Prisoner Thomas WOOD as KEY 1873-1882

Thomas Wood, transported as Key
Name: Thomas Key
Convicted at: Nottingham Quarter Session
Sentence term: 7
Ship: Lady Nugent
Voyage: 12th Jul 1836
Arrival: 12th Nov 1836
Place of Arrival: Van Diemen's Land

The mugshot 1873-5
Thomas Wood, 60 years old, transported as Key per ship Lady Nugent, F.S. was arraigned at the Supreme Court Hobart between 15-18 July 1873, sentenced to 6 years for housebreaking and larceny.  Government contractor T. J. Nevin photographed him at the Hobart Gaol while awating trial, 15-18 July, 1873. The prisoner Thomas Wood or Key was sent to the Port Arthur prison, arriving there on 28 August 1873.



Prisoner WOOD, Thomas alias Key
TMAG Ref: Q15608
Photographer: Thomas J. NEVIN 1873-75
Recto inscription: "164" below image on mount
Verso inscription: "Thomas Wood or Key, Native, Taken at Port Arthur 1874".



Verso inscriptions:
"Thom [torn paper backing] Wood or [Key, obscured by torn paper backing] Native
Taken at Port Arthur 1874"
Photographer Thomas J. Nevin, 1875
TMAG Ref: Q15608

Thomas Wood+s, Supreme Court Trial 1873



Source: 1875. TASMANIA. HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY.
PENAL DISCIPLINE. REPORT OF COMMISSION.
Laid upon the Table by the Attorney-General, and ordered by the House to be printed, August 10, 1875.
Link:https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/31035/ha1875pp49.pdf

There are two errors in this document:
Tabled in Parliament as "Penal Discipline Report of Commission." 1875 which listed prisoners tried in the Supreme Court Hobart for the years 1873-1874, the prisoner was called Thomas Wood+s - an "s" was added to his surname - and his ship was incorrectly listed as the "Lord Nugent" when it was in fact the "Lady Nugent". The document shows that Thomas Wood(s) was received at the Hobart Gaol on 29 May 1873 and that his trial date was set for 15 July 1873 after 47 days awaiting trial. His offense was breaking and entering.

Thomas Wood or Key at Port Arthur 1873
Thomas Wood(s) as Key was 59 years old, 5ft 6½ when he arrived at the Port Arthur prison on 28 August 1873, so he was born ca. 1813-1814. He was transferred to the Hobart Gaol in 1875 where he was photographed by T. J. Nevin on being received. He died in 1893, 81 yrs old, at the New Town Charitable Institution.



Archives Office Tasmania
Port Arthur Conduct Register 1872-1876.
Thomas Wood (as Key) or Key, Lady Nugent, Folio 1.
CON94/1/2 Conduct register - Port Arthur - 01 Aug 1873- 30 Sep 1876



Earnings from August 1873 to December 1875 - 1.111.4 [?]
Remarks: "Minimum period 14 January 1878"
CON94/1/2 Conduct register - Port Arthur - 01 Aug 1873- 30 Sep 1876

Hobart Gaol Records 1878-1882
Thomas Wood or Key was discharged from the Hobart Gaol in January 1878. His photograph may have been taken again on discharge but more likely it was reprinted from Nevin's original glass negative held at the Hobart Gaol in the photographer's room. He was soon back in court a year later.



Carte-de-visite photograph of prisoner Thomas Wood or Key
Printed from T. J. Nevin's negative, Hobart Gaol, 1873
NLA Catalogue (incorrect information)
Title from verso: "Thomas Wood or Key, native, taken at Port Arthur, Tasmania, 1874"
Extent: 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.3 x 5.6 cm.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-142915467

POLICE GAZETTE NOTICES 1878 -1882



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

Thomas Wood+s or Key per Lady Nugent was discharged from the Hobart Gaol in the week ending 30 January 1878. He may have been photographed again on discharge, or more likely, a new print from the photographer's original negative was produced. One of those new cdv's may be the very clean one of two held at the TMAG.



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

Thomas Woods,  per Lady Nugent, 63 years old, was convicted at Bothwell (Tas) and sentenced to 12 months for larceny from a dwelling during the week ending 28 December 1878. Because his sentence was longer than 3 months, he was transferred back to the Hobart Gaol where this offence would have been added to his old rap sheet with his cdv already pasted to it.



