Showing posts with label Updated. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Updated. Show all posts

Alfred Bock and the Bayles sisters

HOBART PHOTOGRAPHERS Alfred BOCK and Thomas J. NEVIN
STUDIO DECOR, furniture and carpets
THE BAYLES SISTERS 1860s

Professional photographer Alfred Bock established himself at the City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Tasmania in 1858 after a series of financial difficulties, and stayed there until 1865 when he was again declared insolvent. On Bock's departure from Tasmania, commercial photographer and government contractor Thomas J. Nevin acquired the studio lease, glass house, and stock-in-trade at auction in August 1865. He continued with the business name the City Photographic Establishment until 1876 when he joined the civil service as Office and Hall Keeper to the Hobart City Council and Municipal Police Office with residency at the Hobart Town Hall, resuming commercial photography in 1880 until retirement in 1886.

The three Bayles sisters

Elizabeth Bayles 1864

Left: Mary Louisa Bayles
Centre: Elizabeth Bayles
Right: Ellen Bayles
Photographer: Alfred Bock ca. 1865
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint and Private Collections 2020.

Alfred Bock's portrait of Mary Louisa Bayles
Outdoors, just back from a stroll in the fresh country air, hat in hand, was the theme chosen for Mary Louisa Bayles' session at Alfred Bock's studio ca. 1865.  He stood her next to a circular metal garden table decorated with a metal stand supporting a bowl of artificial fruits and flowers. Behind her, both on her left and right, two plaster plinths were to suggest a patio balustrade leading to steps rising to a terrace just out of frame. Painted on the backsheet to the viewer's right, the large tree reaching to the top was to soften the edge of the frame in similar manner to the drape which nearly always appears in Alfred Bock and Thomas Nevin's indoor studio portraits. In the distance to the viewer's left, the smaller tree was to deepen perspective while allowing enough blank space to foreground the pose Mary Louisa chose as a complement to the outdoor decor. Only the carpet appears incongruous in a setting which has so much outdoor furniture. That same carpet with a pattern of large dark lozenges rimmed in white appears in several portraits by Thomas Nevin of private clients. He may have acquired it from H. H. Baily whose studio was located almost opposite in Elizabeth Street. It appears in Baily's portrait of Sara Crouch who was photographed by Thomas Nevin about the same time, ca. 1872.

The table top metal stand holding a bowl of fruit or flowers appears in all three of these photographs by Alfred Bock of the Bayles sisters. The floor to ceiling drape with a pattern of flowers or vine leaves appears in just about every one of these studio portraits by Alfred Bock and Thomas Nevin.



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



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

Mary Louisa Bayles was under 21 yrs old when she married Thomas Littlechild at St. Andrew's church in the district of Campbell Town, Tasmania on 14th October 1868. His occupation was not registered, apart from the word "Esquire" attached to his name which was to signify a man of independent means. Witnesses to Mary Louisa Bayles' marriage were Messrs Thos Robertson, John Bilton and Joseph Bayles.



Name: Bayles, Mary Louisa
Record Type: Marriages
Gender: Female
Age: Minor
Spouse: Littlechild, Thomas
Gender: Male
Age: Adult
Date of marriage: 14 Oct 1868
Registered: Campbell Town
Registration year: 1868
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:870428
Archive Office Tasmania Resource: RGD37/1/27 no 26

Alfred Bock's portrait of Elizabeth Bayles
For Elizabeth Bayles' session, Alfred Bock put a plinth to her right but positioned her next to the larger plinth. It is the same plinth with an inset plaster wreath decoration which appears in Thomas J. Nevin's portrait of his younger brother, 16 year old Wm John Nevin (1852-1891) taken in the same studio while operating as the firm Nevin & Smith with partner Robert Smith, ca 1867 to February 1868. Although this full-length carte-de-visite portrait of Elizabeth Bayles is somewhat broken for all the handling it has taken over the last 160 years, it still renders a lot of historically accurate information about women and studio photography in 1860s colonial Hobart.

Elizabeth Bayles 1864

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



Verso:
Subject: Elizabeth Bayles
Photographer: Alfred Bock ca. 1865
Location: 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, Tasmania
Details: full-length carte-de-visite
Verso bears Alfred Bock's stamp with kangaroo atop a circular belt
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2020.

Alfred Bock's portrait of Ellen Bayles
When Alfred Bock set up his studio to take a photograph of Ellen Bayles (below), he included the metal table and metal stand with fruit or flowers he had arranged for his portrait of her sisters Mary Louisa and Elizabeth Bayles, but placed them on the viewer's left in front of the drape printed with a pattern of vine leaves. The same drape appears in Thomas Nevin's self-portrait ca. 1868, in sitting pose wearing white gloves and holding a stereoscopic viewer.



Source: Viewed online July 2020 at Sydney Rare Books Auctions June 2019
Vendor's note:Ellen Bayles Album. A leather worked Carte de visite album, 15 x 12 x 6cm, inscribed and signed by Ellen Bayles, with 22 family Cartes de visite including her portrait (Bock, Hobart). Photographers include Dowling, Baily and Burrows.

