various formats, including this one posed with third wife Julia Marquand:

Edward and Julia

Portrait of De Lacy Evans and his wife [picture] / Aaron Flegeltaub.
Flegeltaub, Aaron, fl. 1882-1891 photographer.[ca. 1870]
State library of Victoria. Link: https://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/291088

Available at the National Library of Australia, the pamphlet sold at Sydney 'shows': The History and confession of Ellen Tremaye, alias, De Lacy Evans, the man-woman (1880):

Ellen Tremaye

The History and confession of Ellen Tremaye, alias, De Lacy Evans, the man-woman
Created/Published [Melbourne? : s.n.], 1880 printing, 
Link: View Catalogue (31 images)

RELATED POSTS

First published on
Categories and tags:: , ,

In a party mood: prisoner Michael LYNCH (as Horrigan, Harrigan or Sullivan), Christmas Eve, December 24th 1881

Indecent assault charges under the Act of 1863
Court martial with transportation and DD branding

Sixty-five (65) year old cook, Michael Horrigan (or Lynch, Harrigan and Sullivan), transported as Michael Lynch per Waverley (1) in 1841, was feeling festive on Christmas Eve, 24th December 1881. He celebrated by breaking into the residence of Alexander Denholm junior at Forcett, south-east of Hobart near Sorell, helping himself to a gold watch and some very fancy clothes. In a party mood, and probably dressed to the nines in Denholm's tweeds, he then sought out and made amorous sexual advances to Robert Freeman.



Prisoner Michael LYNCH alias HORRIGAN, HARRIGAN and SULLIVAN
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Date and Place: Hobart Supreme Court March 1882
Black and white copy of sepia print printed in cdv mount
Verso indicates alias, crime, date of transportation, photo or archival no. 466 etc
QVM:1985:P:89, QVMAG Collection, Launceston, Tasmania

This prisoner's proper or real name was Michael LYNCH alias Horrigan and Sullivan, according to the police gazette notice on his arraignment at the Supreme Court Hobart, 7 March 1882. The archivist who wrote his name on the verso on this black and white copy used the later spelling of the alias "Harrigan" which was recorded by the police gazette notices of 1884 and 1885.



Verso inscription:
"Michael Horrigan or Sullivan -
F. S. [Free by servitude]
Waverly (Irish) 13.8.41.
12 Months
466"
Ref: QVM:1985:P:89
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania.
Earlier accession numbering (at top of verso) shows the date 1958.

This police photograph was numbered "466" when inscribed verso, either by police for inclusion in the Hobart Gaol Photo Book and criminal rap sheet in 1882 on the prisoner's incarceration, or by later archivists at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery on accession from the Beattie Collection for exhibition at various dates and venues between 1934 and 1983. This black and white copy was made at the QVMAG in 1985 from the sepia original for reasons best known only to the QVMAG.

The complainants, December 1881
Michael Lynch raided Alexander Denholm jnr's dressing room on Christmas Eve 1881 to steal his fine clothes, gold watch and fob chain. Denholm appears to have been an easy target. He published warnings to trespassers in the press warning them he had laid poison at his property, Woodside, Forcett.



Andrew Denholm, warning to trespassers
Notice in Mercury, 2 Sept 1882

Alexander Denholm had interests in the importation of agricultural machinery. He was also the licensee of the White Hart Hotel at Bothwell by 1884.



Andrew Denholm
Agricultural equipment brought into Sorell
Notice in Mercury 20 January 1880.

Who was Robert Freeman, the other complainant with a case against Michael Horrigan/Lynch? He brought charges of indecent assault resulting in a 12 month sentence against Horrigan. Robert Freeman's name was recorded in the Supreme Court Rough Calendar at Horrigan/Lynch's trial on 7 March 1882 but nothing was published in the press which named him as the victim of Horrigan's assault on December 24, 1881. He may have been a local Sorell lad, 21 years old, son of a labourer, who died in 1883 of a chronic abscess. If so, he would have been 19 years old at the time of Horrigan's intent to commit a homosexual act. Such acts were deemed illegal and incarceration or even death were  the only outcomes for the offender.



Deaths in the district of Sorell 1883
20 May, 1883 - Robert Freeman, 21 yrs old, son of labourer, chronic abscess
Archives Office of Tasmania Names Index RGD35-1-52P189

The Act to consolidate and amend the Legislative Enactments relating to Offences against the Person. [31 July, 1863] was presumably the Act under which Michael Horrigan/Lynch was charged. It  stipulated severe punishments ranging from death, imprisonment for life, and imprisonment for ten years, dependent on proof of complete penetration of the [male] person. It appears, therefore, that insufficient proof was mustered against Michael Horrigan/Lynch at trial in the Supreme Court, Hobart, on 7 March 1882 to warrant a severe sentence for indecent assault. He got off with a light sentence of 12 months' incarceration at the Hobart Gaol on the grounds of "intent".