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

Here is Thomas Wood, now gazetted by police as Wood+s or Key+s per Lady Nugent, 66 years old, 5ft 7½ins tall, discharged from Oatlands (Tas) where he was tried on 8 June 1882, sentenced to 3 months for being idle and disorderly. Remarks show he was lame and disfigured, with scars and a broken nose.

Prisoner Luke MARSHALL 1874

SUPREME COURT CONVICTION 1874
T. J. NEVIN photographs of prisoners at Hobart Gaol 1874



National Library of Australia
nla.pic-vn4270055 PIC P1029/32 (incorrect information)
LOC Album 935 Luke Marshall, per John Renwick, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture] 1874. 
1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm. on mount 10.5 x 6.3 cm.
Part of Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]

POLICE RECORDS



Luke Marshall, a collier, was convicted of larceny at George Town, Tasmania, on 30 August 1873 and sentenced to one month.



Luke Marshall was discharged 1st October 1873



Luke Marshall, 45 years old, was arraigned at the Supreme Court Launceston on 8th January 1874 and sentenced to eight years for cattle-stealing. He was transferred to the Hobart Gaol and photographed by Thomas J. Nevin on 12th January 1874.

Prisoner Thomas CAHILL

NLA Catalogue (incorrect information)
Title Thomas Cahill, per Eth. [Elizabeth] & Henry, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
Date1874.
Extent1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen, hand col. ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm., on mount 10.4 x 6.4 cm.

POLICE RECORDS
Thomas Cahill was discharged in May 1875, from the Hobart Gaol where Nevin photographed him on discharge, but he re-offended in September 1875 with the alias John Wilson.





Cahill re-offended in September 1875 with the alias John Wilson. Duplicates of this photograph by Nevin were produced and pasted to Cahill's rap sheet which recorded his offenses into the 1880s.

Prisoner Leonard HAND

Leonard Hand was "attacked in the night" and died " from natural causes" in custody ...



National Library of Australia Catalogue (2007)
nla.pic-an24612719
Nevin, Thomas J., 1842-ca. 1922.[ sic -1923]
Leonard Hand, native, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture] 1874.
1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount: albumen; 9.5 x 5.7 cm.
PIC P1029/64 LOC Album 935
Inscription: "211"--On reverse.

Thomas J. Nevin photographed Leonard Hand on or about the 5th August, 1875, on the occasion of Leonard Hand's transfer to H.M. Gaol, Campbell Street Hobart from the largely devolved Port Arthur prison, 60 kms away on the Tasman Peninsula.

POLICE RECORDS
The police issued a warrant for Leonard Hand's arrest in their weekly gazette of 9th January, 1866. Hand stayed at large for nearly three months before his arrest, notified on March 30th, 1866. The police described his appearance as "stupid", whatever that may have signified in 1866.



Warrant issued 9th January, 1866 for the arrest of Leonard Hand.
Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police 1866-1870. Gov't Printer (i.e. the weekly police gazette).

TRANSCRIPT

WARRANTS ISSUED, AND NOW IN THIS OFFICE
DELORAINE.- On the 9th instant by John Hart, Esquire, J. P., for the arrest of Leonard Hand, charged with an unnatural offence.
Description
18 years old, about 5 feet 7 or 8 inches high, fair complexion, light brown hair, stupid appearance; wore moleskin trousers, no braces, plaid vest, Scotch twilled shirt, and light striped summer coat.

And the notice of the arrest:



Leonard Hand's arrest was published on 30th March, 1866.

Vide Crime Report of the 12th January, 1866, page 6.
Leonard Hand has been arrested by Acting Sergeant Coghlan, of the Selby Territorial Police.

Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police 1866-1870. Gov't Printer.

Leonard Hand was convicted in the Supreme Court Launceston in April 1866 and sentenced to 15 years for the offence of "Attempting to commit sodomy." He was 18 years old, a native of Tasmania, i.e. he was born locally and therefore not a transported convict. He was listed as a shoemaker by trade at the Port Arthur prison in 1868.

PRISON RECORDS
The Separate Model Prison records at the Port Arthur penitentiary for Leonard Hand are held at the Mitchell Library, SLNSW. In April, May and June 1868, the record below shows that Leonard Hand made shoes seven days a week.



