NEVIN & SMITH, 1868: the client with white fingernails

Photographers NEVIN & SMITH, Hobart 1868
INJURY and DISEASE 19th Tasmanian industries
CAMERAS, lenses, and the circle of confusion

Robert Smith was known to Mrs Esther Mather. She was not happy about the colouring he had applied to a portrait of her brother when he visited the studio she called "Smith's" in Hobart. She said so in a letter to her step-son, dated 1865. Nothing was known about this partner of Thomas J. Nevin called Robert Smith until recently when portraits and stereoscopes bearing the business name NEVIN & SMITH came to light. Robert Smith may have been an independent photographer prior to forming a partnership with Thomas J. Nevin at Alfred Bock's former studio. The partnership lasted less than a year and was promptly dissolved in February 1868 following the Royal visit to Hobart, Tasmania of Alfred Ernest Albert, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria, in late 1867 on his first command, H.M.S. Galatea. Thomas J. Nevin continued the photographic business in his own name at Alfred Bock's former studio, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, while Robert Smith departed for Goulburn NSW where he set up a photographic studio before taking to farming and politics.

Points of Interest
Two studio stamps and the two labels have survived from studio portraits and stereoscopes taken during the partnership of Robert Smith and Thomas Nevin, but for rarity alone, the stamp they printed in anticipation of the Royal visit is their unique legacy. It featured the Prince of Wales' blazon of three feathers and a coronet, banded with the German "ICH DIEN" (I Serve).

To date, four cartes-de-visite have surfaced bearing this stamp:
1. a delicately tinted upper-body portrait in a buff oval mount of an unidentified bearded young man seated in semi-profile, wearing a summer check-patterned jacket (view here);
2. a full-length portrait taken by Thomas J. Nevin of his sixteen year-old brother, Jack Nevin standing next to a plaster plinth on thick carpet (view here);
3. a full-length hand-coloured portrait of two children standing on either side of a dining chair; and
4. a full length hand-coloured portrait of a young man standing next to a dining chair (the two below).

This last portrait, the most recent to emerge in the market place, is yet another rare example of the work of the firm NEVIN & SMITH bearing the feathered Royal insignia. As nothing is known about this young man, he will remain nameless in the discussion which follows...



Carte-de-visite, hand-coloured full-length portrait of a young man, mid-twenties
Photographer(s): NEVIN & SMITH - Thomas J. Nevin and Robert Smith.
Location and date: Hobart, Tasmania, January 1868
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint & Private Collection 2021. Watermarked.



Subject: Solidly built young man in mid-twenties, wearing a thin jacket with creased sleeves, waistcoat, cravat and white pocketchief, and corduroy trousers.
Photographer(s): NEVIN & SMITH - Thomas J. Nevin and Robert Smith.
Location and date: Hobart, Tasmania, January 1868
Format: carte-de-visite, full -length portrait, sepia print on plain buff mount
Details: mulberry colouring on drape, light violet tinting on man's cravat, tinting on man's cheeks
Condition: good, some dark spots, discolouring of carpet where foreground blurring of focus has occurred
Provenance: Douglas Stewart Fine Books, Melbourne, Vic.
Verso: Prince of Wales blazon with three feathers, coronet and band with "ICH DIEN"
Printed below: "From NEVIN & SMITH Late Bock's, 140 Elizabeth Street HOBART TOWN. N.B. Additional copies may be had at any date if required."
Copyright: © KLW NFC Imprint & Private Collection 2021. Watermarked.

LENSES and DEPTH of FIELD.
The 19th century cameras Thomas J. Nevin was using at his studio in the 1860s included a single lens sliding box camera and stereoscopic cameras, some on loan from his close friend, prolific stereographer Samuel Clifford, plus a variety of other equipment salvaged at auction from the studios of photographers George Cherry and Alfred Bock in 1864-65 when both men separately faced insolvency.

The blurred foreground at the bottom of this photograph of the young man suggests the photographer had miscalculated the depth of field for a full-length portrait of a fully-grown male standing too close to the camera; or indeed, he had chosen a lens more suited to closer upper-body portraiture. A successful photograph would get as much of the shot in focus as possible without blurring the foreground, known as the blur spot or circle of confusion. The hyperfocal distance between the carpet on the floor in front of the camera, the standing figure of the young man in the middle distance, and the back wall would be measured as much through subjective judgment as through formulae such as this one:



Measuring acceptable sharpness:
Key: f is focal length, N is aperture, and c is maximum circle of confusion (blur spot)

Source: https://petapixel.com/2021/06/01/what-is-hyperfocal-distance-and-how-do-you-find-it/

The strongest and sharpest point of focus in this photograph of the young man (above) is at the image's centre where his right hand rests on the carved crest rail of the dining chair. And at the very centre of that centre, the whiteness of his fingernails stands out. They are as white as the handkerchief sitting in his breast pocket.

FINGERNAILS and DISEASE
Those fingernails were not tinted after printing. A smudge of red colour shows at lower right on the buff mount where the colour was applied to the drape after pasting down the print. A studio assistant may have painted the young man's fingernails white prior to the sitting for cosmetic reasons, if they were permanently blackened working in industries such as gardening, coal mining, tanning leather and textile dyeing etc. Untouched, unpainted, his white fingernails might also suggest injury or disease of some kind. Particular diseases associated with total leukonychia, which is the whitening of the entire nail plate, are caused by the following:

1. an injury which has disrupted the horizontal layers of keratin, trapping air and resulting in reflection and lack of transparency. Nail-biting, knocks and bangs, and detachment of the nail plate are all injuries. Onycholysis results when the nail plate has been lifted from the nail bed.
2. heavy metal poisoning such as lead and arsenic
3. inherited or longitudinal leukonychia which can run in families
4. systemic illnesses such as liver cirrhosis, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, protein malabsorption, eg in colitis, protein-losing enteropathy, diabetes, iron deficiency anaemia, zinc deficiency, and hyperthyroidism
5. fungal infection due to the dermatophyte, trichophyton interdigitale.

Source: https://dermnetnz.org/topics/white-nail

A FAMILY MAN
This young man's whitened nails might be the result of injury or regular exposure to chemicals from daily physical work involving lifting, if the creasing of his jacket sleeves especially at the elbows is any indication, rather than being symptomatic of systemic disease. His strong gaze and solid build suggest he was in good health. His creased sleeves on the other hand might be the result of lifting the two children (cdv below). The similarities between the two photographs suggest the young man and the two children were photographed in exactly the same studio set-up and probably in the same session. He would most likely be their father or guardian, in that case, and have creased sleeves on the day from constantly lifting and carrying his toddler daughter and four-year old son. And it was a special day.



Both photographs share these compositional and textual features:

1. the same thick carpet with large squares, floral pattern at centre and white edges
2. the same dining chair with carved crest rail and cabriole legs
3. the same drape to right of frame similarly coloured dark red.
4. the same stamp verso with the NEVIN & SMITH mark prepared especially for the Royal visit
5. the two photographs were taken by the same photographer in the same session
6. the same camera lens or depth of field calculation resulted in the same blurring of focus on the carpet in the foreground

Those similarities suggest the following contextual relations:

1. these children were photographed minutes apart in the same session as the young man suggesting his presence as their father or guardian
2. the day was a special occasion - these children and the young man made the trip to Hobart Town's centre to see Prince Alfred and the Galatea  during the Royal visit.
3. the special occasion warranted a photograph taken at the NEVIN & SMITH studio during their visit as a keepsake and memories of a great day's entertainment in town.
4. the mother of these two children and wife of this young man (if still with the family) may have been photographed at NEVIN & SMITH's as well in the same session, raising the possibility that her photograph, if extant, is yet to be identified.



State Library of Victoria
Studio portrait of two children
Author / Creator Nevin & Smith, photographer.
Date [ca. 1867-ca. 1875]
Accession no: H2005.34/2004
Accession no: H2005.34/2004A
Gift of Mr John Etkins; 2005.
http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/49353
http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/f/1cl35st/SLV_ROSETTAIE8428491
http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/f/1cl35st/SLV_VOYAGER1805149

Aftermath of the Royal visit
Two events in February 1868 coincided to change Thomas J. Nevin's photographic practice. The dissolution of his partnership with Robert Smith meant that he would no longer use the two studio stamps and labels advertising the business they conducted from Alfred Bock's former studio, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, under the name "NEVIN & SMITH" from 1867 to February 1868.

One of those studio stamps was a simple cartouche which has survived by descent in family collections on both versos of a vignetted portrait and a full-length portrait of Elizabeth Rachel Day, Thomas Nevin's fiancée (they married in July 1871). The other stamp which featured the Prince of Wales' blazon of three feathers and a coronet, banded with the German "ICH DIEN" (I Serve) to mark the Royal visit in 1868 became obsolete once the celebrations were over. So, from March 1868 until early 1876, Thomas Nevin used one of Alfred Bock's more recent designs with minimal changes as his most common commercial stamp which was applied to the versos of all portraits of private clients. For portraits of public servants and their families, for mugshots of prisoners, for landscapes and townscapes he produced under government contract for the Hobart City Council, a colonial government Royal Warrant stamp with the Royal Arms insignia was designed for him using his initials, T. J. Nevin, by government printer James Barnard.

When these the two unidentified women (below) visited Thomas J. Nevin at his studio, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart in the months following the Royal Visit, he positioned them on the same carpet and posed them with right hand placed on the same chair as he had posed the young man in the NEVIN & SMITH portrait (at top) but with the addition of books opened on an occasional table in front of the drape. In both of these cdv's of a younger and an older woman, the drape at right of frame was spared the heavy dark-red colouring. While the cdv of the older woman was enhanced with delicate tinting in pink, the cdv of the younger woman escaped any sort of enhancement. No strong blurring of the foreground is evident in any of these cdv's taken by Thomas Nevin after ca. 1870, suggesting he had acquired better cameras, lenses, and improved technique in how to use them.



National Gallery of Victoria Catalogue Notes
No title (woman wearing a bonnet with a pink bow), carte-de-visite (1865-1867)
T. NEVIN, Hobart
Medium albumen silver photograph, watercolour
Measurements 9.5 × 5.8 cm (image and support)
Place/s of Execution Hobart, Tasmania
Inscription printed in ink on support on reverse c. AD ALTIORA / CITY PHOTOGRAPHIC ESTABLISHMENT / T. NEVIN. / LATE / A. BOCK. / 140 ELIZABETH ST / HOBART TOWN. / Further copies / can be obtained at / any time.
Accession Number 2003.395 Department Australian Photography Credit Line National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented through the NGV Foundation by John McPhee, Member, 2003



Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Collection
TMAG Ref: Q2012.28.28
Full length cdv on plain mount
Subject: Elizabeth Bayley, second wife of Captain James Bayley of Runnymede, New Town, Tasmania
Photographer: studio portrait by Thomas Nevin late December 1874.
Verso with studio stamp: “Ad Altiora” above Kangaroo emblem, T. Nevin late A. Bock encircled by belt printed with “City Photographic Establishment” and address below, “140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town”. In italics below: “Further Copies can be obtained at any time”.

Thomas Nevin's use of a newer lenses, which allowed shorter focal range and a larger image of the face and hands without sacrificing clarity, became his trademark when he commenced the photographing of prisoners with Supreme Court convictions on contract for the Colonial Government in early 1872. His portrait of Sarah Crouch, wife of Under-Sheriff Thomas Crouch, taken about the same time foreshadowed the format he would use for producing mugshots. The newer lenses meant he could position her closer to the camera without blurring either foreground (her hands) or background.