Ellen Bayles' Album
By way of an introduction to her photo album, Ellen Bayles included a poem in five verses on the inside left page, signed by her which may or may not indicate her own composition,

TRANSCRIPT partial
My Album
Here I see familiar faces
Ranged together side by side
Occupying Friendship's places
Treasured within Affection's pride.

Kith and Kin, and dead and living
Grave and gay and youth and age
Love selected, life reflected
Lifelike in each hallowed page...
.....
And my spirit feels a pleasure
And a pride [illegible] can tell
In possessing this one treasure
Of the friends I love so well
[Signed] Ellen Bayles

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Youngest daughter Minnie Nevin m. James Drew (1884-1974)

DAY SISTERS, Elizabeth Rachel Nevin, Mary Sophia Axup and descendants
MINNIE DREW nee Nevin and family, Tasmania 1884-1974



Minnie Drew ca. 1917 born Mary Ann Nevin (1884-1974) known to all as Minnie.
Photographer: possibly her father Thomas J. Nevin snr
Youngest daughter of Thomas J. Nevin and Elizabeth Rachel Day
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2020

The Drew Family Album
The Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office (TAHO) received copies of photographs from the estate of Mary Ann Drew, known to her Nevin family as Minnie, donated by V. Hooper of the funeral directors firm Hooper & Burgess, on the 30th August 1974. The photographs were enlarged black and white copies from a family album, and were most likely prepared by Mr V. Hooper for Minnie Drew's funeral service which was conducted on 14 September 1974 at her residence, 19 Raymont Terrace, Mt. Stuart (Hobart).

The photographer of the original photos was not recorded by the TAHO in 1974, and no studio stamp is evident on the recto of each copy. As the original family album from which they were copied has yet to come to light, the photographer attribution can be adduced from the date of the sittings - from when her father Thomas J. Nevin registered Minnie's birth signed with his profession "photographer, New Town 18th December 1884" to 1888 when his youngest son Albert was born. The copies deposited at the Tasmanian Archives Office by the Drew family included two childhood photographs of Thomas and Elizabeth Rachel Nevin's daughter Minnie Nevin, and one of son George Nevin.

1884: Birth Certificate
Detail of registration of Mary Ann nevin's birth with her father's signature and vocation "photographer":





Nevin, Mary Ann
Record Type: Births
Gender: Female
Father: Nevin, Thomas James
Mother: Day, Elizabeth Rachel
Date of birth: 09 Nov 1884
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:978869
Archives Office Tasmania

In 1884 Thomas Nevin was working from his studio in New Town when he wrote his profession, address and signature as "photographer, New Town, 18 December 1884" on the birth registration of Mary Ann Nevin (1884-1974), known as Minnie to the family and named after Thomas' sister Mary Ann Carr nee Nevin who died in childbirth, Melbourne, in 1878. Thomas Nevin's mother who died in 1875 was also named Mary Ann Nevin (nee Dickson).

1887: a toddler
The earlier one was taken of Minnie as a three year old toddler in 1887. She was dressed in a knee-length frock of thick material, with thick bands of velvet holding in place the pleats of the short sleeves, repeated around the hem, all covered by an enormous white bib, and complemented with white bloomers, white knee socks, and black button up shoes. She was perched on a chair covered with a mass of cushions and a blanket. Minnie stayed calm and attentive as she listened and watched her father capture the image.



Minnie Nevin, aged 3yrs, ca. 1887
Photograph by her father Thomas Nevin, New Town studio
B & W copy deposited 30/8/1974
Ref: NS434/1/236 Tasmanian Archives Collection (TAHO)



Minnie Nevin, aged 3yrs, ca. 1887. Watermarked.
Photograph by her father Thomas Nevin, New Town studio

Three-year old Mary Ann Nevin, known to the family as Minnie, was photographed by her father Thomas J. Nevin at his New Town studio in 1887. While this photograph of his youngest daughter might have been taken for viewing within the family, the later one, taken ca. 1900 (below) may have been taken in a commercial studio.

The photographer's name and studio are not recoverable from these two photographs because they are black and white copies of the original studio portraits. Even so, Thomas J. Nevin might have taken this photograph in 1887 and the later ones below in 1900 and 1917 because he was still active as a photographer into the 1920s. Official documents dated right up to his death in 1923 state "Occupation: Photographer." His burial certificate of 1923 carries the same vocational title - "Photographer". The witnesses to the marriage of his daughter Minnie Nevin to James Henry Alfred Drew in 1907, whether himself or another family member, would have completed the section of the marriage certificate requiring the bride's father's name and his occupation as "Thomas Nevin Photographer" just as the signatories to the marriage certificate of his youngest son Albert Edward Nevin - John and Frances Davis, parents of his bride Emily Maud Davis - registered Albert's father Thomas Nevin's occupation as "Photographer" ten years later, in 1917, viz:



TRANSCRIPT
Father's Name (in full) ... Thomas Nevin
Occupation ... Photographer
Mother's Name (in full) Lizza Nevin née Day
Detail of document - see below:
Marriage Certificate of Albert Edward Nevin to Emily Maud Davis 4th March 1917
Thomas Nevin (father of Albert) Occupation: Photographer.
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection

Clearly, Thomas J. Nevin snr was still active as a photographer well into the 1900s. Family members who readily documented his occupation on official documents would have informed the Registrar otherwise, had it not been the case that he was still working in his profession. This document reveals that his wife, Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day (1847-1914) who was deceased by the time her youngest son Albert married, was known to the family as "Lizza".

1900: thoroughly modern Minnie
For this sitting, teenager Minnie Nevin, barely 16 yrs old, chose to wear a very modern frock in a dark material with white spots. The hem of the pleated skirt, covering her knees while sitting, would have fallen mid-calf when walking. Her dark hair, pulled back into a bushy pony tail from a central part, was arranged to fall loosely over a double layered crochet collar. Thick stockings and ankle boots completed the outfit. The scene was carefully arranged to show the studio's decor to advantage: she was placed on a plinth, holding a long leafy sprig, her feet resting on a log.



Thoroughly modern Minnie Nevin ca. 1900.
Minnie Nevin, aged 15yrs, ca. 1900
Photograph by her father Thomas Nevin, New Town studio
B & W copy deposited 30/8/1974
Ref: NS434/1/230
Tasmanian Archives Collection (TAHO)



Thoroughly modern Minnie Nevin ca. 1900.
Minnie Nevin, aged 15yrs, ca. 1900. Watermarked

1907: marriage to James Drew

Minnie Nevin was 23 years old when she married James Henry Alfred Drew.



TRANSCRIPT
MARRIAGES
DREW-NEVIN. - On March 28, 1907, at the residence of the bride's parents, Elizabeth-street, by the Rev. J. H. Cain, James Henry Drew, eldest son of T. and C. Drew, late of Richmond, now of Hobart, to Minnie, second daughter of T. and E. Nevin, of Hobart.
This was not the only wedding in the immediate family for 1907. Six weeks earlier, Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin's eldest son Thomas James Nevin jnr (1874-1948), known to the family as Sonny or Tom, married Gertrude Jane Tennyson Bates (1883-1958), daughter of renowned bandmaster Walter Tennyson Bates, on 6th February at the Wesleyan Chapel, Hobart.



Thomas J. Nevin jnr, marriage to Gertrude Jane Tennyson Bates
Mercury, 20 February 1907

TRANSCRIPT
NEVIN—BATES.—At the Methodist Parsonage, Melville-street, on February 6, 1907, by the Rev. J. A. Jeffreys, Thomas James, eldest son of T. and E. Nevin, to Gertrude Jane Tennyson, eldest daughter of E. and the late Walter Tennyson Bates. By license. Both of Hobart.
Thomas James (Sonny) Nevin's marriage to Gertrude Tennyson Bates
The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.) Wed 20 Feb 1907 Page 1 Family Notices

Minnie's eldest brother, Tom "Sonny" Nevin, his wife Gertrude Tennyson Bates and their son Athol Nevin resided in California with Gertrude's mother and siblings in the early 1920s. They left Sydney on 20th November 1920 on board the SS Ventura . The manifest listed Thomas James (Sonny) Nevin's occupation as furniture carrier, aged 46 yrs, Gertrude T. Nevin, domestic duties, aged 31 yrs and Athol Clarence Nevin, as a student, 9 yrs old. They arrived at their destination, Oakland, California, on 14th December, 1920. Their friend (USA contact) was R. Brown. The USA Alien Entry documentation listed them as citizens of England, ethnicity as "English", and Athol's birthplace as Hobart, Tasmania, even though both parents - Tom and Gertrude - were born in Australia.

1908-1914: mother of five children
Mary Ann Drew gave birth to five children between 1908 and 1914. Her address was recorded as 9 Cedric Street, Hobart, when she registered the births of her daughters, Jean May Drew (1910) and Joyce Elizabeth Drew (1912). Cedric Street North Hobart was changed to Wignall Street in 1939 because it was considered too similar to Frederick Street, West Hobart.