Leonard Hand, earnings from April 1, 1868 as shoe maker
Mitchell Library, SLNSW.
Ref: Convict Department - Separate Prison Reports, 1867-1871 | B 5
Link to record: http://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110327149
Photos © KLW NFC 2009 ARR

Locally-born Leonard Hand was a special case for the chaplain at the Port Arthur penal establishment, Rowland Hayward, and the surgeon Dr John Coverdale who made a strong representation to the House of Assembly's committee on penal discipline on Leonard Hand's behalf in 1873, hoping to remove the prisoner from the isolation of the separate prison. It was evident to Dr Coverdale that rehabilitation was only possible if Leonard Hand (and others) were removed to the general prison community (Weidenhofer 1981:43).



Dr John Coverdale 1870s (in Weindorfer 1981)
His bleeding kit (Powerhouse Museum Collection)

Inquest

Verdict Natural Causes
Effusion of fluid in the pericardium of sac surrounding the heart.

Leonard Hand was a prisoner at the Hobart Town Gaol, Campbell Street, when his death was recorded on 20th March 1876. The inquest was held at the Royal Exchange Hotel, Campbell St (prop. Ellen Allen). This notice of his inquest was published in the police gazette on April 7th, 1876:



TRANSCRIPT

AN inquest was held at Hobart Town, on the 22nd ultimo, before W. Tarleton. Esquire, Coroner, on the body of Leonard Hands [sic], who died in H. M. Gaol on the 20th ultimo, aged 26 years. Verdict: - "Died from natural causes."

THE JURORS and VERDICT No.  6125
This document, consisting of six pages, states that the body of Leonard Hand was held at the General Hospital after being removed from the Hobart Gaol. Included is a lengthy witness account from William Smith alias Boyan (?), the wardsman at the Hobart Gaol Penitentiary Hospital who said that about three days after Leonard Hand came into the Gaol Hospital Ward, he was "attacked in the night"... Read more of the original document - if you can decipher the script - here.



Jurors, witnesses and verdict on the death of Leonard Hand
Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office
https://stors.tas.gov.au/AGD20-1-2-6125

Inquest: 6125
Jurors
Alexander McIntyre
Williams Leed (?)
John Large
Chas Woolley
Robin L. Hood
Henry Marriot
John H. Stevens
Henry E. Baggot
C. E. Knight
Robert Ellish
Charles Mazengard
Mark Cruse
Witnesses
Theo Washington Turnley
Willima Boyan (?)
Leonard Hands [sic] 22nd day of March 1876
Native of Tasmania, Free
Aged about 26 years
Died on Monday the 20th day of March 1876
Verdict
Narural Causes
Effusion of fluid in the pericardium of sac surrounding the heart.



The Coroner's Report for Leonard Hand
Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office
Online:https://stors.tas.gov.au/SC195-1-58-7639

T. J. Nevin's mugshot of Leonard Hand



National Library of Australia Catalogue Note
Part of collection: Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874.
Gunson Collection file 203/​7/​54.
Title from inscription on reverse.
Inscription: "211"--On reverse.
Also available online :http:/​/​nla.gov.au/​nla.obj-142913815
Exhibited: "Treasures Gallery", National Library of Australia, 12 December 2012 - 7 July 2013
Exhibited: National Portrait Gallery, Sideshow Alley: Infamy, the macabre and the portrait’, 4th December 2015 – 28th February 2016

The mugshot of Leonard Hand held in the National Library of Australia's collection of 86 "Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874" bears no number on the mount, unlike dozens of these 1870s Tasmanian prisoner mugshots sourced from the QVMAG's holdings, Launceston, donated there as part of government photographer and convictaria collector John Watt Beattie's estate in 1930. At least 200 from the QVMAG collection - including the fifty or so removed in 1983 and returned to the TMAG, Hobart instead of the QVMAG, Launceston - bear numbers on either or both recto and verso, and with the same hand-written transcription "Taken at Port Arthur, 1874". According to the NLA catalogue, this cdv of Leonard Hand bears the number "211" on verso, suggesting it was numbered for exhibition several decades after Nevin's original capture. Many were salvaged from the Sheriff's Office at the Hobart Gaol by John Watt Beattie in the late 1890s and removed from the 1870s Gaol Photo Books. In the name of tourism, Beattie with his assistant Edward Searle reproduced prints and mounted cdv's from Nevin's original glass negatives, including three panels holding forty uncut prints, labelling them "Types of Imperial Convicts" which he offered for sale in his 1916 catalogue and for inclusion in the intercolonial travelling exhibition associated with the fake convict ship, Success. These copyists in Hobart in the 1900s of the original 1870s mugshots taken for daily police surveillance and prison administration had chosen men convicted in the Supreme Courts with lengthy sentences who were -