By the time Alfred Barrett Biggs visited Thomas J. Nevin's studio for a portrait ca. 1873, a few changes in decor had taken place. The thick carpet was gone, replaced by a thin tapis patterned with lozenges and chains that was bunched untidily against the back wall rather than smoothly laid. Behind Biggs, low on the back wall the rectangular outline of an object which had recently been removed had not been cleaned off. The same dining chair remained, now positioned to the left of Biggs in front of a new floral-patterned damask drape drawn back to reveal a floor-to-ceiling backsheet painted with a tiled Italianate terrace overlooking a cart path next to a stream disappearing to low mountains at the horizon. The delicate tinting with gold applied to Bigg's fob watch by Nevin's studio colourist in this portrait, however, differed markedly from the heavy-handed daubs of dark red applied to several other of his portraits including the NEVIN & SMITH portraits of the young man and the two children (at top). This heavy daubing in dark red appears on a dozen of Nevin's cdvs and is thought to have been applied after purchase, or even later, by collectors in the belief that strong colour would enhance their viewing, more so if they were to use a stereoscope for a 3D effect.



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

ADDENDA
The Tasmanian Times Special Edition ran a lengthy report on each stage of the Duke's tour around Hobart. Thomas Nevin's colleague Samuel Clifford produced a fine series of stereoscopic and album prints of the day, which he advertised for sale on the 26th February 1868.



TRANSCRIPT

PHOTOGRAPHS CONNECTED WITH H.R.H. THE.DUKE OF EDINBURGH'S VISIT TO TASMANIA.
Landing in State, "instantaneous," stereoscopic and album.
The Landing, 10 x 8.
The Galatea, 10 x 8, stereoscopic and album.
Emblematic Arch, 10 x 8, stereoscopic and album.
State Carriage, with Outriders und Orderlies, cabinet!
The Duke's Saddle Horse, album.
H. R. H. His Excellency, and Company at Government House', 10 x 8.
S. CLIFFORD, Liverpool-street, Prize Medalist [sic] at Melbourne, and highest Award at New Zealand.

Advertising (1868, February 26). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 1.
Link: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8850754



Emblematic Arch, 10 x 8, stereoscopic and album.
Photographer Samuel Clifford 1868
Archives Office of Tasmania Ref: PH30-1-31



TRANSCRIPT

THE EMBLEMATIC ARCH.
In this order the procession moved away under the Emblematic Arch, erected by the Citizens' Reception Committee. This was declared on all sides to be a novel and striking feature in the various symbols of welcome offered to the Prince, and very successfully carried out. The piers were built up of tun butts, used in our whaling trade. The arch itself being composed of a main and two smaller arches, surmounted by bales of wool, pockets of hops, cases of preserves, bundles of shingles, leather, and bark used in tanning, sheaves of wheat, and a variety of the other products of the colony. Above the whole the jaw bones of a sperm whale. The side openings were crowned by two whale boats manned by the proper number of hands dressed in whaling costume. The whole of the arch was embellished with our beautiful ferns and flowers. On the side to meet the Prince's view was the legend " Welcome to Tasmania," and on the other side was "Welcome Sailor Prince." The top of it was decorated with flags. The whole line of the procession from the landing stage was also decorated with flags. Every halting place or stoppage was taken advantage of to loudly cheer our Royal visitor, who courteously responded to the same by bowing. Along the wharf and up Murray-street were several commodious stands tastefully decorated, and filled with well dressed people who all cheered lustily as the Prince passed. The procession moved slowly upwards from the wharf amidst continuous cheering, between two lines of Military who kept the route clear from the landing stage to the arch in Murray street.

THE STATE LANDING. (1868, February 1). The Tasmanian Times (Hobart Town, Tas. : 1867 - 1870), p. 3.
Link: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232857843

RELATED POSTS main blog

• Thomas Nevin and Alfred Barrett Biggs 1872-1876
• Nevin & Smith studio Elizabeth St. 1867-1868
• Sarah Crouch at Thomas J. Nevin's studio ca. 1872
• George and Matilda Cherry at Thomas Nevin's studio ca. 1872
• Reproductions of Charles A. Woolley's portrait of Tasmanian Aborigines 1860s-1915
• Red and violet: the impact of Brewster stereoscopy

Best of friends: Emma PITT and Liz O'MEAGHER 1866

SEMIOSIS: deixis
PITT, Emma nee BARTLETT (1847-1899)
PITT, Albert, solicitor (1840-1906)
O'MEAGHER, Liz (1847-1906) and Arthur BELL (1839-1921)
WOOLLEY, Charles, photographer (1834-1922)
EPIDEMIC New Zealand 1906

"I say Captain Mackie is not to show his face in Nelson without you Liz O'Meagher.

Emma Pitt

June 6th 1866"

Subject: a young woman holding a summer hat, wearing a summer dress frilled at the hem.
Standing pose, left hand resting on the back of a studded slipper chair, her gaze directed slightly above and to the right of the photographer.
Photographer: Charles A. Woolley, studio stamp on verso, 42 Macquarie St. Hobart, Tasmania
Location and date: Hobart, 1866
Format: full length studio portrait, sepia print, carte-de-visite
Condition: foxing, surface dirt, torn, fair condition
Provenance: DSFB, Melbourne 2021, sold as " Studio portrait of a lady identified as Liz O'Meagher. Hobart Town, Tasmania, 1866"
Copyright: © KLW NFC Imprint & KLW NFC Private Collection 2021
Verso inscription: "I say Captain Mackie is not show his face in Nelson without you Liz O'Meagher. Emma Pitt June 6th 1866"

The cdv: a deictic mystery
The verso inscription on this carte-de-visite - "I say Captain Mackie is not to show his face in Nelson without you Liz O'Meagher" - signed by Emma Pitt, dated 6th June 1866, has created differences in perception as to the identity of the young woman in the photograph, first by the seller (DSFB) on the one hand, and second by the purchaser (KLW NFC Imprint) on the other. Is it a photograph of Emma Pitt's addressee "you Liz O'Meagher", (b. Tas 1847- d. NZ 1906) or does it represent the sender Emma Pitt herself (b. Tas 1847-d. NZ 1899)?

The cdv was offered for sale at Douglas Stewart Fine Books (Melbourne) in May 2021 as a "Studio portrait of a lady identified as Liz O'Meagher. Hobart Town, Tasmania, 1866", so is the young woman in the photograph Emma's friend Liz O'Meagher, or is Emma sending her friend a photograph of herself? Odd, perhaps, that Emma Pitt should send a precious and possibly unique object such as a photographic portrait by Charles A. Woolley of her friend back to her friend, especially if the photograph was a gift from her friend in the first place. The transaction would look like this : "I" - Emma - am returning to "you" - Liz - a visual signifier of "you" - Liz - which may have been given to "me" - Emma - by "you" - Liz - - and now "I" - Emma - am returning "you" - Liz - to "you" - Liz. Why return a photograph of the addressee to the addressee, which in some contexts could affront the recipient but in this instance, it seems, is a performative act in which the sender Emma hopes to encourage Liz to come visit her on a ship to Nelson - to "here" - from where she is sending her friend the cdv who is "there" in Hobart.

The cdv as a multimodal message is quite complex. Emma's single sentence is a powerful theatrical gesture in tenor and text. She uses the deictic "you" as a cataphoric pointer forward to the name "Liz O'Meagher" without reference to the photograph itself or to the name of the woman it portrays. "This is you" or "this is me" are absent pointers which could identify the subject of the photograph. Liz O'Meagher is clearly intended as the receiver, the addressee, the "you" in script, in textual form on the verso of the cdv but there is the addition of a visual signifier in the message, the photograph of a young woman on the recto of the cdv, whose identity is not altogether straightforward despite comparisons with extant photographic records taken in the same decade and into the 1880s of - potentially - both young women (see below).  There is, of course, the possibility that the photograph represents another young woman entirely.

To initiate the message, Emma is giving an order to the addressee "you Liz O'Meagher" when she uses  the modal  "I say" to insist that what she is about to say is to be remembered and acted on. If paraphrased, "I say" imports something like "I want you to repeat this, to quote me when I say this, this is not just an opinion, it is what I want, so do what I want, you ought to do this". Secondly, Emma's use of Captain Mackie's name which stands in for "voyage" is both synecdochic and anaphoric (external) to the message, but since he is nowhere to hear it, Emma performs a promise that exudes flirtatious but ultimately unquantifiable power and a doubtful scenario  - she will not only admonish him personally, should he show up at Nelson without Liz O'Meagher on board, she will banish him from her sight - or, as she puts it, he "is not to show his face" without her. The addressee "you Liz O'Meagher", who is "without" to Emma, must act on Emma's message and book her passage with Captain Mackie on his very next voyage to NZ to become inclusive within her social set, to avoid further "finger pointing" or deictic acts just like this one which = I say this to you here so you must do that for me there. 

Assuming that Liz O'Meagher received the cdv, on reading the verso she may have found it amusing, humorous, comedic even in what Emma was proposing to do to Captain Mackie. Then again, Liz O'Meagher may have become anxious while processing her perception of the  photograph's significance to them both.

Reversing the gaze back onto the sender, this may be a photograph of Emma herself, sealed with her signature and date. Emma Bartlett was married to Albert Pitt by June 1866 when she dated the verso of the cdv, while Liz O'Meagher was still single and would not marry Arthur Bell until February 1867. She would therefore be sending a message in her own image as an example of the happiness to which her friend in Hobart might aspire, with the wish she (Liz) join her (Emma) as soon as possible in New Zealand, perhaps with her groom-to-be for their honeymoon. The photograph as memento of their close friendship would then reflect an image on which Liz O'Meagher might gaze and imagine for herself a similar happy outcome (presumably sans envie).

That both young women were close friends is evident on the marriage registration of Emma Pitt. Born Emma Bartlett, she married solicitor Albert Pitt on 26th January, 1866 at St. David's Cathedral, Hobart, Tasmania. Her friend Liz O'Meagher was a signatory witness at the marriage. If this photograph does not depict Liz O'Meagher, it depicts Emma. This is "me", Emma is saying by sending her friend a photograph of herself. Taken by Charles A. Woolley at his Hobart studio, 42 Macquarie Street, Hobart Town (Tasmania) perhaps in the summer of 1866, Emma may have visited Woolley's studio for a photograph of herself dressed in her best summer outfit for a special occasion. It is not a bridal gown she is wearing, so the occasion was not her wedding day, nor was it a winter outfit suitable for travel in March when she departed Hobart with her husband on board ship to join Captain Hugh Mackie's steamer the Gothenburg at Melbourne for the voyage to New Zealand. Rather, this photograph, if it represents Emma Pitt, was how Liz O'Meagher might look, Emma is suggesting to her friend, if she were to follow her example.

Emma and Albert Pitt in New Zealand
Captain Hugh Mackie arrived in New Zealand in command of the steamer Gothenburg on March 7, 1866 with passengers Mr and Mrs. Pitt.