No. 664: Birth of daughter Jean May Drew on 7th August 1910 at No. 9 Cedric St. Hobart Tasmania to Mary (Minnie) Drew (formerly Nevin) married 1907 at Hobart, 25yrs old and James Henry Alfred Drew , 29 yrs old, van proprietor. registered on the 16th September by M. Drew mother Cedric St.
Australia, Tasmania, civil registration of births
Births, Hobart, 1910-02-16-00001-1910-10-31-00800, 1910
Source: familysearch.org



No. 330. Birth of daughter Joyce Elizabeth Drew on 22 Nov 1912 at Cedric St. Hobart, Tasmania to Mary Ann (Minnie) Drew, 28 yrs old, formerly Nevin (m. 1907) and James Henry Alfred Drew,32 yrs old, of Richmond Tasmania, Carrier.
Australia, Tasmania, civil registration of births
Births, Hobart, 1912-08-25-00001-1912-12-31-00352, 1912
Source: familysearch.org

1917: another wedding
The occasion for this photograph (below) of Minnie Drew, 33 yrs old by 1917, was possibly the wedding of her youngest sibling Albert Edward Nevin to Emily Maud Davis on 4th March 1917 at Launceston. As already noted (see above), the signatories to their marriage certificate - John and Frances Davis, parents of Albert's bride Emily - informed the Registrar that the occupation of Thomas J. Nevin, father of the bridegroom, was "photographer".



Detail of Marriage Certificate of Albert Edward Nevin to Emily Maud Davis 4th March 1917
Thomas Nevin (father of Albert) Occupation: Photographer.
Mother's name Lizza Nevin nee Day
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection



Marriage Certificate of Albert Edward Nevin to Emily Maud Davis 4th March 1917
Thomas Nevin (father of Albert) Occupation: Photographer.
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection



TRANSCRIPT
NEVIN-DAVIS. - On the 5th March, by the Rev. W. l. Toshhach, Albert Nevin, of Hobart, to Emily, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Davis, of Russell-street, Launceston
Marriage of Albert Nevin and Emily Maud Davis
Examiner (Launceston, Tas.) Wed 7 Mar 1917 Page 1 Family Notices



Minnie's youngest brother and youngest child of Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin, Albert E. Nevin, Hobart, 1914
Verso inscription; "To Miss E. Davis, From Mr. A. Nevin, 1914"
Name of horse and photographer unknown.
Copyright © KLW NFC Private Collection 2009 ARR.



Emily Maud Davis (on left) with her mother Frances Davis nee Stewart and their spaniel, 1909
Taken eight years before her marriage to Albert E. Nevin in 1917
Photographer: Burrows & Co. the Quadrant, Launceston, Tasmania, 1909
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection

Albert Edward Nevin was born at the Nevin family residence and business, 236 Elizabeth Street, Hobart in 1888. He married Emily Maud Davis (1891-1971) on the 4th March, 1917, at Launceston, Tasmania. He died in 1955, aged 67 yrs. Emily was three years younger but died sixteen years later, in 1971, aged 80 yrs.

In 1917, with five children all under 9 years old, including three year old twins, Minnie Drew's life centred on the education and welfare of her own family. Her husband's carrier business was supported by her brothers Tom (Sonny), William (Will) and Albert Nevin who trained horses for their cartage business as well as trotters for their respective sporting ventures at the race track.



Minnie Drew ca. 1917 born Mary Ann Nevin (1884-1974) known to all as Minnie.
Photographer: possibly her father Thomas J. Nevin snr
Youngest daughter of Thomas J. Nevin and Elizabeth Rachel Day
Verso of portrait of Mary Ann Nevin (Minnie Drew, 1884-1974)
Inscription in biro by Minnie's niece Hilda Nevin (b.1919), daughter of Minnie's younger bother Albert Edward Nevin (1888-1955):
"AUNTY MINNIE DADS YOUNGER [sic] SISTER NEE NEVIN DREW A"
Read "younger"- as "youngest" sister, since the eldest sister was May Nevin (b.1872); alternatively, read "younger" as "older", an error, since Minnie was 4 years older that Albert Nevin.
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection



Minnie's older brother William John Nevin (1878-1927)
Verso inscription "William J. Nevin, Furniture Removalist"
Unattributed, no date, ca. 1926? Died in a cart accident, 1927.
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection



Signs of prosperity:
[Above]: William wore a Prince Albert fob chain anchored to his vest pocket with a lion passant silver hallmark (.925 purity) ornament to secure his fob watch (not visible) for this full-length studio portrait.
[Below]: William's leather wallet bearing his name "W. J. Nevin". It may have belonged to his father's brother Jack with the same name, Constable John or William John Nevin (1852-1891):



Leather wallet "W. J. Nevin" 1880s-1927
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection

Race horses, draught horses and trotters were the focus of Minnie Drew's family life and livelihood. Husband James Drew entered a starter "Miss Bobby" in the Spring Handicap, January 1917, and younger brother Albert Nevin, recently returned from Launceston with his new bride Emily, was racing his starter "Rosalind" in the Derwent Handicap at Moonah by August. James Drew also showcased draught and dray horses at the annual Hobart Show, selling them eventually when he acquired a motor van for his parcel delivery business. Minnie's older brother William Nevin established a carrier and furniture removal business which he partnered with his elder brother Tom (Sonny) Nevin and James Drew in the 1910s, operating from Morrison St. Hobart Wharf. When Minnie's siblings May, Albert, George and William Nevin moved to the property at 23-29 Newdegate St. in 1923 on the death of their father Thomas J. Nevin (registered as "photographer" on his burial certificate), William J. Nevin maintained the carrier business there until his untimely death in a horse and cart accident in 1927.
LUGGAGE VANS.
Furniture Removed and Stored, prompt
attention. J. H. DREW, Morrison street.
Wharf 'Phone 249
James Drew's luggage van business 1919
Source: World (Hobart, Tas. : 1918 - 1924 Thu 6 Feb 1919 Page 2 Advertising