- transferred from Port Arthur to the Hobart Gaol or depot,
- "received" from a regional court such as Launceston to the Hobart Gaol and courts
- arrested on warrant,
- discharged with various conditions (FS, TOL etc),
- registered as a death in custody.

Just one extant photograph of Leonard Hand is held in public collections, that of the original taken by government contractor Thomas J. Nevin when Leonard Hand was transferred to H.M. Gaol Campbell Street, Hobart during the first week of August 1875. He was not photographed at Port Arthur, nor was he photographed by the Port Arthur prison commandant A. H. Boyd who was not a photographer by any definition of the term, nor involved at any point or at any level with photographing 1870s Tasmanian prisoners. Thomas J. Nevin began the photographing of prisoners when commissioned by Attorney-General W. R. Giblin for police and prison authorities from February 1872 while still a commercial photographer working principally from his studio, The City Photographic Establishment, located one street removed from the Hobart Goal, at 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town. Four months after photographing Leonard Hand at the Hobart Gaol in August 1875, he was appointed to full-time civil service at the Hobart Town Hall for the Hobart City Corporation and the Hobart Municipal Police Office, by which time he had set up equipment on the Hobart Gaol's premises in a room above the women's laundry, assisted by his younger brother Constable W. John (Jack) Nevin. Thomas Nevin also set up a photographic studio within the Office of the Inspector of Police, John Swan at that time, which was housed adjacent to the Mayor's Court at the Hobart Town Hall, above cells located in the basement. His appointment to the civil service as Hall and Office Keeper at the Hobart Town Hall was specifically to take advantage of his experience as a photographer for police, in addition to his background familiarity with military prisoner surveillance.

The Office of the Inspector of Police and Mayor's Court at the Town Hall issued a ticket-of-leave (TOL) to eligible persons on discharge, and notices were routinely published in the gazettes and newspapers to remind TOL recipients that they were to report to the Office on a regular basis. Photographs were taken and added to the records where none had been taken previously, or to update the records of habitual offenders with long criminal careers.



Cdv of Leonard Hand, lower right
NLA Collection folder housing the cdvs in plastic sleeves
Tasmanian prisoner mugshots - or "Port Arthur convicts 1874"
Taken at the NLA January 2015

Photos copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2015



Verso of cdv of Leonard Hand, top left
Tasmanian prisoner mugshots - or "Port Arthur convicts 1874"
Taken at the NLA January 2015
Photos copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2015



Verso of cdv of Leonard Hand, top left
Tasmanian prisoner mugshots - or "Port Arthur convicts 1874"
Taken at the NLA January 2015
Photos copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2015

The National Library of Australia has catalogued these Tasmanian prisoner photographs with the uniform batch edit "Taken at Port Arthur 1874" for their entire collection of 84 convict images, despite wide discrepancies in dates of photographic capture and criminal history of the convicts. Although this particular copy of Leonard Hand's photograph may not bear Nevin's stamp on verso, his studio stamp was applied to selected photographs of prisoners to register his copyright, renew his contract, and access his commission to signify joint copyright with the City Corporation until his appointment to the civil service, by which time his copyright was owned outright by the HCC. Those photographs (1 for every 100 registered) of prisoners taken before 1876 bear Nevin's stamp on verso with the inclusion of the Supreme Court's Royal Arms insignia (stamped prisoner cdvs are held at the QVMAG and Mitchell Library, SLNSW) which was printed on all documents prepared for the Colonial Government by printer James Barnard.