Sources: Papers Past NZ, due to return to Melbourne on December 27th 1866.
WEST COAST TIMES, ISSUE 388, 20 DECEMBER 1866, PAGE 1
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nzbound/otago1866.htm



Subject: Emma Pitt nee Bartlett (1847-1899) or Elizabeth Bell nee O'Meagher (1847-1906)?
Photographer: Charles A. Woolley
Location and date: 42 Macquarie St. Hobart, Tasmania 1866
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint & KLW NFC Group Private Collection 2021

Emma's husband, Albert Pitt (1842-1906) was photographed by Charles Woolley at Hobart, possibly earlier than his wedding in 1866, if the studio decor is any indication.



Subject: Albert Pitt (1840-1906)
Photographer: Charles A. Woolley
Location and date: Hobart 1866
Archives Office Tasmania Ref: AUTAS001126072719W800

Albert Pitt was the sole surviving child of Captain Francis Pitt, Harbour Master and Maria Reardon, who married on 20th July 1833 at Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). They lived at Pitt Farm, New Town until retiring to Napoleon Street, Battery Point where Francis Pitt died in 1874. Albert escorted his mother Maria back to Nelson to live with his family. She died there on 29 June 1896, 82 yrs old.

MARRIAGE REGISTRATION 26th JANUARY 1866
In 1864 Albert Pitt migrated to Nelson, New Zealand, where he started his own law firm, returning briefly to marry Emma Bartlett, daughter of Edmund Bartlett at Hobart, on  25th January 1866.



Pitt, Albert
Record Type: Marriages
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Spouse: Bartlett, Emma
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Date of marriage: 26 Jan 1866
Registered: Hobart
Registration year: 1866
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:868047
Resource: RGD37/1/25 no 120
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/868047

ALBERT PITT and the MAUNGATAPU MURDERS 1866
Barely a week after Emma Pitt signed the verso of the cdv she intended to send to Liz O'Meagher on 6th June 1866, her husband Albert was called to appear as an advocate for the defendants, the Burgess gang, who murdered James Battle on 12th June 1866 on the Maungatapu track, south-east of Nelson. Four other men were killed on the same track the following day. Three of the gang were executed, the fourth - Joseph Sullivan - was deported. Read the full account here....

On 12 June 1866, James Battle was murdered on the Maungatapu track, south-east of Nelson. The following day four other men were killed nearby – a crime that shocked the colony. These killings, the work of the 'Burgess gang', resembled something from the American 'wild west'.
The case was made more intriguing by the fact that one of the gang, Joseph Sullivan, turned on his co-accused and provided the evidence that convicted them. The trial was followed with great interest and sketches and accounts of the case were eagerly snapped up by the public. Unlike his colleagues, Sullivan escaped the gallows.
All four members of the Burgess gang had come to New Zealand via the goldfields of Victoria, Australia. Three of them had been transported to Australia for crimes committed in England. They were the sort of 'career criminals' that the authorities in Otago had feared would arrive following the discovery of gold in the province. The South Island goldfields of the 1860s offered potentially rich pickings for criminals. Crime was generally the work of individuals, and often a spontaneous act fuelled by alcohol, but there were notable exceptions.... etc etc

Source: 'The Maungatapu murders',
URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/society/maungatapu-murders/the-maungatapu-murders, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 13-Aug-2015



The Burgess gang. (Clockwise from top) Joseph Thomas Sullivan, Thomas Kelly, Philip Levy and Richard Burgess, photographed at Nelson gaol in 1866.
Source: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/the-burgess-gang-1866

In 1868 Albert Pitt entered into partnership with Henry Adams, trading as Adams &  Pitt. With the dissolution of that partnership,  he partnered with Edward Moore, operating as the firm Pitt & Moore. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Pitt).

FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS
The Nelson Provincial Museum has a sizeable collection of photographs of Albert Pitt and members of his family but is there a photograph of Emma Pitt which can compare favourably with the subject of the cdv she sent to her friend Liz O'Meagher dated June 6th, 1866? In other words, do any of these photographs of female members of Albert and Emma Pitt's family taken from ca. 1880-1889 resemble the woman in Emma Pitt's cdv sent to her friend Liz O'Meagher?



Pitt, Mrs A [sic - as in Mrs Albert Pitt]
Glass Monochrome/Media/Photography half plate/glass plate/
Production date Oct 1889
Photo collection reference number 16408
Collection Tyree Studio Collection
https://collection.nelsonmuseum.co.nz



Albert Pitt, 1883
Source: Nelson Provincial Museum (New Zealand)
Object type glass plate negative
Media and materials Glass Monochrome/Media/Photography 4 x 5/glass plate/Format/Photography
Collection W E Brown Collection
Credit line Pitt, Mr A. Dec 1883. Nelson Provincial Museum, W E Brown Collection: 11795
Link: https://collection.nelsonmuseum.co.nz/objects/6119/pitt-mr-a



Pitt Family NZ
Photo collection reference number 176235
Description Full length studio portrait of four men, four women and a boy.
Object type glass plate negative
Media/materials description Glass plate
Media and materials Glass Monochrome/Media/Photography 6 x 8/glass plate/
Format/Photography Measurements 6 x 8 inches
Collection Tyree Studio Collection
https://collection.nelsonmuseum.co.nz/objects/P35992/pitt

DEATH of Emma PITT, 1899
Record ID WKCE05046_C
Surname PITT
First names EMMA
Age 52 years
Date of interment 01/09/1899
Date of death 30/08/1899
Gender Female
Cemetery Wakapuaka
Copyright © 2021 Nelson City Council

LAST WILL and TESTAMENT of Albert PITT 1906
Albert Pitt's wife Emma Pitt nee Bartlett was 52 years old when she died in 1899. His will of 1906 named three of their children to inherit his estate in equal measure: his daughters Minnie Constanza Macdonald and Charlotte Emma Georgina Pitt, and his son Wilmot Bartlett Pitt. Albert Pitt died 64 years old on 18/11/1906; Emma Pitt died 52 years old on 30/8/1899. Two of their children predeceased them: Annie Pitt, died 3 months old on 11/4/1871 and Sidney Herbert Pitt died 28 years old on 22/3/1890.

TRANSCRIPT

No. 7134 In the Supreme Court of Nelson Wellington District
Be it known that upon search being made in the Office of the Supreme Court at Wellington in the colony of New Zealand it appears that on the twenty first day of December 1906, the last Will and Testament of Albert Pitt, late of the City of Nelson in the Provincial District of Nelson but lately in the City of Wellington both in the colony of New Zealand Barrister deceased who died in the City of Christchurch in the said colony on or about the eighteenth day of November 1906 was proved by the Public Trustee in the colony of New Zealand a corporation sole with perpetual succession and a seal of office the executor named therein and which Probate now remains of record in the said office the true tenor of the said will is in the words and figures following to wit: - This is the last Will and Testament of me Albert Pitt of the city of Nelson and lately of the City of Wellington in New Zealand Barrister I revoke all former wills and other testamentary dispositions by me at any time heretobefore made and declare that this alone to be my last Will and Testament I give devise and bequeath all my real and personal property whatsoever and wheresoever unto my children Minnie Constanza Macdonald Charlotte Emma Georgina Pitt and Wilmot Bartlett Pitt in equal shares as tenants in common I devise all estates vested in me by any trust subject to the equities affecting the same to my Trustee hereinafter named I direct that my just debts funeral and testamentary expenses shall be paid out of my estate I appoint the Public - [Albert Pitt] - Trustee to be the Trustee and Executor of this my Will. In Witness whereof I have hereunder set my hand the 13th day of November 1906 Albert Pitt. Signed by the said Albert Pitt as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence of us both being present at the same time who at his request in his sight and presence and in the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names attesting witnesses E. N. G. Foulton Private Secretary Wellington Kassie Turner Nurse Christchurch In faith and testimony whereof these Letters Testimonial are issued Given at Wellington aforesaid as to the time of the aforesaid search and the sealing of these present this 9th day of April 1907
Seal of the Supreme Court of New Zealand
Ewing & Seager
Sealed 6/6/07
Assets Tas £225 [sig?]

Source: Archives Office Tasmania
Pitt, Albert
Record Type: Wills
Year: 1907
File number: 7134
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1667091
Resource: AD960-1-29 Will Number 7134
https://stors.tas.gov.au/AD960-1-29-7134$init=AD960-1-29-7134_1

Memorial Walk
In Nelson, NZ, at the Bridge Street entrance of the Queens Gardens are the wrought iron Albert Pitt Memorial gates. Albert Pitt (1841-1906) was the Minister of Defence, Lt Colonel of the NZ
Militia and C.O. of the Nelson Military District 1877-1899. The opening ceremony took place on 2nd May, 1914.

Women in the O'Meagher family
So who was Emma Pitt's friend Liz O'Meagher? She was Elizabeth Ann O'Meagher (b. Hobart, Tas 1847 - d. Kawhia,NZ 1906) , the younger daughter of Elizabeth Anne O'Meagher snr (d. 1879) and William O'Meagher (d. 1849). Her father was chief clerk of  H.M. Ordnance Stores, New Wharf, Hobart. She married Arthur Bell (his full name was Arthur Waite Iredale Bell) on 5th February 1867 at St. David's Cathedral, Hobart. Arthur Waite Iredale Bell (1839-1921) and his sister Kezia Mary Bell (1849-1940) were born in Launceston, Tasmania to auctioneer Joseph William Bell (1793-1870) and Georgina Ford (d. NZ 1909). The elder daughter Mary Frances O'Meagher married Robert Walker on 14 July 1879 at St. David's Cathedral, Hobart. There were two sons as well as two daughters: Franc Penn O'Meagher and Wm Hudson O'Meagher (d. 1883) who were mentioned in the Last Will and Testament of Elizabeth Anne O'Meagher snr. A Codicil added to their mother's will in 1873 requested that another daughter - or daughter-in-law - Elizabeth Frances O'Meagher - be granted an annuity (see will below).

1867: MARRIAGE to ARTHUR BELL

MARRIAGES.
BELL-O'MEAGHER. -On 5th February, at St. David's Cathedral, by the Rev. F. H. Cox, Arthur Bell, Esq., of, Rockhampton, Queensland, to Elizabeth Anne, youngest daughter of the late W. O'Meagher, Esq., of Her Majesty's Ordnance. 8f

Source: "Family Notices" The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) 8 February 1867: 1. Web. 4 Sep 2021 https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8844112



Archives Office Tasmania
Marriage of Arthur Bell to Elizabeth Ann O'Meagher, under 21
https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD37-1-26$init=RGD37-1-26P76

1879: MARRIAGE of ELDER SISTER MARY to ROBERT WALKER

WALKER—O'MEAGHER.—On the 31st August, at St. David's Cathedral, by the Rev. F. H. Cox, Robert Walker, Esq., of Gipps Land, Victoria, to Mary Frances, eldest daughter of the late William O'Meagher, Esq., of H.M. Ordnance.

Source: Family Notices (1879, July 14). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 1.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8979027

1870: BIRTH of PERCY WALTER BELL



Bell, Percy Walter
Record Type: Births
Gender: Male
Father: Bell, Arthur
Mother: Elizabeth, Anne O'Meagher
Date of birth:04 Mar 1870
Registered: Hobart
Registration year: 1870
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:972964
Resource: RGD33/1/10/ no 964

Registration informant of the birth of Percy Walter Bell to Elizabeth Anne Bell (formerly O'Meagher) and Arthur Bell on 11th April 1870 was Elizabeth's mother, Elizabeth O'Meagher snr. The informant column on the registration clearly states "E. A. O'Meagher, Grandmother, (present at birth) Macquarie Street" [Hobart]. No press notice was published of this birth. An earlier birth of a son born at Rockhampton was published in the Hobart press on 28 February1868. Elizabeth Bell nee O'Meagher, wife of Arthur Bell, gave birth to three sons (Percy born at Hobart in 1870, two born at Rockhampton, Qld) and a daughter in 1873, Josephine Mary Bell, who died at 5 yrs of age at her parents' residence Athelstane Range, Rockhampton, Queensland. Another son was born in Hobart on 30 August 1878.