1930s: Minnie Drew and May Nevin with the Axups
This much-handled photograph shows Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin's youngest daughter, Minnie Drew nee Nevin on left (b. 1884, so she would have been 55 yrs old here ), and their eldest daughter May Nevin on right (b.1872, so she would have 67 yrs old here) - a difference of twelve years separated their births. Their cousin Eva Baldwin nee Axup, Mary Sophia's eldest daughter, second from right, was six years younger than May Nevin (b. 1878, so she would have been 61 yrs old here) and six years older than Minnie Nevin. Their aunt Mary Sophia Axup (second from left) was born in 1853 and died in 1942, a few years after this photograph was taken. She would have been 86 yrs old on this occasion, which was possibly the wedding of her granddaughter, Eva Baldwin's daughter Ella Baldwin to Glynn Davis (1939). The Nevin sisters, who would have attended the wedding, posed here with their cousin Eva Baldwin and "Aunt Axup" as she was known to the Nevins, at the railway station on their way back to Hobart from Launceston.



From left to right:
Minnie Drew (nee Mary Ann Nevin) Thomas & Elizabeth Nevin's youngest daughter
Mary Sophia Axup nee Day, sister of Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day and aunt of Minnie and May
Eva Baldwin nee Axup, Mary Sophia Axup's eldest daughter
and May (Mary Florence Elizabeth) Nevin, Thomas and Elizabeth's Nevin's eldest daughter
Taken ca. 1939. Copyright © KLW NFC Private Collections 2009 and 2020 ARR.



Copyright © KLW NFC Private Collections 2009 and 2020 ARR.
Verso inscribed by a grand niece of Mary Sophia Axup, probably a daughter of her nephew Albert Nevin. She was always called simply Auntie Axup, by the children of her Nevin nieces and nephews, rather than the technically correct "Great Aunt Axup";
Inscription:
"DREW nee NEVIN Auntie Minnie youngest
Auntie Axup, [sic, she was great aunt Mary Sophia Axup to Albert and Emily' Nevin's children]
Auntie Eva, Uncle Sid's wife
Auntie May, eldest NEVIN"

1963: widow of James Drew
Minnie Drew's husband James Drew was retired when he died on 15th August 1963. His wife Mary Ann (Minnie) Drew was the sole executor and beneficiary of his estate, which was proved on 25th September 1963. His occupation was listed as parcel delivery proprietor.



Last Will and Testament of James Henry Alfred Drew

Drew, James Henry Alfred
Record Type: Wills
Year:1963
File number:44111
Page:870
Record ID:NAME_INDEXES:682615
Resource:AD960/1/95
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/AD960-1-95-44111

1974: Minnie Drew nee Nevin deceased
Minnie Drew died on 12th September 1974. Her will was drawn up, dates and witnessed on 31st August 1963.



Above: The first page of Mary Ann Drew's will in which she states she leaves her estate to her two sons, Reginald James Drew and Cyril Edward Drew, named as both her Executors and her Trustees, and which she signed together with two witnesses, F. M. Marshall and S. Axup.

The first witness, F. M. Marshall of 69 Federal St. North Hobart, Tasmania, Mail Officer, P.M.G.'s Dept. may have been a son-in-law, i.e. the second husband of her daughter Lola (1914-1996) whose first husband Reg Stevens died on 9th March 1950.

The second witness, Sidney Vernon James Axup of the Nepean Highway, Rye, Victoria, Retired Civil Servant, was her first cousin, the son of her mother's sister Mary Sophia Day who married Hector Charles Axup at Kangaroo Valley, Hobart on 1st May 1878.

Sidney Axup was born in Hobart on 31 October 1882 and died at Springvale, Victoria on 25 July 1975 less than a year after the death of Minnie Drew nee Nevin. With his wife Emily Axup nee Tyson, he was a regular visitor to the Nevin household at 23-29 Newdegate St. North Hobart from the 1920s to the 1950s. He was photographed with his sister Eva Baldwin nee Axup in 1968. Brother and sister were born on the same day, 31st. October, 4 years apart.