Full catalogue note: http://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110327149

TITLE Convict Department - Separate Prison Reports, 1867-1871
CREATOR Tasmania. Convict Department
CALL NUMBER B 5
LEVEL OF DESCRIPTION Collection
DATE 1867-1871
TYPE OF MATERIAL Textual Records
REFERENCE CODE 442932
ISSUE COPY Microfilm : CY 4984, frames 1-105
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION 1 volume - 0.02 Meters
ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
The Separate Prison was located in the colonial penal establishment at Port Arthur, Tasmania. It opened in 1849 and provided the most severe measures of punishment. Here, constant surveillance, solitary confinement and silence were considered the way to reform. The building was a small modified version of the Pentonville Prison in London. It contained individual cells built around a four-wing radial design that ensured constant surveillance, as well as two dumb cells and a separate chapel.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
1 October 1867 - 4 July 1871; Each page is headed with the name of a convict and the ship he arrived on. Beneath this are entries in columns under the titles of Week ending, Employment, Class, Amount of Work performed, Conduct, Industry, Signature of Officer in Charge (A.W., John Cassidy, M. McCarthy, and P.M. Guinness), and earnings letter.
SOURCE
Bequeathed by D.S. Mitchell, 1907
GENERAL NOTE
Pages are ruled into columns and rows of a table and an account book.
Some entries note, "Discharge to Hobart Town", implying that the prison is elsewhere in Tasmania.
There are pin holes evident in the pages indicating that there were additional notes and papers.
Volume was bound in July 1933.
David Scott Mitchell bookplate inside front cover.
"D.S. Mitchell" signature at front of original volume.
SIGNATURES / INSCRIPTIONS
Titled from handwritten inscription on paper plate affixed to front endpaper of volume, "No.38 / Separate Prison. / Men under strict separate / treatment confined in / the Separate Prison.- / October 1867-"
Embossed on spine, "Convicts / Separate / Prison / Reports / 1867-71"

Photos © KLW NFC 2009 ARR.


Prisoner Leonard HAND: Addenda

PRISON RECORDS (Archives Office Tasmania)



CON37/1/10 Page 5654

Hand, Leonard
Record Type:Convicts
Remarks:Free. Tried Launceston Apr 1866
Index number:29790
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1398642
Conduct Record
CON37/1/10 Page 5654
CON94/1/1 Page 99





CON94/1/1 Pages 99-100

INQUEST  (Archives Office Tasmania)



13-0376_AU-TAS_Inquest-Files-AGD20-1-2-4-Jan-1876-13-Dec-1878_00145



13-0376_AU-TAS_Inquest-Files-AGD20-1-2-4-Jan-1876-13-Dec-1878_00146



13-0376_AU-TAS_Inquest-Files-AGD20-1-2-4-Jan-1876-13-Dec-1878_00147



13-0376_AU-TAS_Inquest-Files-AGD20-1-2-4-Jan-1876-13-Dec-1878_00148



13-0376_AU-TAS_Inquest-Files-AGD20-1-2-4-Jan-1876-13-Dec-1878_00149



13-0376_AU-TAS_Inquest-Files-AGD20-1-2-4-Jan-1876-13-Dec-1878_00150

Prisoner Robert J. McKAY

SUPREME COURT CONVICTION October 1872



National Library of Australia (incorrect information)
nla.pic-vn3644575 PIC P1029/71 LOC Album 935 Robert J. McKay, per S. J. Byng, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture] 1874. 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 10.3 x 6.3 cm. Part of Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
POLICE RECORDS



Robert McKay was tried on 17 October 1872 at the Launceston Supreme Court, sentenced to 4 yrs and transferred to the Hobart Gaol where he was photographed by Thomas J. Nevin on discharge in 1875.

The Nevin group portrait and wedding photo 1871

WEDDING of Thomas J. NEVIN and Elizabeth R. DAY, 12 July 1871
PHOTOGRAPHERS and wedding guests
REV. James HUTCHINSON



Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day (1847-1914)
Original photograph by her husband Thomas J. Nevin ca. 1874
Photo copyright © KLW NFC Group KLW NFC Imprint ARR

Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day, wife of Thomas James. Nevin (1842-1923), was born in London on 26th March 1847, and christened at St Mary’s, Rotherhithe, London, UK on 28th April 1847, the eldest daughter of Captain James Day and Rachael Pocock who were married at St David’s Church Hobart Tasmania  on January 6th, 1841. Her younger sister Mary Sophia Day was born in Hobart on 9th March 1853. Their father, master mariner Captain James Day (1806-1882), was born on 10th June 1806, in Yorkshire, UK, and died in Hobart, Tasmania on 21st November 1882.