NEWSPAPER FAMILY NOTICES:

1. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Friday 28 February 1868, page 1
https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8850790

BIRTHS.
BELL. -On 4th February, at her residence, Athelstane Range, Rockhampton, Queensland, the wife of Mr. Arthur Bell, of a son.

2. Rockhampton Bulletin (Qld. : 1871 - 1878), Monday 10 February 1873, page 1
https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51792316

BIRTH.
BELL.—On Sunday, the 9th instant, at her residence, Athelstane Range, the wife of Mr. Arthur Bell, of a daughter.

3. Daily Northern Argus (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1896), Wednesday 9 June 1875, page 3
https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article213415438

BIRTH.
BELL.—On the 8th instant, at her residence, Athelstane Range, the wife of Arthur Bell of a son

4. Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1875 - 1929), Saturday 8 December 1877, page 1
https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65767832

DEATHS
BELL.—On the 5th instant, at her father's residence, Athelstane Range, Josephine Mary, aged 5 years' youngest daughter of Mr. Arthur Bell.

On 30th August 1878, Elizabeth Ann Bell nee O'Meagher gave birth to another son, Robert Hudson Bell at Hobart, registered by his father, Arthur Bell, hardware merchant, of Battery Point, Hobart, on 3rd October 1878.

Record Type: Births
Gender: Male
Father: Bell, Arthur
Mother: Elizabeth, Ann O'Meagher
Date of birth: 30 Aug 1878
Registered: Hobart
Registration year: 1878
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1093410
Resource: RGD33/1/12/ no 270
Archives Office Tasmania
https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD33-1-12$init=RGD33-1-12-P150

ARTHUR BELL'S ADVERTISEMENTS



TRANSCRIPT

£7250 WORTH!
7250 POUNDS WORTH !!!
OF
HARDWARE, EARTHENWARE, GLASS,
LEATHER,
And similar class of Goods,
Are now offered for Private Sale by the
undersigned.

In consequence of Large Shipments of above Goods having lately come to hand, our Stock has been increased beyond ordinary requirements. We must therefore clear off a quantity of beautiful. NEW GOODS by RAPID SALE, and will do so at
PRICES HITHERTO UNKNOWN IN ROCK-
HAMPTON.

Squatters, Storekeepers, and the public generally should avail themselves of this opportunity, and send all their orders to us quickly.

PIANOS, HARMONIUMS, BEDSTEADS,
STOVES, CUTLERY, & GENERAL FURITURE, offering now at SYDNEY
PRICES—
FOR THE GOODS MUST BE SOLD !

ARTHUR BELL & CO.,
HARDWARE IMPORTERS,
ROCKHAMPTON.

Source: Advertising (1878, January 28). Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954), p. 1.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52396039

Although Arthur Bell was in Hobart on 3rd October, 1878 when he registered the birth of Robert Hudson Bell, he had not yet managed to sell their residence and property at Athelstane Range nor his business, Arthur Bell & Co. Ironmongers, at Rockhampton. Facing insolvency, he advertised the sale of all his stock valued at £7250 on 28 January 1878 and ran advertisements as agent for rubber paint imported from San Francisco from September to December 1878 in the Rockhampton press:



Source: Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954), Saturday 21 September 1878, page 2
https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51979452

TRANSCRIPT

BEST PAINT IN THE WORLD
PREMIUMS :
Gold Medal from California State Agricultural Society
Silver Medal from Nevada State Agricultural Society
Bronze Medal from New South Wales Agricultural Society
Gold Medal from Oregon State Agricultural Society
Diplomas from - California State Agricultural Society, 1875; Mechanics' Institute Industrial Fair, 1875; Santa Clara Valley Agricultural Society, 187C; San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Society, 1870; Sonoma and Marin District. Agricultural Society, 1870.

PACIFIC RUBBER PAINT COMPANY,
207, Sacramento-street,
SAN FRANCISCO.

BUZACOTT & ARMSTRONG, Sydney,
Sole Agents for Queensland and N. S. Wales.

Local Agents
ARTHUR BELL & CO.,
Ironmongers

1875: PURCHASE of LAND, MONA Street BATTERY POINT
In 1875, Elizabeth Anne O'Meagher snr acquired sixteen perches on Mona Street near Colville Road, Battery Point, Hobart, which was numbered 1 Mona St. on her death four years later, in 1879. Her daughter Elizabeth Ann Bell nee O'Meagher and husband Arthur Bell, hardware merchant, had relocated from Queensland and were residing with her at Mona Street when their son Robert Hudson was born in August 1878.



O'Meagher, Elizabeth Ann
Record Type: Land
Date:1875
Location: Hobart
Remarks:16 perches
Record ID:NAME_INDEXES:1755311
RGD1/1 Book 78, page 158
https://stors.tas.gov.au/RD1-1-78$init=RD1-1-78P158JPG

1879: DEATH of LIZ O'MEAGHER'S MOTHER

DEATHS.
O'MEAGHER - On July 11, at No. 1 Mona-street, Battery Point, Elizabeth Anne, widow of the late Wm. O'Meagher, Esq., H.M. Ordnance, aged 67 years The funeral will leave her late residence THIS DAY, at half past 2 o'clock. 5559

Source: Family Notices (1879, July 14). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 1. https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8979027

1879: LAST WILL and TESTAMENT of Elizabeth Anne O'MEAGHER snr
Liz O'Meagher's father, William O'Meagher died at their residence in Argyle Street, Hobart on 20th December 1849. He was chief clerk at H. M. Ordnance Stores, New Wharf, Hobart.

Death of William O'Meagher
On Thursday morning, the 13th instant, at his residence Argyle-street. Wm O'Meagher, Esq., of H. M. Ordnance, in the 58th year of his age.

Source: Family Notices (1849, December 20). The Britannia and Trades' Advocate (Hobart Town, Tas. : 1846 - 1851), p. 2.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article226531981

Elizabeth Anne O'Meagher snr, wife of William O'Meagher,  died thirty years later at the property she purchased in 1875, No. 1, Mona Street Battery Point, Hobart, Tasmania. Her will provided for her two daughters and two sons from probate of £5,150. The codicil added to her will in 1873 requested that another daughter - or daughter-in-law - Elizabeth Frances O'Meagher - be granted an annuity (the codicil below on the second page is almost illegible):



Above: Page 1: O'Meagher, Elizabeth Anne Record Type: Wills
Below: Pages 2 and 3: O'Meagher, Elizabeth Anne Record Type: Wills



O'Meagher, Elizabeth Anne
Record Type: Wills
Year:1879
File number:2226
Record ID:
NAME_INDEXES:1633207
Resource:AD960-1-13
Will Number 2226
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/AD960-1-13-2226$init=AD960-1-13-2226_1



View of the River Derwent and Eastern shore, Hobart, from No. 1 Mona Street, Battery Point.
Photo copyright © KLW NFC Group 2014

Liz O'Meagher and Arthur Bell in New Zealand
It seems that Emma Pitt finally did get her wish to re-unite in New Zealand with her friend Elizabeth Ann Bell she knew as Liz O'Meagher. Both women would lead short lives - both were born in 1847, Emma died in 1899 (52 yrs old) and Liz died in 1906 (59 yrs old). Both were born in Tasmania and died in New Zealand: neither reached their 60th birthday.

Liz O'Meagher's husband, Arthur Waite Iredale Bell (1839-1921) and his sister Kezia Mary Bell (1849-1940) were born in Launceston, Tasmania to auctioneer Joseph William Bell (1793-1870) and Georgina Ford (d. NZ, 1909). Kezia Mary Bell and Robert Gardner (1842-1919) were married at New Town, Tasmania in 1868. In 1879, Elizabeth and Arthur Bell left Tasmania to join Arthur's sister Kezia who had moved to Christchurch, NZ, in 1877 with her husband, Arthur Bell's former partner Robert Gardner when their Rockhampton hardware business faced bankruptcy. Georgina Bell moved from Tasmania to New Zealand to join her son Arthur and daughter Kezia, dying there at the grand age of 91 years in April 1909.

Settled at Christchurch, New Zealand, Elizabeth Bell (Liz O'Meagher) and Arthur Bell became parents once more with the birth of their daughter Winifred Kassin Bell (1882-1963) who later married Gardner's son Robert Clifford Gardner (1882-1943) in 1908. Within two years, Arthur Bell had to contend with bankruptcy. On 18th August 1884, he filed a petition in the Supreme Court, Christchurch, NZ to be adjudged a bankrupt but by 1886, he was back in business advertising baby carriages from his shop called Bell's Hardware House, in Victoria Avenue, Wanganui. For the remainder of Elizabeth Bell's life, she lived with her husband and family at Wanganui on the west coast of the New Zealand's north island, north of Wellington, but on one fateful day in November 1906, while residing with her son at Hari Hari near Kawhia where he had established a flax mill, she fell ill during an epidemic of influenza. Robert Hudson Bell, 28 years old, son of Arthur Bell, died of influenza on 20th November 1906, his mother Elizabeth Ann Bell (Liz O'Meagher), 59 years old, wife of Arthur Bell, died the following day, on 21st November 1906.



Deaths of Robert Hudson Bell and Elizabeth Bell
Source:Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8143, 26 November 1906, Page 4
Link: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19061126.2.9

BELL - At Hari Hari, Kawhia, on 21st November, Elizabeth Ann Bell, aged 59, wife of Arthur Bell, lately residing at Paiaka; and on 20th November, Robert Hudson Bell, aged 28, son of Arthur Bell.

The local press in early 1906 reported the success of Robert Hudson's flax mill operating as Bell Bros with Ross at Hari Hari. Robert Bell's brother(s) who were his partners were not mentioned:

The flax industry is rapidly extending in the Kawhia district. Mr. Langley's mill at the Pakoka is running long hours, whilst Messrs. Bell Bros, and Ross' mill at Harihari is now working at top. Mr. A. D. Newton has surveyed two mill sites at Marakopa for a wealthy syndicate, which, it is understood, intends putting in plants at an early date. Besides this the virgin area at Nukuhakari is to be sold by the Government, and no doubt mills will be erected there.

Source: New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13081, 22 January 1906, Page 4
Link: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19060122.2.19.4

But by November 1906, reports followed the spread of the epidemic, and then of the deaths of Elizabeth Bell and her son Robert Hudson Bell with brief details of their lives.

A severe epidemic of influenza has lately made its appearance at Harihari. In consequence Messrs Bell Bros, and Ross' flax mill has been closed for a week, no fewer than 10 of the hands being laid up.

Source: Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 285, 16 November 1906
Link: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/KSRA19061116.2.7

KAWHIA.
Mr. R. Bell, of the Harihari flaxmill, who was ill with influenza for some time died last week. Mr Bell was highly esteemed in the district, and was a prominent athlete, being captain of the Marokopa Football Club, and an excellent rifle shot. Mrs Bell with the same complaint, passed away on the Wednesday, only surviving her son by a day. The deceased lady only came into the district a short time ago from the Wairarapa, and was greatly esteemed by a large circle of friends.