An Act To Consolidate And Amend The Legislative Enactments Relating To Offences Against The Person (27 Vic, No 5) 31 July, 1863

Unnatural Offences .

Sodomy.
59 Whosoever shall be convicted of the abominable crime of Buggery, committed either with mankind or with any animal, shall suffer Death as a Felon.

Attempt to commit an infamous crime.
60 Whosoever shall attempt to commit the said abominable crime, or shall be guilty of any assault with intent to commit the same, shall be guilty of Felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable to be imprisoned for Life.

Indecent assault upon a male person.
61 Whosoever shall be convicted of any indecent assault upon any male person shall be liable to be imprisoned for Ten years.

27° VICTORIlE. No 5. 43
Carnal knowledge defined.
62 Whenever, upon the trial of any offence punishable under Carnal knowledge of this Act, it may be necessary to prove carnal knowledge, it shall not be defined necessary to prove the actual emission of seed in order to constitute a carnal knowledge, but the carnal knowledge shall be deemed complete upon proof of penetration only.

READ the FULL ACT here {pdf}
An Act To Consolidate And Amend The Legislative Enactments Relating To Offences Against The Person (27 Vic, No 5) Austlii Database.

The revised NSW Crimes Act No. 40 of 1900, items 79-81, still maintained severe penalties for indecent assault on a male. Under this Act the offense committed by Michael Horrigan would have incurred a sentence of five years:
Indecent assault on male
81. Whosoever commits an indecent assault upon a male person of whatever age, with or without consent of such person, shall be liable to penal servitude for five years.


Act No. 40, 1900.
An Act to consolidate the Statutes relating to Criminal Law. [31st October, 1900.]
Link: https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/pdf/asmade/act-1900-40

ASSAULT as ENTERTAINMENT on Christmas Eve
Horrigan's assault on Robert Freeman might have escaped the notice of the press but the Hull-Calder contretemps certainly did not. It was reported with relish on Christmas Eve, Saturday, the 24th December 1881, by the Hobart Mercury and Launceston Examiner. They rose to the occasion with a thrilling account of the assault between two gentlemen of the highest standing in Hobart society: Hugh Munro Hull and James Eerskine Calder.

EXTRACT
TASMANIA. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS.) HOBART, Dec. 23. At the Police Court, before Mr Tarleton, P.M., and Mr W. P. Green, J.P., Mr H. M. Hull charged Mr J. E. Calder with having unlawfully assaulted and beaten him on the 12th inst. Mr Calder pleaded not guilty, Mr Bromby appearing for him. Mr Hull deposed that on the day named, at about ten o'clock in the morning, he was proceeding to his office, when he was met by the defendant, who walked up hurriedly, and said, " Are you the writer of the letter in the Launceston Examiner signed 'Older Chum ?' " I retorted by asking him if he was the writer of the letter in the same paper reflecting upon me. Instead of replying to me he said, "I'll teach you; there, take that," and dealt me a violent blow on the side of the head with his open right hand ; I felt stunned for a moment by the violence of the blow; when I recovered I did not return the blow, as I thought it unseemly for an old magistrate of five-and-twenty years' standing to be seen fighting in the public street with a man twice his size; I told him I should summon him for assault, when he came towards me as if to repeat the blow, at the same time calling out something which I was too deafened by the blow I had received to hear distinctly; etc etc
Read the rest of this story here:
CITY POLICE COURT. (1881, December 24). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 3.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9003832
TASMANIA. (1881, December 24). Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38229710

Ten years ago ....
Almost to the day, 10 years previously - Wednesday 31st January 1872 - was a memorable day for Thomas J. Nevin when he photographed these two men among a group of visiting colonists and dignitaries during an excursion to Adventure Bay on board the steamer City of Hobart. His commission to cover the day's events was initiated by townsman John Woodcock Graves (the younger).



One of several captures by T. Nevin of the VIP group relaxing on shore at Adventure Bay, 31st January 1872. The man laughing, sitting between the Hon. Alfred Kennerley (lower left) and Sir John O'Shanassy, is Hugh Munro Hull, Parliamentary librarian. He seems to have appreciated comments coming from Nevin at the point of capture, while Sir John O'Shanassy (with stick), reads on, oblivious. The figure running into the scene at centre is John Woodcock Graves (the younger), organiser of the excursion.