TRANSCRIPT
DOUBLE CELEBRATION
A DOUBLE birthday celebration for Mrs E. Baldwin and her brother, Mr. S. Axup was held on Thursday. Mrs Baldwin who was 90 years of age, lives with her daughter and son-in-law, Mr and Mrs G. Davis of 102 Maude St., Shepparton. Mr Axup (86 years) journeyed from Rye to be with his sister.
Source: Shepparton News 1968 [n.d.]
Brother and sister born on the same day, 31st. October, 4 years apart.
Newspaper clip courtesy of John Davis (JMD)



Above: the second page of Minnie Drew's will. She died on 12 September 1974 at her address, 19 Raymont Terrace, Mt. Stuart (Hobart), Tasmania. The will was proved on 12 December 1974.

Drew, Mary Ann
Record Type: Wills
Year: 1974
File number: 59116
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:701941
Resource:AD960/1/148
Source: Archives Office Tasmania

BURIAL RECORD



Burial Record: Hobart Public Cemetery
Mary Ann Drew, 14 Sept 1974
Archives Office Tasmania

A brief summary of generational levels
NB: The names by which they were commonly known are indicated in heavy type.

(a) GENERATION ONE: Dickson, Nevin, Day and Goldsmith
Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson (1810-1875) and John Nevin snr (1808-1887) had four children, all born near Belfast, Ireland between 1842 and 1852, prior to arrival as free settlers at Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in July 1852. Mary Ann Dickson was the sister of rose grower Alexander Dickson, established at Newtonards, Ireland. John Nevin snr was a former soldier (First Scots Regiment), a journalist, poet and gardener.

Children of Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson and John Nevin snr

1. Thomas James (Thos) Nevin (1842-1923) m. Elizabeth Rachel Day (1847-1914)
2. Mary Ann Nevin (1844-1878) m. John Carr
3. Rebecca Jane Nevin (1847-1865)
4. William John (Jack) Nevin (1852-1891)

Children of Rachel Day nee Pocock (ca. 1812-1857) and Captain James Day (1806-1882). Rachel Day nee Pocock died of "consumption" at Hobart in 1857, and Captain James Day died in 1882 at the home of his younger daughter Mary Sophia Axup, Battery Point, Hobart. Photographer Thomas James Nevin married Elizabeth Rachel Day on 11th July, 1871 at Kangaroo Valley, Hobart.

1.Elizabeth Rachel (Lizza) Day (1847-1914) m. Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
2. Mary Sophia Day (1853-1942) m. Hector Charles James Horatio Axup (1843-1927)

Children of Elizabeth Goldsmith nee Day (1802-1875), sister of Captain James Day, and Captain Edward Goldsmith (1804-1869). These were the Goldsmith cousins of the Day sisters, Elizabeth Rachel Day and Mary Sophia Day. Richard died in Hobart, 24 yrs old, in 1854 and Edward jnr died in Rochester (UK) in 1883.

1. Richard Sydney Goldsmith (1830-1854)
2. Edward Goldsmith jnr (1836-1883) m. Sarah Jane Rivers (1835-1926)

(b) GENERATION TWO: Day, Nevin, and Axup
Mary Sophia Axup nee Day (1853-1942) and Hector Charles James Horatio Axup (1843-1927) had five children between 1878 and 1891.

Children of Mary Sophia Axup nee Day and Hector C. Axup
NB: These dates may not be totally accurate.

1. Rachel Frances Eva Axup (1878-1978) m. P. Baldwin
2. Sidney James Vernon Axup (1882-1975) m. Emily Tyson
3. Edward Harold Leslie Axup (1885-1964) m.
4. Patience Ella Mary Axup (1889-1913)
5. Olive Lilian Ethel Axup (1891- ? ) m. Wilshire

Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day (1847-1914) and Thomas James Nevin (1842-1923) had seven children, six surviving to adulthood. Three sons - Sydney, William and George - were born at the Hobart Town Hall during their father's residency as Office and Hall Keeper. Sydney died four months after birth.

Children of Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day and Thomas J. Nevin:

1. Mary Florence Elizabeth (May) Nevin (1872-1955)
2. Thomas James (Sonny) Nevin (1874-1948) m. Gertrude Tennyson Bates (1883-1958)
3. Sydney John Nevin (1876-1877)
4. William John Nevin (1878-1927)
5. George Ernest Nevin (1880-1957)
6. Mary Ann (Minnie) Nevin (1884-1974) m. James Henry Alfred Drew (1878-1963)
7. Albert Edward Nevin (1888-1955) m. Emily Maud Davis (1891-1971)

(c) GENERATION THREE: Nevin and Drew
Mary Ann (Minnie) Drew nee Nevin (1884-1974) and James Henry Drew (1878-1963) had five children between 1908 and 1914: the twins Lola and Lorna were born last.