Elizabeth Rachel Day was named after her aunt, her father’s older sister, Elizabeth (Day) Goldsmith, who married Captain Edward Goldsmith in 1829, at Liverpool, UK. Elizabeth's middle name, which came from her mother Rachael Pocock who died of consumption at New Town, Tasmania, in 1857, was changed to "Rachel" on all BDM registration forms, but inserted as "Rachael" into the Mercury's notice of her marriage, suggesting it may have been lodged for publication by Elizabeth's widowed father Captain James Day.

Elizabeth Rachel Day married Thomas James Nevin on 12th July, 1871 at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley, Hobart Tasmania.

The following marriage notice appeared in the Mercury of July 14th, 1871.

NEVIN-DAY - On Wednesday, 12th July, at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley, by the Rev. J. Hutchison [sic], Thomas, eldest son of Mr. J. Nevin, of Kangaroo Valley, to Elizabeth Rachael [sic], eldest daughter of Captain Day, of Hobart Town.

They had seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood. Thomas J. Nevin died on March 12th, 1923, aged 80 yrs. His wife Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin died on June 21st, 1914, aged just 67 yrs. Their graves are located at the Cornelian Bay cemetery, Hobart, Tasmania.

The Wedding Photograph, 12 July 1871
This photograph was taken at Thomas J. Nevin's studio, the City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town, possibly by his younger brother Jack (Constable John Nevin or W. J. Nevin). The same studio decor - the lozenge-patterned carpet and floral-patterned drape - appears in several extant studio portraits by Thomas J. Nevin of family members and private clientele up to the late 1870s.

This is an albumen print on a plain buff carte-de-visite mount. Someone doodled in ink or biro in the lower left-hand corner of the image on the carpet, possibly tracing a photochemical stain. There is no studio stamp on the verso, indicating the image was taken for family viewing only.



Wedding photograph of Thomas J. Nevin and Elizabeth Rachel Day, married on July 12th 1871.
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2005 ARR.



Verso of wedding photo of Thomas J. Nevin and Elizabeth Rachel Day, July 12th 1871.
Inscriptions "Grandma & Grandfather Nevin" by one of their grandchildren
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2005 ARR.



Australia, Tasmania, Civil Registration, 1803-1933,
RGD 37/30. Marriages, 1871 (to no 571)
Archives Office of Tasmania, Hobart.
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD37-1-30p154j2k



Portrait of the Reverend James Hutchinson
Minister of Paterson Street Methodist Church, Launceston, Tasmania.1861-4.
QVMAG Collection Registration No: QVM:1983:P:0051
Type: cabinet
Produced By: Baily, H.H.
Place of Production:94 Liverpool St., Hobart, Tasmania
Inscription: handwritten: reverse print: "Rev James Hutchison"

The Group Photograph
The Methodist minister presiding at the marriage of Thomas J. Nevin to Elizabeth Rachel Day at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley, Hobart, was the Rev. James Hutchinson. He was captured here sitting at the table with the griffin-shaped legs which features in dozens of Thomas J. Nevin's portraits of private clientele taken at his city studio, 140 Elizabeth St., Hobart, an indication that the Reverend's photograph was likely taken by Thomas J. Nevin, although the QVMAG catalogue notes state that the photographer was Henry Hall Baily, a close friend of the Nevin family well into 1880s whose studio in the 1860s faced Nevin's on Elizabeth St. Hobart. H. H. Baily may have acquired Nevin's negative for further copies at the Rev. Hutchinson's request.

Then again, Henry Hall Baily may well have taken both the photograph of the couple, Thomas and Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin in wedding dress (above) and of the Rev. Hutchinson on the day; in fact, H. H. Baily may have been a wedding guest among the three men standing behind the seated bride and groom, with the fourth, younger brother Jack Nevin (William John) standing at extreme right, hand on hip in his typical pose.

It is possible that the man standing on Jack Nevin's right was Thomas Nevin's close friend and partner, photographer Samuel Clifford. If H. H. Baily attended the wedding, did he take this photograph, or was he one of the two remaining unidentified men? If the latter, then who was the fifth photographer present from Thomas Nevin's cohort - i.e. not Thomas himself or his brother Jack Nevin, not H. H. Baily nor Samuel Clifford, so who took it? Alfred Bock, perhaps, on a visit from Victoria, who was Nevin's former mentor and leasee of the City Photographic Establishment studio until his departure from Tasmania in 1867.