T. Nevin's blindstamp impress is on the mount at centre. This stereo is badly water-damaged.
It is held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Ref: Q1994.56.24.
Photo taken at TMAG 10th November 2014
Photo copyright © KLW NFC 2014 ARR



Visitors' photographs on hand ready for sale
The Colonists' Trip to Adventure Bay
Thomas Nevin's advertisement, Mercury 2nd February 1872



This image was printed by Nevin from his negative both as a stereograph in a buff oval mount and as the carte-de-visite, the latter labelled verso with his most common commercial studio stamp. The figure of the Hon. James Erskine Calder is visible leaning into the frame on lower right. The proud owner of these photographs, Nevin's teenage admirer and eldest daughter of John Woodcock Graves the younger - Jean Porthouse Graves - is indicated by an ink mark, and so is the man in the white summer hat who is leaning on top of a man-made stone structure, perhaps Lukin Boyes, son of artist and administrator G.T.W. Boyes. Surname and initial appearing to be "L Boyes" is written on verso.



Verso inscriptions include these identifiable figures at the "Picnic":
Father = John Woodcock Graves jnr,
Sir John O'Shanassy = former Premier of Victoria,
Self = Jean Porthouse Graves, daughter of John W. Graves,
L. Boyes = Lukin Boyes (?), son of G.T. W. Boyes

From an album compiled by the families of John Woodcock Graves jnr and R. Byron Miller
Private Collection © KLW NFC Imprint 2015

Horrigan/Lynch: Supreme Court Record 1882

ROUGH CALENDAR (Supreme Court Hobart, 1882)



Michael Horrigan aka Harrigan and Sullivan, transported as Michael Lynch
Sentenced on 7th March 1882 to 12 months for indecent assault (homosexual act)
Supreme Court Rough Calendar Ref: GD70-1-1
Archives Office Tasmania

TRANSCRIPT
ROUGH CALENDAR [Supreme Court Hobart ]

Name and Age
Harrigan, Michael alias Sullivan alias Lynch
Committed
7.1.82
Received
10.1.82
Age 68 - 65

Number and Ship
Waverley (1) (ticked)

Original Sentence
(double ticked)

Condition & Date
F.S [free in servitude]

Plea
N.G. [not guilty]

Before whom Tried
C. J. [Chief Justice]
7/3/82

What Committed for
For that the said Michael Horrigan as Sullivan as Lynch did at Belmont in the Municipality of Sorell in this colony of Tasmania on the 24 Day of December 1881, unlawfully assault one Robert Freeman with intent feloniously, wickedly, and against the order of nature to carnally know the Robert Freeman, and perpetrate the abominable crime of Buggery.

For that the said Michael Horrigan as Sullivan as Lynch did at Forcett in Tasmania 1881 feloniously break and enter the dwelling house of Alexander Denholm Jnr there situate and then and there did feloniously steal take and carry away 1 Dark Blue Albert Coat, 1 Black Paget coat, 1 pair Tweed Trousers, 2 Tweed Vests, 1 Gold Watch and 1 Gold Albert Guard of the goods and chattels of Albert Denholm Junior of Forcett aforesaid

What Indicted for
Same

Result of Trial
Found Guilty of Indecent Assault

Sentence and Date
12 Months Imprisonment 7/3/82

Police Gazette Records

1879
On the 6 September 1879, Michael Lynch was arrested as Michael Sullivan and sentenced at the Police Office Glenorchy to six months for larceny. See this conduct record listed under the name Michael LYNCH. https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-12$init=CON33-1-12P181

1881
Details of the robbery at Andrew Denholm's property with description of suspect:



TRANSCRIPT
SORELL MUNICIPALITY
HOUSEBREAKING
BETWEEN 1 and 7 pm on the 24th instant the dwelling of Alexander Debnholm at Forcett was feloniously broken and entered, and the following propeerty stolen therefrom : - 1 blue fashionable coat; 1 black Paget coat, both nearly new; 1 pair light tweed trousers; 2 ditto vests; the property of Alexander Denholm, jun. 1 gold watch, No. 55738, W. H. Hill  & Sons makers; 1 gold twist Albert guard, with plain gold bar, value £20; the property of and identifiable by Robert Buchanan. A man of the following description is suspected: - 55 years of age, 5 feet 10 or 11 inches high, dark complexion, dark to grey hair inclined to curl, dark to grey whiskers, shaved on chin, medium build, supposed Irish, stated he was a cook; dressed in clean white mole trousers, straw hat, black pilot or saque coat; carried an untanned opossum-skin rug, a white bundle, and a red bundle. Supposed to have gone towards Clarence or Richmond.
Source: VOL. XX. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1881. No. 1171.
Tasmania Reports of Crime for Police Information Only, J. Barnard Govd't printer.