Children of Minnie (Mary Ann) Drew nee Nevin and James Henry Drew

1. Reginald James Drew (1908-1988) m. Eva May Brown (1915-1989)
2. Jean May Drew (1910-1994) m. Arthur George Shelverton (1909-1979)
3. Joyce Elizabeth Drew (1912-1997)
4. Lola Drew (1914-1996) twin with Lorna, m. Reginald Hubert Stevens (1912-1950)
5. Lorna Drew (1914-2001) twin with Lola, m. Athol Ronald Richardson (1912-2003)



Photograph in fair to poor condition of Arthur Shelverton and Mary Sophia Axup ca. 1939
Taken at the Nevin family property, Newdegate St. North Hobart
Bird cage on left, lattice work of the back verandah of the big house in background
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection

Arthur Shelverton (1909-1979) who married Minnie Drew nee Nevin's first-born daughter Jean May Drew (1910-1994) was photographed at the Nevin family property, 23-29 Newdegate St. North Hobart, with his grandmother-in-law, i.e. his wife Jean Shelverton nee Drew's grandmother, Mary Sophia Axup nee Day. ca. 1939. Three generations of the Shelverton family worked in various roles at the Theatre Royal, Hobart from the 1950s to the 2000s.

(c) GENERATION THREE cont: Nevin and Davis
Emily Maud Davis (1891-1971) was the only child born to Frances Florence Davis nee Stewart and John William Davis. She married Albert Edward Nevin (1888-1955) on 4th March 1917 at Launceston.

Children born to Emily Maud Nevin nee Davis (1891-1971) and Albert Edward Nevin (1888-1955):

1.Eva Elizabeth Nevin (1917-2008)
2.Hilda Maud Nevin (1919-2007)
3.Rose May Nevin (1920-2007)
4.Donald Edward Nevin (1922-1999)
5.Betty June Nevin (1925-2012)
6. Margaret (Margie) Dorothy Nevin (1928-2017)
7. William (Bill) George Nevin (1930-2018)
8.Peter Nevin (1939-)



Eva Nevin in her Elizabeth Street Practicing School uniform and plaits ca. 1929
Taken with one of her father's horses, Newdegate St. North Hobart
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection

The eldest daughter of Albert and Emily Nevin nee Davis, Eva Elizabeth Nevin (1917-2008) was photographed in the same spot featured in so many of these family photographs, in front of the back verandah of the big house, 23 Newdegate Street, ca. 1929 in her school uniform with one of her father's horses. Eva Nevin attended Elizabeth Street School from 1923 to 1932. This is her leaving report, signed by J. W. Blackie, Master of Method, Elizabeth Street Practising School (Hobart):



Eva Nevin's leaving report, Elizabeth Street Practising School  1932.
Signed by J. W. Blackie, Master of Method
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection

TRANSCRIPT
To all whom it may concern,
This is to certify that Eva Nevin has attended this school for the whole of her school life.
Whilst at this school, she was a diligent, well behaved student.
At all times I found her to be reliable, trustworthy & conscientious.
J. W. Blackie
Master of Method
Eliz. St. Practising School Hobart
Eva eloped to Melbourne with her lover, Albert Frederick Morris (born 1917 Birmingham, UK) and known as Bert, in 1935. They married the same year.

(d) GENERATION FOUR: Drew and Shelverton
Grandchildren of Minnie (Mary Ann) Drew nee Nevin and James Henry Drew, children of Reg and Eva Drew, and Arthur and Jean Shelverton:

1. Di Drew (1948 - ) daughter of Reg and Eva Drew
2. Kevin Shelverton (1937-2014), son of Jean and Arthur Shelverton
3. Denis Shelverton (1943-2015), son of Jean and Arthur Shelverton
etc etc



Di Drew, film and television director (Australia) on the set of the Australian TV series 1915 in 1982.
Source: formerly available at Di Drew's home page gallery.

Di Drew (b. 1948 - ) is a great-grand-daughter of photographer Thomas J. Nevin and Elizabeth Rachel Day, a grand-daughter of their daughter Minnie (Mary Ann) Drew nee Nevin, and the only daughter of Reggie and Eva Drew.

FAMILY TREE submitted by Anna Graves



Family Tree submitted by Anna Graves:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3JN7-WHD
Source: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3JN7-WHD
"Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3JN7-WHD : accessed 15 December 2019), entry for Mary Ann NEVIN, cites sources; "annapanna" file (2:2:2:MM68-TG1), submitted 8 June 2018 by Anna Graves


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The albumen process: examples by Thomas J. Nevin ca. 1874



Eggbeater, Narryna Museum, Battery Point Tasmania
Photo Copyright © KLW NFC 2014 ARR

Tasmanian photographer Thomas J. Nevin began his professional career in the 1860s within a cohort of amateur and commercial photographers who produced enduring images using the latest contemporary equipment, papers, and printing processes. Their sources of information were journals such as The Photographic News 1863 imported from British and intercolonial photographers' societies. The albumen process was commonly used by T. J. Nevin in vignetted and upper torso studio portraiture in the 1870s for both his private clientele, and for his government commission to supply prisoner identification photographs (mugshots) to the Municipal Police Office, Hobart Town Hall.