Source: King Country Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 6, 30 November 1906, Page 3
Link: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/KCC19061130.2.13

Father of Robert, husband of Elizabeth, Arthur Bell himself was required to perform the services at the graveside in the absence of available clergymen in the district:

Last week I reported a severe outbreak of influenza at Harihari, and it is with feelings of deepest regret that I have this week to chronicle the death of two highly-esteemed residents of that locality through illness brought on by that complaint, Some two weeks ago Mr. Robert Bell caught influenza and laid up for a, time, but returning to work too soon got relapse, and pneumonia supervening, despite most careful attention the patient succumbed to the attack on Tuesday afternoon, November 20. The deceased was a member of the firm of Messrs. Bell Bros, and Ross, and was a universal favourite with all who knew him. In the sporting arena the late Mr. Bell was prominent, being captain of the Marokopa Football Club and one of the best-rifle shots in the district. Quiet and reserved he was, but genuine and trite, and the sudden cutting off of one so robust and who had led such a clean life , at the early age of 28 came as a sudden blow. Mrs. Bell was by this time so dangerously ill. that the sad news was kept from her, and her position becoming worse Dr. Sanders, of Raglan, was sent for to consult with Dr. Jenkins, but before he could arrive the patient had passed away on Wednesday afternoon. The deceased lady had only removed to this district a few months ago, coming from the Manawata, where she was esteemed by a very large circle of friends. The late Mrs. Bell was 62 years of age at the time of her demise. It was impossible to bring the remains to the Kawhia cemetery, consequently the burials took place at a private cemetery on the homestead. In the absence of a clergyman, the services at the graveside were conducted by Mr. Bell (father and husband). The news of the deaths came as a surprise to residents of this district, and the relatives have the heartfelt sympathy of the whole of the inhabitants.

Source: New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13347, 29 November 1906, Page 7
Link: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19061129.2.94

Once more, the mystery of the cdv
No early photographs to date appear to be extant of any of the women from this Tasmanian branch of the O'Meagher family, with the possible exception of the cdv in question signed by Emma Pitt in 1866, which may or may not be a photograph of Liz O'Meagher. If photographer Woolley's cdv was a photograph of Elizabeth Ann Bell nee O'Meagher, known affectionately to her friend Emma Pitt as Liz O'Meagher, it is indeed a rare family memento, especially so given the circumstances of her death. One question remains: if Emma Pitt actually sent the cdv to her friend Liz O'Meagher in Hobart, Tasmania from Nelson, New Zealand in 1866, why did Liz O'Meagher not take it with her when she left Tasmania to settle permanently in New Zealand with husband Arthur Bell and family in the late 1870s? Did she leave it in Tasmania for her sisters and mother? Or was it returned to her mother and sisters from her New Zealand family in her memory because she died so suddenly with her son Robert in 1906?

The additional mystery which this cdv presents is this: how did it find its way to Melbourne (at DSFB) to be offered for sale in 2021? Provenance, anyone?

Sources: David Gardner Crouch, Canada.
Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand)
Familysearch.org - Bell and Gardner families

ADDENDA 1: Not Liz O'MEAGHER
Is there any comparison between the young woman pictured below - identified as Elizabeth Frances Bell (1847-1930) - and the young woman in the cdv (at top) which Emma Pitt sent her friend dated June 1866? The short answer is no, the young woman with child pictured below was the wife of Frederick George Bell, apparently no relation to the family of either Arthur Bell or Elizabeth Frances O'Meagher. 

The photograph below was taken in 1875 of Elizabeth Frances Bell, maiden name unknown. Her death notice listed a number of deceased children:

BELL.—On the 4th July, 1930, at the residence of her son (Mr. J. H. Bell), 44 Leveson street, North Melbourne, Elizabeth Frances, widow of the late Frederick George Bell, mother of Frederick, Samuel (deceased), Elizabeth (deceased), John, Ross (deceased), Flora (deceased), William (deceased), Annie (deceased), Robert (deceased), Albert (deceased), and Victor, aged 83 years, resident of North Melbourne 76 years.

Source: Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Monday 7 July 1930, page 1



Elizabeth Frances Bell (1847-1930) & and Frederick George Bell ca. 1875
Wife of Frederick George Bell (d. 1910, North Melbourne)
Photographer: Stewart and Co. Melbourne, ca. 1875
Part of: Sub-collection: North Melbourne and West Melbourne (Victoria)
https://www.picturevictoria.vic.gov.au/site/melbourne/NorthMelbourne/20214.html
https://www.picturevictoria.vic.gov.au/site/melbourne/NorthMelbourne/20210.html

ADDENDA 2: The sinking of SS Gothenburg 1875

The SS Gothenburg was a steamship that operated along the British and then later the Australian and New Zealand coastlines. In February 1875, Gothenburg left Darwin, Australia and while en route to Adelaide it encountered a cyclone-strength storm off the north Queensland coast. The ship was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef north-west of Holbourne Island on 24 February 1875. Survivors in one of the lifeboats were rescued two days later by Leichhardt, while the occupants of two other lifeboats that managed to reach Holbourne Island were rescued several days later. Twenty-two men survived, while between 98 and 112 others died, including a number of high-profile civil servants and dignitaries...

Captain R. G. A. Pearce, 20 March 1875
La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Gothenburg

Much like the infamous Titanic, Gothenburg’s last trip focused on making the best possible speed under renowned Captain Robert Pearce but, this story also has a notorious twist – stashed away in the Captain’s cabin was approximately 93 kilograms of gold valued at £40,000 (approximately £4,645,891 in 2020).

On 24th February 1875, as Gothenburg steamed south down the Queensland coast, it encountered cyclonic weather conditions. At 7pm, Gothenburg struck the southern edge of Detached Reef approximately 131km southeast of Townsville.

Source: https://blog.qm.qld.gov.au/2021/01/13/ss-gothenburg-a-haunting-watery-grave/

From the Archives, 1875: The Gothenburg sinks off Queensland killing 102
First published in The Age on March 4, 1875

WRECK OF THE STEAMER GOTHENBURG ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN PASSENGERS AND CREW MISSING

Source: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/from-the-archives-1875-the-gothenburg-sinks-off-queensland-killing-102-20210219-p57417.html




Record Title: Ship Gothenburg in the graving dock at Port Chalmers
Tiaki IRN:215787
Tiaki Reference Number: 1/2-014530-G
Collection: PA-Group-00198: De Maus, David Alexander, 1847-1925:Shipping negatives
Coverage: 1872
Description: The ship "Gothenburg" in the Port Chalmers graving dock. Part of Port Chalmers township visible behind the graving dock. Photographed between 1872 when the graving dock came into use, and 1875 when the "Gothenburg" was wrecked off Queensland. Photograph taken by David Alexander De Maus.
National Library of New Zealand
https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.215787

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Captain Goldsmith's "private friend" Edward Macdowell 1840s

Captain EDWARD GOLDSMITH master mariner, testimonial 1849
Attorney-General and barrister EDWARD MACDOWELL, cases 1840-1849
The mistrial of JOHN BUCHANAN indicted for rape of a child 1849



Edward Macdowell (1798–1860)
Source: Archives Office Tasmania RT52475

A Private Friend
In January 1849 Elizabeth Rachel Nevin's uncle, merchant mariner Captain Edward Goldsmith, was presented with a silver goblet as a token of appreciation for his services to the colony of Van Diemen's Land's horticultural enterprises. The occasion was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 17th January 1849 with Captain Goldsmith's "private friend", barrister Edward Macdowell, nominated to make the presentation, but he was otherwise "engaged in Court." Edward Macdowell was at the Supreme Court Hobart acting as counsel in the defense of John Buchanan, charged with the rape of a six year old child, reported in the press as either Mary Ann Challenor or Challender. Presentation of the goblet to Captain Goldsmith proceeded with Mr. W. Carter in Edward Macdowell's absence.

TRANSCRIPT

TESTIMONIAL TO CAPTAIN GOLDSMITH.-A handsome twelve-ounce silver goblet was presented to Captain Goldsmith on Wednesday, last, as a testimonial in acknowledgment of the services he has rendered to floral and horticultural science in Van Diemen's Land, by importing rare and valuable plants from England. The expenses incurred were defrayed by private subscription. The testimonial was presented by W. Carter, Esq., in the name of the subscribers, who observed that he had hoped the task would have been committed to abler hands. Mr. Macdowell, who was engaged in Court, he said, had been first deputed to present the testimonial, as being a private friend of Captain Goldsmith. A token twenty times the value would no doubt have been obtained had the subscribers publicly announced their intention.

- Upon receiving the cup, Capt. Goldsmith remarked that he would retain the token until death ; and, with reference to some observations made by Mr. Carter, intimated it was not improbable he should next year, by settling in Van Diemen's Land with Mrs. Goldsmith, become a fellow-colonist.

- The goblet, which was manufactured by Mr. C. Jones, of Liverpool-street, bears the following inscription:-"Presented to Captain Goldsmith, of the ship Rattler, as a slight testimonial for having introduced many rare and valuable plants into Van Diemen's Land. January, 1849." The body has a surrounding circlet of vine leaves in relief. The inscription occupies the place of quarterings in a shield supported the emu and kangaroo in bas relief, surmounting a riband scroll with the Tasmanian motto-" Sic fortis Hobartia crevit." The foot has a richly chased border of fruit and flowers. In the manufacture of this cup, for the first time in this colony, the inside has undergone the process of gilding. As heretofore silver vessels of British manufacture have taken the lead in the market through being so gilt, it is satisfactory to find that the process is practically understood in the colony, and that articles of superior workmanship can be obtained with out importation.

Testimonial to Captain Goldsmith
LOCAL. (1849, January 20). The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 - 1859), p. 2.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2967009

So who was Edward Macdowell, and what did the phrase "private friend" denote exactly, in 1849?

1840: Distillers' claims
Merchant mariner Captain Edward Goldsmith was a licensed wholesaler of liqour. His premises at 19 Davey St. Hobart were next door to John Leslie Stewart's brewery. They would have been among those affected by Governor Sir John Franklin's 1840 proposed bill to impose excise duties on distillers if Edward Macdowell, Attorney-General, had not protested. This account of Macdowell's role in the protest was published in 1884 by James Fenton:

The condition of the finances occasioned Sir john Franklin much difficulty during the first two years of his administration. The revenue derived from Customs, although annually on the increase, was still found inadequate to meet the expenditure incidental to the growing wants of the colony. Under the existing form of government direct taxation was impracticable. It was therefore determined to prohibit local distillation, on the assumption from ascertained facts that the excise duties were in many instances evaded by the distillers, and that its total suppression would largely benefit the revenue.
The question of compensation to the distillers, who would thus be injuriously affected, created a diversity of opinion in the Council. Pedder, the Chief Justice, who held a seat in the Legislature, strongly opposed the proposal to leave the matter of compensation to a committee appointed by the Executive, urging the principle that such claims should be settled by a jury. Mr. Edward Macdowell, the Attorney General, also objected to the proposals of the Governor as embodied in the bill before the Council, on account of their apparent injustice. As Attorney-General Mr. Macdowell was expected to support measures submitted by the Governor. Under the existing system there was no room for the exercise of conscience, he was therefore requested to resign his office. The Secretary of State being appealed to, approved the principle thus laid down, that it was the duty of a member of the Government to support its measures. By a strange concession to expediency His Honor the Chief Justice was made an exception to this rule. Franklin had ultimately to abandon the objectionable clauses of his bill, and after much delay the claims of the distillers, amounting to £7,431, were paid.