TRANSCRIPT
Vide Crime Report,1881, page 205
Denholm's robbery - Michael Horrigan, alias Sullivan, alias Lynch, has been arrested by Supt Anderson, of the Sorell Municicpal Police, and charged with the offence. None of the property has been recovered.
Source: VOL. XXI. FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 1882. No. 1172.
Tasmania Reports of Crime for Police Information Only, J. Barnard Govd't printer.

1882
In March 1882 Michael Horrigan, proper name Lynch as Sullivan was 65 years old when arraigned for indecent assault and sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment at the Hobart Gaol.



Horrigan, Michael, proper name Lynch, as Sullivan , 65 years old, ship Waverley 1, F. S. Indecent assault 12 months. He was discharged on 5 February 1883.
See this record: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-12$init=CON33-1-12P181

1884


No. of Authority 117
Michael Harrigan [sic] per Waverly spent a month from 16 June 1884 to 10 July 1884 as a pauper at the Invalid Depot in Hobart.

Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime for Police, J. Barnard Govd't printer

1885


Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime for Police, J. Barnard Govd't printer

Employed as a cook in Hobart, Michael Harrigan [sic] , native of  Ireland, 71 years old, 5 ft 10 inches tall, was convicted of larceny at New Norfolk (north of Hobart) on 4th February 1885. Because of his various aliases, his prior convictions probably eluded the police gazetteer and were not recorded. He died at the New Town Charitable Institute, Hobart, on 3 May 1894 and was buried as Michael Horrigan, cook, 83 years old. The Archives Office of Tasmania holds his death record at : - https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD35-1-14p136j2k

Transportation Records



Details on this record show Michael Lynch was single, could read, his religion was Roman Catholic, and had one brother James living in London, and two sisters Johanna and May. Desertion and branding DD. The Archives Office of Tasmania holds this record at : - https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON14-1-9$init=CON14-1-9P33



Records show that Michael Lynch, born ca. 1816 at Cork, Ireland, had served 4 years with the 22nd Regiment when he deserted for nine days. He was court martialled at Dublin on 10 September 1840 and transported for fourteen years on the Waverley 1, departing Kingston, Ireland on 25 April 1841, arriving via Bahia after 140 days at sea, at Hobart on 12 September 1841 with 176 male convicts on board. He was sent to the Longford Probate Station, Tasmania, to serve 18 months with pastoralist Edward Archer. See this appropriation record: https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1413162



Physical description details on this record (many are illegible) include - :
Laborer, 5'9", 23 years old, fresh complexion. oval head, black hair, no whiskers, medium height forehead, black eyebrows, brown eyes, long nose, medium mouth, medium chin, native place Cork. Remarks: Pockpelles [?] has been a soldier branded DD on left side Crown flag harp and crown bugle 22 Reg't FR 7 stars half moon JHS? on ? right arm and hand 2 rings on fingers right hand cross Nil? Sun PW N? on left arm and hand. See this record:  https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON18-1-29P35

Branded "DD" for desertion
Michael Lynch was branded DD, court martialled as a deserter from the 22nd Regiment. When another prisoner, James Brady was discharged in late January 1874 with the residue of his sentence remitted, the police gazette ( p. 16 January 1874) noted that that he was Free to the Colony (FC) and that he was tattooed with the letter "D" on his left breast: he was a military deserter, one of several prisoners bearing the deserter tattoo who were photographed by Thomas J. Nevin, including prisoner Denis Doherty, made famous by Anthony Trollope's visit to the Port Arthur prison in 1872.



Mark of a Deserter (Army Medical Services Museum), in Chapter 3 of Hilton, P J 2010 ,
"Branded D on the left side" : a study of former soldiers and marines transported to Van Diemen's Land: 1804-1854
PhD thesis, University of Tasmania:
Link: https://eprints.utas.edu.au/17678/2/Hilton_Thesis.pdf



Barnard, Simon Convict tattoos : marked men and women of Australia.
Melbourne, Vic. The Text Publishing Company, 2016.
Website: https://www.simonbarnard.com.au/product/convict-tattoos/

RELATED POSTS main weblog
First published on
Categories and tags:: , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)