Preparation with egg whites
ON OBTAINING PURE WHITES ON ALBUMINIZED PAPER.
MR. TUNNY has, in answer to an enquiry in Photographic Notes, given one of the best accounts of the preparation of albuminized paper that we have seen. He says, "I always prepare my albuminized paper with the pure white of eggs, which I believe to be preferable to all the cheaper compounds that have been substituted for it. Take any quantity of albumen with double the quantity of water, adding eight grains of chloride of ammonium to each ounce of the mixture. Whip up with a bunch of quills into a froth. The albumen will subside in an hour or two, then filter through a piece of fine linen cloth that has been previously slightly singed over a spirit lamp. Pour the albumen into a flat dish and float the paper for about three or four minutes, having previously folded back one of the corners of the sheet in order to keep it from coming into contact with the albumen. If the paper is pinned up by this unalbuminized corner, it will dry without the least streak or imperfection, but if the albumen conies into contact with the pin. a drip will begin which will end in innumerable streaks. By this precaution much paper may be saved.
"The albumen containing the above amount of chloride requires about sixty-five or seventy grains of silver to render it sensitive. I print in the usual way, a little deeper than the finished print.
"The print when taken from the printing frame is thoroughly washed from all free nitrate of silver. Make certain of this, to make the fixing process as economical as possible,, which should not be expensive if carefully done: The washed print is put into a chloride of gold bath, two grains to five ounces of water. In this bath the picture will readily change colour and slightly lower in tone. After it is reduced to the required tone it is passed through water, then placed into a new hypo-bath--four ounces to ten ounces of water. The print will be perfectly fixed in fifteen minutes. Taken from this bath it is repeatedly washed with cold water, then thoroughly with boiling water. The French and German papers get from fifteen to twenty waters, the English papers part more readily with the size, and consequently fewer washings are necessary to fix the prints on it.
"In order to secure perfect whiteness it is essential not to use the hypo bath when above a day old. The whole secret of retaining the clearness of the whites, being in always using a new strong pure hypo bath. By the above process I never fail in obtaining the whites pure.
"I may mention a curious circumstance of hyposulphite of soda. In some I got lately every picture that I fixed possessed that yellow old cheese-like appearance that has been so often complained of, while another sample of hypo gave me prints of absolute whiteness. In testing the solvent powers of these two I found that the first possessed only the half of the solvent power of the latter, viz.; it took double the quantity to dissolve twenty grains of chloride of silver in a given quantity of water. Whether the soda possessed other impurities I have been unable to detect."
Source: THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNAL. Vol. 1, 1857, p.213:

Video: albumen photo process
This beautifully animated silent exposition of the albumen photo process (s.XIX) is from the Museu del Cinema (Spain) with subtitles.



Albumen is one of the earliest photographic processes that allowed to make prints from a negative, usually, on glass. This type of photography comes from the discoveries of Abel Niépce de Saint Victor and Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard and was used throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. This albumen method is the photographic procedure on paper most characteristic of the nineteenth century.

Albumen portraits by Thomas J. Nevin 1870s



Carte-de-visite of Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day, ca. 1870-71.
Married July 12, 1871 to photographer Thomas J. Nevin.
Copyright © KLW NFC 2010 Private Collection ARR



Laura McVilly (left) and Dick McVilly (centre), and unidentified toddler on right
Children of William Thomas McVilly, albumen, cdvs by T. J. Nevin ca. 18 December 1874.
Courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand

Nevin, Thomas J, 1842-1923. Nevin, T J (Hobart) fl 1867-1875
Portrait of Laura Blanche McVilly. McVilly, Richard William, 1862?-1949 :
Photograph albums and a group portrait.
Ref: PA2-1198. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
Link: https://beta.natlib.govt.nz/records/22801544

Read more in this article: T.J. Nevin's portraits of the McVilly children 1874



These albumen photographs of Tasmanian prisoners, taken and printed by Thomas J. Nevin on cdv mounts, 9.1 x 5.7 cm. are held in the National Library of Australia collection

Right: John F. Morris was originally transported to Tasmania before 1853 on the ship the P. Bomanjee 3. He was convicted at the Supreme Court , Hobart, on the 9th April 1861 for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was photographed by T. J. Nevin on discharge from the Hobart Gaol, 28th April, 1875, residue of sentence remitted.

Left: George Fisher was photographed by T. J. Nevin on discharge, 15th April 1874 at the Municipal Police, Hobart Town Hall, when Fisher was "enlarged" with a ticket-of-leave. On 2nd December 1874, he was arraigned and sentenced to 12 years for forgery and uttering at the Supreme Court, Hobart

Read more about these two photographs in this article: "In a New Light": NLA Exhibition with Boyd misattribution



Flat-irons, Narryna Museum, Battery Point Tasmania
Photo copyright © KLW NFC Private Collection 2014 ARR

Flat-irons were used in several printing processes, from simple flattening of paper to radiating heat onto prints for faster drying. Flat-irons were also used to deepen the tones on albumen and salt paper prints and to render a high bright varnish quality to dry plates prints finished with tannin or gelatine.

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Updated 19 April 2024