Source: Fenton, James (1884) A History of Tasmanian from its Discovery in 1642 to the Present Time. pp 150 -151
Cited by : http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUColLawMon/1884/2.pdf

1848: Sir William Denison's "private friend"
The term "private friend" in the 1840s referred to those of the same social class who were not their professional advisers, clients or beneficiaries in a legal sense. The term applied to both men and women in mixed or same gender relationships. In the 1850s, a private friend of a sex worker was the lover kept separate from the business: (Sanger, History of Prostitution, 1858). In colonial Hobart, the term "private friend" could mean someone held with affection in a relationship that was beneficial to both parties, but in at least once case, it denoted corruption involving Sir William Denison and his private friend Peter Degraves (1778–1852).

In 1848, the water course, called the town tunnel conveying the water supply to Hobart from kunanyi/Mt. Wellington along the Hobart Rivulet was closed, so as to divert water for use at Degrave's manufactories and mills (now the Cascades Brewery). The press used the term "private friend" to describe the cosy relationship between businessman Peter Degraves and the Lieutenant-Governor Sir William Denison who was seen to permit it in violation of the Queen's law.



Diversion of Hobart Rivulet
Source: Hobarton Guardian, or, True Friend of Tasmania (Hobart, Tas.), Saturday 30 September 1848, page 2

TRANSCRIPT

RIGHTS OF THE INHABITANTS TO AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLY OF WATER
... Sir W. Denison appears to have wilfully confounded two properties belonging to the inhabitants, which are quite distinct - namely, the whole water of the Hobart Town rivulet, and the town tunnel or water course, by which the water was for so many years conveyed into the town - both belong to the citizens, and they demand the restoration of both, which his Excellency has permitted a private friend of his own to usurp.

Sir W. Denison may speak of the tunnel with as much contempt as he treats the inhabitants — he may term it a ditch, or call it by any other name he chooses, but he will not by such means alter facts. It is, however, much to be regretted that accuracy is so completely disregarded. The tunnel is a covered drain and not a ditch. The ditch is that, by which the water after passing through Mr. Degraves' manufactories and over his mill wheel, is conveyed into the temporary wooden box, termed the reservoir, from which the inhabitants are now wholly supplied, and into the said ditch, the workmen were in the habit of "emptying" themselves. The tunnel or water course by which the inhabitants were supplied for so many years with water, was considered by the legislature of sufficient importance to be vested in the Queen, notwithstanding the contemptuous manner His Excellency may allude to Her Majesty's property; and the legislature also enacted, that if any person wilfully prevented the flow of water to, or diverted the water from any such tunnel or water course, every person so offending, shall, upon conviction, forfeit and pay for every such offence a penalty or sum not exceeding fifty pounds.— This is the law. We believe that Sir W. Denison, by a solemn oath, pledged himself to administer the law faithfully and impartially — but instead of doing so, he has, for the last twenty months openly protected an individual in setting the law at defiance, and in usurping the property of Her Majesty...

Source: Hobarton Guardian, or, True Friend of Tasmania (Hobart, Tas.), Saturday 30 September 1848, page 2

This ongoing problem of contamination of the Hobart Rivulet water supply to residences in Davey Street may have caused the death from typhus of Captain Edward Goldsmith's elder son Richard Sydney Goldsmith in mid-1854. In its course from the foothills of kunanyi/Mt. Wellington to the River Derwent it was used as a sewerage channel. After extensive rainfall and flooding throughout March 1854, Captain Goldsmith petitioned the Hobart City Corporation on behalf of residents to lay down water pipes to contain the sewerage on the one hand, and provide clean water for household use.

Edward MacDowell (1798–1860)
See Addenda below for biographical details. Edward Macdowell was -

• barrister (1833-1855) Tasmania, Australia
• solicitor-general (1833-1837) Tasmania, Australia
• public servant (1837-1841) Tasmania, Australia
• public servant (1845-1855) Tasmania, Australia
• crown solicitor (1851-1855) Tasmania, Australia
• barrister (1855-1860) Victoria, Australia

THE LETTER from CHARLES BUTLER
Below is an extract from a private letter addressed to Bishop Montgomery, written by 82 year old solicitor Charles Butler of Ellerslie, Hampden Road, Battery Point, Tasmania. The letter was in response to a request by the Bishop for an account of some of Tasmania's prominent early colonists dating from Charles Butler's arrival in Hobart in 1835. Butler started the letter on 27 November 1902 and finished it on 28 December 1902, although the original request from the Bishop was sent in June 1899. He duly acquitted the task with short biographies of Bishop Nixon, Mr McLachlan, Captain George Read, Captain Swanston, Mr. John Learmouth, Sir Alfred Stephen, Thomas George Gregson, George Meredith and Edward Macdowell on whom he showered faint praise.



TRANSCRIPT

2nd. Decr. 1902.
Edward Macdowell was Attorney-General, a Barrister of great eloquence, a very handsome Irishman but not a good lawyer and not a worker. He would at times go into Court without looking at his brief or scarcely so pick up the merits of the case during its progress and make a splendid reply at the conclusion. He was I believe a University man highly educated but without application. He married Capt. Swanston's daughter.

The Governor then here wished to carry some particular measure in Parliament to which Mr. M. was opposed and it was arranged that Mr. M. should resign, and the Solr Genl be appointed in his place and when the matter was carried the Solr should resign and Macdowell be reappointed, which was done but the Secretary of State refused to confirm the re-appointment and both Atty and Solr Genl lost their offices. Mr. Macdowell practiced for some years here and then went to Victoria. He had a bad failing and lost much of his position which no doubt caused him to fail in that Colony in the practice of his profession. I heard he died there in bad circumstances and miserably.

Typescript of letter from Charles Butler to Bishop Montgomery re reminiscences of early colonists -
Bishop Nixon, C. McLachlan, Capt G. F. Read, Captain Swanston, John Learmouth, Sir Alfred Stephen, Edward Macdowell, T. G. Gregson, G. Meredith.
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania Ref: NS2122/1/7
Series: Information Folders relating to Tasmanian Subjects of Historical Interest -
Edward Macdowell, p. 5

Charles Butler penned this paragraph about Edward Macdowell in 1902 from the comfort of these rooms at Ellerslie, Hampden Road, Battery Point, Tasmania.



Charles Butler' and family on steps of 'Ellerslie', Hampden Road, Battery Point 
Stereoscopic photograph attributed to Morton Allport.
Item Number:NS2217/1/1
Date:09 Nov 1864
Butler Family Photographs. (NS2217)01 Jan 1840-31 Dec 1979
View online: https://stors.tas.gov.au/AI/NS2217-1-1





Source of photographs: Butler Family Photographs (NS2217) Archives Office of Tasmania
Stereograph: NS2217-1-1
View of Ellerslie, Battery Point: PH30-1-336
Ellerslie rooms: PH30-1-4371 and PH30-1-4372

The person - most likely a member of the legal fraternity - who transcribed the verso of this unattributed photograph of barrister and Attorney-General Edward Macdowell was also sceptical of Edward Macdowell's character, seemingly to mock the good opinion of him held by Tasmanian Surveyor-General James Erskine Calder with this quote: -

"The noblest, the best and the bravest." So thought James E. Calder!

The sender of the photograph to recipients unknown dated it 16 June 1875, fifteen years after Edward Macdowell died, aged 62 yrs in 1860. No photographer's stamp or mark is visible which could accurately date and place the photograph, but it was probably taken soon after his relocation to Melbourne in 1855.



Recto: Edward Macdowell (1798–1860)
Source: Archives Office Tasmania RT52475
Verso inscription: "Edward Macdowell Barrister 16 June 1875
'The noblest, the best and the bravest.'
So thought James E. Calder!" i.e. reference to James Erskine Calder (1808–1882)

READER ALERT: you may find the rest of this post confronting and distressful.

The Case of John Buchanan,1849
On the day he was nominated to present Captain Edward Goldsmith with the specially crafted silver goblet, Edward Macdowell was otherwise engaged at the Supreme Court Hobart acting as counsel in the defense of John Buchanan who was charged with the rape of a six year old child.

These newspaper reports detailed the case over several days in January 1849. The first witness was the girl's mother. The success or failure of the trial to pass the death sentence on John Buchanan would pivot on Macdowell's argument that little credit was to be placed on the child's statement.



Hobarton Guardian, or, True Friend of Tasmania (Hobart, Tas.) Sat 20 Jan 1849 Page 4 Wednesday

TRANSCRIPT

SUPREME COURT
Criminal Sittings
Wednesday, 17th
Before his Honor the Chief Justice
The jury in the preceding case, sworn yesterday, then took their seats in the jury box, and - John Buchannan [sic] was placed in the dock, charged with having committed a rape on Mary Ann Challenor, (a child six years' and a half old) on the 24th day of December last. The prisoner pleaded not guilty. Mary Blakley, (mother of the girl), on being sworn said — I am the wife of John Blakley, carpenter. I have been married twice. The name of my first husband was John Challenor. I have a daughter (now 6 years and 5 months old) by him. I have been residing at No. 3, Old Market place, and my daughter with me. I know the prisoner at the bar about 18 months. I remember the Sunday before Christmas day (here Mrs Blakley was much effected) he walked into the house, and sat d down. He asked for the little girl, I told him she was at chapel. He said he had some lolleys for her, and he wished to see her, he had a great "liking for her". He remained about a quarter of an hour, when the children returned. He said to the little girl "do you know me?" She said no. I also asked her if she knew him, She again said no. He then took her between his legs and gave her lolleys. He said he had been on board the "Bandicoot" repairing her. He had some shells, and asked the girl would she like some. She said yes. He said if Mary Ann Challenor would go to his room in Collins-street, he would give her some. I allowed her to go accompanying my three other children. My son Thomas went, and I gave him strict orders not to lose sight of his sister. The prisoner at the bar took my daughter by the hand. It was about half in hour before I saw my daughter again. The prisoner brought her back to my house, accompanying the other three children. He remained about a quarter of an hour at my house. When the child returned she had three shells, and said she had 2d. but spent it. On the Wednesday morning I observed my daughter looked pale; and had asked her what was the matter.
Mr. MacDowell here made some remarks as to the length of time that had elapsed before there was any notice taken of the affair, and objected to what the girl told her mother, being put in as evidence. It was however overruled by the court.
Mary Ann Blakley continued - I examined my daughter, I found she was in a very bad state. [Here a conversation took place which is totally unfit for publication]. On the Wednesday I examined her linen and found it much stained. I then examined the linen she took off on the Saturday, but it was not at all stained. On Thursday morning I took her to Dr. Bright. No one but myself had examined her previous to that time. Dr. Bright examined her in my presence. I saw Dr. Seccombe examine her at the police office. My daughter May Ann did not see the prisoner at the bar again from the Sunday until the day of examination at the police office.
Mr. Macdowell cross-examined this witness at great length, during which she made several direct contradictions....
... Mary Ann Challenor, an interesting looking child was then called and His Honor then examined her as to speaking the truth, when he directed she should be sworn. She then related the manner in which the prisoner committed the offence....
William Daley, of the detective, on being sworn, stated that the child , Mary Ann Challenor, took him to Mr. Phipp's yard, and pointed out a closet where the prisoner committed the act with which he is charged, Dr. Bright was next sworn, whose testimony went to show that the offence had been committed, and that the child was labouring under a loathsome disease.
Dr. Seccombe then swore that the prisoner was labouring under a nameless disease. Thomas Clarkson, constable, was called, sworn and said — I apprehended the prisoner on the 26th December last, I told him I apprehended him for feloniously assaulting Mary Ann Challoner, a child, on the 17th Dec. last. The prisoner said oh, very well, I will go. The prisoner also said, how is it possible they can charge me with it. I took the child home to give her some shells. Mr. Macdowell at great length endeavoured to show that little credit was to be placed on the child's statement, and hoped the jury would take this into consideration. The learned Judge summed up very minutely, and the jury retired for about half an hour, when they returned and found a verdict of guilty.