The two signatory witnesses on the marriage registration form were William Hanson, furniture dealer whose shop was located on the corner of Elizabeth and Warwick streets, Hobart (site of the former hotel the Black Prince), and Elizabeth's younger sister and bridesmaid (both wore the same floral hair pin), standing at her left shoulder. There is also the possibility that one of the men standing was their father, Captain James Day (1808-1882); their mother, however, had died of consumption in 1857, leaving questions as to the identities of the other two women present.



Group photograph, wedding day 12 July 1871, Kangaroo Valley, Hobart, Tasmania
Seated: photographer Thomas James Nevin and his bride Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin
Standing: family members and friends, younger brother Jack Nevin on extreme right
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2009 ARR

This is a very unusual photographic artefact, a sepia print on thin paper which was rescued recently from a modern album held in the estate of Eva Elizabeth Morris nee Nevin (1917-2008), a grand daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Rachel Nevin, eldest daughter of their youngest son Albert E. Nevin (m. Emily Davis 1917). The print had been pasted onto a glue-coated ridged sheet and covered with plastic, hence the deterioration from the ridges showing through the paper. The original photograph, taken in the studio, was not cropped before it was printed. The edges of the backdrop sheet, featuring an arch to the viewer's left, are clearly visible.

RELATED POSTS main weblog

• Sitemap: Family
• Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day & children
• Mary Sophia Day (m. Axup), Thomas Nevin's sister-in-law
• On the road with Sam Clifford and Thomas Nevin 1874
• With Alfred Bock at The City Photographic Establishment 1860s

Preview of 2009: a selection from Nevin family collections

With the passing of Eva Morris nee Nevin (1917-2008), grand daughter of photographer Thomas J. Nevin and Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day, we include a selection from her private collection of family photographs. Please respect copyright.

Eva Morris nee Nevin ca. 1938



Eva Morris nee Nevin (1917-2008) granddaughter of photographer Thomas J. Nevin and & Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day, daughter of their youngest son Albert and his wife Emily Nevin nee Davis. Taken in 1938 while boarding the Zealandia to Sydney from Hobart. Copyright © KLW NFC Private Collection 2009 ARR.

Photographer Thomas J. Nevin ca. 1865-8



Self-portrait of photographer Thomas James Nevin ca. 1865-8 holding a stereoscopic viewer and wearing white gloves. Taken at his studio, The City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town. Watermarked. Copyright © KLW NFC Private Collection 2009 ARR.

Elizabeth Rachel Day ca. 1868



Portrait of Elizabeth Rachel Day ca. 1868, fiancee of Thomas J. Nevin. They married at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley (Lenah Valley, near Hobart, Tasmania) in 1871. This carte-de-visite was taken by Thomas J. Nevin while in partnership with Robert Smith, operating as the firm Nevin & Smith. The verso carries their studio stamp. Watermarked. Copyright © KLW NFC Private Collection 2009 ARR.

The Nevin and Axup families ca. 1938
Thomas and Elizabeth Rachel Nevin's adult daughters Minnie Nevin (b. 1884, extreme left) and May Nevin (b. 1872 extreme right) were photographed with their aunt, Elizabeth's sister, Mary Sophia Axup nee Day (second from left) and her adult daughter Eva Baldwin (second from right), their cousin.



From left to right:
Thomas & Elizabeth Nevin's daughter Mary Ann Nevin, known as Minnie Nevin
Thomas Nevin's sister-in-law Mary Sophia Axup nee Day, sister of Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day
Mary Sophia Axup's daughter Eva Baldwin nee Axup,
Thomas and Elizabeth's Nevin's daughter Mary Florence Elizabeth Nevin, known as May Nevin.
Taken at a railway station ca. 1938. Copyright © KLW NFC Private Collection 2009 ARR.

Sergeant Tom Nevin jnr aka "Sonny" mid 1940s



Thomas James Nevin jnr, first born son (1874-1948) of Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin, was known as "Sonny" to the family. He married Gertrude Tennyson Bates in 1907, of the Bates, Cetnar and Laughlin families, USA. He was photographed here as Sergeant Tom Nevin of the Salvation Army in his uniform a few years before his death in 1948. Copyright © KLW NFC Private Collection 2009 ARR.