Source: "Wednesday, 17th." Hobarton Guardian, or, True Friend of Tasmania (Hobart, Tas. : 1847 - 1854) 20 January 1849: 4. Web. 13 Jun 2021
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163503711.

RECORDS at ARCHIVES OFFICE of TASMANIA
John Buchanan, born Scotland in 1829, arrived at Hobart, Van Diemen's Land, as a prisoner on the Ratcliffe (2), 12 November 1848. He was remanded for the sexual assault of a six year old girl Mary Ann Challenor in 1849 and released due to a judicial error. In 1866 he was sentenced to 4 years for burglary. He died on 22nd August 1892 of senile debility, aged 62 years, at the New Town Charitable Institute, Hobart.

Transport conduct record 1848:
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-91$init=CON33-1-91p38

Court records January 1849:
Link 1 https://stors.tas.gov.au/SC32-1-6$init=SC32-1-6p131jpg
Link 2 https://stors.tas.gov.au/SC32-1-6$init=SC32-1-6p132jpg
Link 3 https://stors.tas.gov.au/SC32-1-6$init=SC32-1-6p133jpg



Court record January 17th and 19th 149
Archives Office Tasmania
Link: http://stors.tas.gov.au/SC32-1-6$init=SC32-1-6p132jpg

TRANSCRIPT

Page 109 (on left)
Wednesday the 11th January 1849
The Court met this morning at 10 o'clock
Before His Honor the Chief Justice
Jury (same as in no. 1)
3. John Buchanan assaulting & carnally knowing one Mary Ann Challender an Infant under 10 yrs of age to wit 6 yrs of age
Verdict: Guilty - rem?
[Annotation] Mr. Macdowell appeared for the prisoner.
The case for the pros. closed at 1/2 p. 3pm & the address for the Def. closed at 4pm His Honor commenced his charge to the Jury & closed at 1/4 to 5, who at 5pm [?]

Page 110 (on right)
Friday the 19th day of January 1849
The Court met this day at 12 o'clock
Before both His Honors -
Upon John Buchanan being placed at the bar. His Counsel (Mr Macdowell) moved that no Judgement be passed on the prisoner on the ground of testimony of the pris. being irregularly received on his trial
Mr. Atty General was heard in support of Judgement passed on the prisoner.
The prisoner was remanded.

TRANSCRIPT

SUPREME COURT.CRIMINAL SITTINGS.
WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 17
Before His Honor the Chief Justice.
The following jury were sworn - J. Aldridge (foreman), R. McCracken. P. Dudgeon, J. W. Woolley, J. Belbin, J. Robinson. T. Vigar, J. Abbott, E. Ivey, J. McConnell, G. Rolwegan, J. Regan.
John Buchanan was found Guilty of having on the 17th December last, criminally assaulted a child six years of age, named Mary Challender. The particulars of the case are totally unfit for publication.

Source: Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. ) Fri 19 Jan 1849 Page 2
SUPREME COURT.—CRIMINAL SITTINGS
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226536818

How John Buchanan escaped hanging
A technical error on the part of the judge in this instance led to a pardon pending for the rapist John Buchanan. It was noted he had been capitally convicted of a similar offence in England but escaped punishment "by a technical error". He managed again to escape punishment in the Hobart Supreme Court on a judicial error.



Britannia and Trades' Advocate (Hobart Town, Tas. : 1846 - 1851), Thursday 18 January 1849, page 2

TRANSCRIPT

Wednesday, Jan. 7. John Buchanan was indicted for a rape on the person of a little girl between 6 and 7 years old, on Sunday the 17th. December last. It appeared from the evidence that the prisoner called at the house of the child's mother, living in the Old Market Place, on the Sunday evening, and under pretence of giving the little girl some shells, took her with him up Collins-street. The mother not suspecting any bad intention in the prisoner, allowed the child, in company with her brother, 10 years old, and another little brother and sister, to go. The prisoner gave the boy a halfpenny to get lollipops at the corner of Melbourne-street, and leaving the other two children while the boy in went to the shop, took the little girl into some premises in that street, and perpetrated the deed. The medical testimony of Drs. Bright and Seecombe established the completion of the offence. The circumstance was discovered by the mother on the following Wednesday, from the injury to the child's health. The evidence in this atrocious case is unfit for publication. The trial lasted till five in evening, when the jury returned a verdict of guilty against the prisoner. He was remanded for sentence. Mr. Macdowell appeared for the defence.
[We understand the prisoner, who is about 45 years of age, was capitally convicted in England for a similar offence but escaped punishment by a technical error. - Eb. B]

Source: Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas.) Fri 26 Jan 1849 Page 2 Domestic Intelligence.



The prisoner awaits a pardon, because the Court has erred on a technical issue
Source: The Britannia and Trades' Advocate (Hobart Town, Tas) Thu 25 Jan 1849 Page 2

TRANSCRIPT

SUPREME COURT.
Wednesday, Jan. 24.
At 12 o'clock their Honours the Chief Justice and Puisne Judge took their seat upon the bench.
The prisoner Buchanan was placed in the dock.
The Chief Justice recapitulated the circumstances of the trial, reviewing the authorities and their application to the present case. He admitted he was wrong in denying the prisoner, by his counsel, the undoubted right he had to examine the witness when put into the witness-box, bible in hand, previous to being sworn, ; as to the witness's competency to take an oath and knowledge of its moral and binding force. The modern practice in England was for the judge at his discretion to examine the witness before the bill went to the grand jury. His reason for having refused to allow the prisoner's counsel to examine the witness in this ease as to competency, was, that he thought such an examination might defeat his own decision previously given on the subject. He had erred, and it was to be regretted.
The Puisne Judge agreed with the Chief Justice s decision; he likewise stated he had consulted Sir Alfred Stephens, who concurred with him in his opinion.
The prisoner was then remanded to the custody of the Sheriff, pending a pardon. The Attorney-General wished their Honours to direct the prosecution of the prisoner for an assault, but they declined.

Edward Macdowell advises that John Buchanan walk free
Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas.) Fri 26 Jan 1849 Page 2 Domestic Intelligence.

TRANSCRIPT

SENTENCES - ... John Buchanan, for a capital offence upon a child six years old, was found guilty by a highly respectable jury, without the slightest recommendation to mercy. The judges have since agreed with Mr. Macdowell that the prisoner ought not to be executed, but be sent to Norfolk Island, there to pass a few months, which he has to serve previous to becoming free ; so that a very short period will elapse, when this filthy disgrace to manhood will, perhaps, again be committing those diabolical crimes which can only be thought of with horror.

Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas.) Fri 26 Jan 1849 Page 2 Domestic Intelligence.

POSTSCRIPT.
Buchanan, the man convicted and sentenced to death the other day for a capital offence upon a child six years old, has had another narrow escape, the Judges having decided that the conviction was wrong, on the ground that the Court had refused to allow Mr. Macdowell to examine the principal witness as to competency. The conviction was quashed, and the prisoner remanded, with the understanding that he is to be sent to Norfolk Island, until he becomes free, which will be in a few months.

Source: Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston, Tas. : 1835 - 1880), Saturday 27 January 1849, page 4

John Buchanan, ship to colony Ratcliffe 2, was sentenced to 4 years for burglary at the Quarter Sessions Court Launceston on 11th June 1866 and released from the Hobart Gaol on 29th September 1869. He was 41 yrs old. Buchanan may have committed further sexual assaults on children without detection, and indeed more burglaries before his death as a pauper at the New Town Charitable Institute in 1892.



Discharge of John Buchanan, 4yrs for burglary
Police Gazette Tasmania1 October 1869

1843: Edward Macdowell's defence of Martin Cash
An earlier case involving murder established Edward Macdowell's reputation for defending the indefensible and winning at sensational trials.

TRANSCRIPT

R. v. Kavenagh
bushranging, Cash, Martin, murder, mens rea, hue and cry, self defence, Port Arthur, conditions at, capital punishment, dissection, capital punishment, time of execution, robbery on highway, Crown mercy
Supreme Court of Van Diemen's Land
Montagu J., 6 and 7 September 1843
Source: Hobart Town Advertiser, 8 September 1843[1]

TRIAL OF MARTIN CASH, FOR MURDER
The avenues to the Court were crowded this morning long before ten o'clock, the hour of adjournment. On the opening of the doors the floor of the Hall of Justice was instantly filled by an anxious audience, (among whom were many females), to hear the trial of the notorious Martin Cash, whose lawless career has obtained for him "a bad eminence" among all friends of peace and order.
His Honor, Mr. Justice Montagu, took his seat precisely at ten o'clock. From the excellent arrangement made by the Under Sheriff, the javelin men prevented the Court from being over crowded, and although hundreds, composing "the pressure from without", were disappointed in obtaining admission, yet the expediency of the precautions taken were evident in the preservation of order and silence throughout the entire proceedings.
On the bench, with the learned Judge, sat J. Burnett, Esq., Sheriff of the colony; and J. Hone, Esq., Master of the Court.
The Attorney General conducted the prosecution, near whom we observed, during the whole of the day, the Solicitor General.

Mr. Macdowell appeared for the defence.
We were sorry to observe that this able advocate is labouring under severe indisposition and hoarseness. At Mr. Macdowell's request, all witnesses in the case were directed to leave the Court.
The prisoner, "the observed of all observers," was then directed to be brought in, and placed in the dock. He was dressed in a good suit of sailor's clothes, which he wore when captured; and maintained the same self possession which characterised his demeanor when the Coroner held his inquisition.
The Clerk of the Court, then read the information, which contained but one count. It charged the prisoner, Martin Cash, with having on the 29th August last, in and upon one Peter Winstanley, discharged a certain pistol, loaded and charged with gunpowder, and one leaden bullet, inflicting a mortal wound on the left breast, of which mortal wound the said Peter Winstanley, until the 31st day of the same month did languish, and languishing did live; and on the same day of the same mortal wound died; and that on the day above-named, the prisoner Martin Cash, the said Peter Winstanley, feloniously, wilfully, and with malice aforethought, did kill and murder, against the peace of our Lady the Queen, her Crown and dignity.
The prisoner, with great promptness, and in a confident tone, pleaded Not Guilty.

Source: Hobart Town Advertiser, 8 September 1843[1]
Read the rest of this case here: https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/tas/TASSupC/1843/39.html?



TITLE: Thomas Bock - Sketches of Tasmanian Bushrangers, ca. 1823 - 1843
CALL NUMBER: DL PX 5
IE NUMBER: IE1076928
FILE NUMBER: FL1076998
FILE TITLE: f.3 Martin Cash
Source: https://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110327187, State Library of New South Wales

Addenda

1. BIOGRAPHY: Edward MACDOWELL (1798–1860)
Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography
https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/macdowell-edward-2397

Edward Macdowell (1798-1860), barrister, and Thomas Macdowell (1813-1868), newspaper editor, were the sons of John and Susan Macdowell of Marlton, near Wicklow, Ireland. Edward was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1824 and served for some years on the Midland Circuit before he was appointed solicitor-general of New South Wales in 1830. He lost this position when he failed to take up his duties promptly, and had to accept instead the less remunerative solicitor-generalship of Van Diemen's Land. He held office from January 1833 to September 1837 when he succeeded Alfred Stephen as attorney-general. In December 1838 his brother Thomas joined him in Van Diemen's Land.

Thomas, who had worked in London as a reporter on the Constitutional, began his newspaper career in the colony early in 1839 as editor of the Hobart Town Courier under the conductorship of William Elliston. In July 1841 he founded the Van Diemen's Land Chronicle and remained in charge until it ceased publication next December. Although both these newspapers enjoyed government patronage, the first loyalty of Thomas as their editor was not to the government but to the '(Sir) George Arthur faction', with which Edward became linked by his marriage in June 1835 to Laura Jeanette, daughter of Charles Swanston, the influential manager of the Derwent Bank.

From Thomas's arrival in the colony, the association of the Macdowell brothers was close and notorious. Many, including Gilbert Robertson and Lady Jane Franklin, suspected Edward of inspiring his brother's newspaper articles. In 1839 the Hobart Town Courier, with Thomas as editor, repeatedly attacked the solicitor-general, Herbert Jones, who had quarrelled with Edward and forced him to resign over the distillation issues bill. When these press attacks did not cease on Jones's handing back of the attorney-generalship to Macdowell after the bill had been piloted through the Legislative Council, Jones was stung to make counter charges in a letter published in a rival newspaper, Gilbert Robertson's True Colonist.

The dispute between the two law officers, each of whom appealed against the other to the Colonial Office, became a public scandal and in July 1841 both were dismissed.

The loss of his attorney-generalship left Edward free to devote his time to his legal practice, which became one of the most successful in the colony; one of its highlights was the defence in 1843 of the bushranger, Martin Cash. Freedom from office also allowed him and his brother more openly to support John Montagu, the colonial secretary and leader of the 'Arthur faction', in his quarrel with Sir John Franklin. Thomas, as editor of the Van Diemen's Land Chronicle, was responsible for the first and most damaging of the attacks on Lady Franklin in the Tasmanian press. As a journalist, he excelled in invective: his jibes at John Macdougall, editor of the Colonial Times in 1841, and Thomas Gregson in 1848 struck home so effectively that the one attempted to whip him, the other to cudgel him in public; and of the critics of the Franklins, he was undoubtedly the most skilful and unrestrained.

After 1842 Thomas, although he continued to have an occasional interest in the Hobart Town Courier and in the short-lived Spectator, ceased to play an active role as a newspaperman. In February 1840 he had been elected manager of the Tasmanian Fire, Life and Marine Insurance Co., with which was associated the Hobart Town and Launceston Marine Insurance Co., and until his death devoted himself to running these two companies. On 28 April 1845 he married Jane Palmer at Hobart. She died in 1866, and two years later he left Hobart to establish in Melbourne a branch of the Derwent and Tamar Insurance Co. He died there on 18 December 1868, survived by five children.

After the recall of Franklin, Edward Macdowell began to make his way slowly back into official favour. In 1844 his successor as attorney-general was dismissed for having fought duels with Robert Stewart and Thomas Macdowell both, according to the True Colonist, provoked by Thomas Macdowell. This led to a series of promotions which left vacant the position of commissioner of the Insolvency Court to which in March 1845 Edward Macdowell was appointed. In December 1851 he was further charged with the duties of acting crown solicitor. In March 1854 his tenure of this position was made permanent. Next year he resigned and went with his children to Melbourne where he practised at the Bar until his death on 24 April 1860.

Although the role played by the Macdowell brothers in Tasmanian history was not attractive, they should not be dismissed merely as henchmen of the 'Arthur faction'. Men of undoubted capacity and ruthless ambition, they both found time during their stormy careers to defend not only their private interests but also the conservative and realistic political principles on which they held the Arthur administration had been based.

Select Bibliography
E. M. Miller, Pressmen and Governors (Syd, 1952)
Hobart Town Courier, 29 Nov 1839, 14 Feb 1840
True Colonist (Hobart), 6 Dec 1839, 22 Mar 1844
Mercury (Hobart), 21 Dec 1868
Correspondence file under Macdowell (Archives Office of Tasmania).

2.  LAURA MACDOWELL (1813-1849)
Edward Macdowell and Laura Jeanette Swanston married at Hobart on 24th June, 1835 in the presence of George Dean and Alfred Stephen. The Macdowell House "Beauley" or "Beaulieu" was purchased by Edward Macdowell in 1837 from George Bilton, a partner with Captain Edward Goldsmith in a ship building company with Messrs Haig, Meaburn and Williamson. They purchased an allotment fronting the Derwent, 115 feet, £5 5s per foot, £903 12s do do. 115 feet, £9 10s, £1092 10s; and the dwelling house and premises, £625 at Secheron Bay with intentions of constructing a patent slip. Today, Beaulieu stands as no 8, Rupert Avenue. It is the only house in the Mount Stuart area to be listed on the register of the National Estate.

This advertisement appeared in The Tasmanian, 24 May 1833;

Estate for Sale.
On Friday, the 7th June, Mr Stracey will sell by public auction. On the premises, at Twelve for One o'clock, positively without reserve, the refreshments being first disposed of, That beautiful property, Beauley Lodge. Lot 1. Will comprise the house, containing an elegant entrance hall 16 ft. by 8 ft., an elegant saloon 24 ft. by 16 ft., a comfortable dining room 20 ft. by 16 ft., all communicating by folding doors, and opening by French windows into a tasty veranda. There are five bed-rooms, corresponding in size and proportion to the others; a good kitchen, laundry, butlers' pantry, secure store-room and dairy. The out offices embrace servants' rooms, good stables, coach-house with lofts and granaries, poultry house and yard, dove cot, and an extensive range of useful buildings. There are three acres of land encircling the house, laid out with much taste, and covered with English grasses. The terms will be as liberal as the property is desirable - namely, half the purchase money may remain on mortgage at a moderate interest, for 4 or 5 years, the residue to be paid, by a cash deposit of 10 per cent, 10 per cent by 3 months bills, and 30 per cent, by approved bills at 6 months. To soften the disappointment of those who will be outbid in the purchase of Beauly Lodge, several very eligible building allotments, will be sold immediately afterwards, which are cleared, cultivated and cropped, including a large garden, well stocked with choice trees. The terms in this case, will also be liberal. It is utterly impossible any description can do justice to the intrinsic value, beauty of situation, salubrity of air, fertility of soil, extent and beauty of the commanding prospect, by land and water, of this property. And then the interior at once displays that degree of taste and elegance, it is to be deplored is not more studied in the generality of Colonial buildings. And not least must be taken into consideration, the stability of the edifice, both in regards to materials and workmanship.

Beaulieu wasn't sold and was advertised again in November 1833 when it was described as a 'delightful residence for a family of the highest respectability'. George Bilton purchased it but only lived there for a few years before advertising it for sale in the Hobart Town Courier in December 1837. Edward Macdowell purchased it at sale but by 1842, the year he registered the births of all three of their children, he was living with his wife and family at Secheron, Battery Point, Hobart.



Sources: photo of Beaulieu, Mt. Stuart, Hobart. Copyright G. Ritchie 2013, Convict Trail
Convict Trail: https://ontheconvicttrail.blogspot.com/2013/10/beaulieu-homestead.html
Mt Stuart:https://www.mountstuarttas.org.au/?q=content/houses

1836-1841: children born to Laura and Edward Macdowell
On the 14th March 1842 Edward Macdowell, barrister of the Middle Temple and resident of Secheron (Battery Point), registered the births of all three of their children on the same day. His wife Laura Janette Macdowell nee Swanston gave birth to a son, Hay Macdowell on 9th May 1836; to another son, Swanston Hay Macdowell on 4th May 1838; and a daughter Anna Rebecca on 28th December 1841.



TRANSCRIPT

BIRTHS.—On Friday last, at Beauley Lodge, the Lady of Edward Macdowell, Esq., Attorney General, of a Son.

Source: Bent's News and Tasmanian Register (Hobart Town, Tas.) Fri 11 May 1838 Page 4 Family Notices



Registration of three Macdowell births to Laura and Edward Macdowell
Registration year:1842
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1067144
Resource:RGD33/1/1/ no 691
Archives Office Tasmania - https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1067144

1849, October: influenza and whooping cough
The State Library of Victoria holds a letter sent from Launceston, 3rd October, 1849, written by Edward MacDowell to his son Hay, at Cathedral Grammar School, Rochester, England. It also has a few lines added by his younger son, Swannie. The letter refers to the outbreak of influenza and whooping cough in Tasmania and Victoria which had affected members of the Macdowell family. The letter also refers to Hay's illness in England and contains other family news.

Source: Biographical / Historical note Edward MacDowell was the father of Hay and Swannie.
Title Letter : Launceston, to Hay, Rochester, 1849 Oct. 3. [manuscript]
Author / Creator Edward MacDowell
Date 1849 Oct. 3
Description 4 p. (0.1 cm.)
Identifier(s) Accession no: MS 10543
Link to this record - http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/f/1cl35st/SLV_VOYAGER163691

1849, December: death of Laura Macdowell
Edward Macdowell's wife, Laura Macdowell died of liver complaint on December 16th 1849, just 36 yrs old.



TRANSCRIPT

DIED
On Sunday last, in Macquarie-street, Hobart Town, aged 36 years, LAURA JEANETTE, the beloved wife of Edward Macdowell, Esq., Commissioner of Insolvent Estates, for Hobart Town.

Source: Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857) Tue 18 Dec 1849 Page 2 Family Notices



Macdowell, Laura Jeannette
Record Type: Deaths
Gender: Female
Age: 36
Date of death: 16 Dec 1849
Registered: Hobart
Registration year: 1849
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1188533
Archives Office Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD35-1-2P272



Collection: Walker, James Backhouse
Subject: Photograph of New Town and Mt. Direction, Hobart, Tasmania from the hill above Beaulieu c.1880
Photographer: Alfred Winter Bathurst, Elizabeth and Liverpool Streets from 1869 until 1891
University of Tasmania Library Special and Rare Materials Collection, Australia.
Source: https://eprints.utas.edu.au/3503/


FURTHER READING
A case of malversations and libel, 1841, involved both brothers Edward and Thomas Macdowell versus Mr. Gilbert Robertson, Proprietor of the True Colonist newspaper.
Source: http://www.law.mq.edu.au/research/colonial_case_law/tas/cases/case_index/1841/mcdowell_v_robertson/

"Duelling in Van Diemen's Land: the dismissal of Attorney-General, Thomas Welsh, in 1844".
Appears in Papers and Proceedings: Tasmanian Historical Research Association, v.47, no.3, Sept 2000, p.185-187 (ISSN: 0039-9809)
Author Petrow, Stefan
Published Sept 2000
Physical Description Journal Article


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