T. J. Nevin's Royal Arms colonial warrant studio stamp

THE GOVERNOR'S PATRONAGE vs GOVERNMENT TENDER
ROYAL ARMS INSIGNIA



Royal Arms insignia atop Treasury building Hobart
Photo © KLW NFC 2011 Arr

Commercial photographers in Tasmania in the 1870s and 1880s were extended two basic but very different types of government support, and these differences are evident in the designs of their studio stamps. Henry Hall Baily, for example, used a stamp signifying patronage by the Governor of Tasmania. He photographed notable citizens, visiting VIPs and official functions, often with the express intention of submitting his photographs to national and international exhibitions. In other words, H. H. Baily was never contracted under tender to work for the Colonial government, merely rewarded for special commissions by the Governor. His stamp from the mid 1880s was printed with the words "Under the Patronage of His Excellency Sir G. C. Strahan", and the initials "K.C.M.G" beneath.



Thomas J. Nevin, by contrast, was issued with a stamp which contained the design of the Supreme Court seal and the Prisons Department publications banner because he served the Colonial government as a contracted photographer on a regular basis in Supreme Court sittings. From 1868, he was receiving commission for his work with the Lands and Survey Department and from 1872 for his photographic documentation of prisoners, and by 1873, he was contracted on a permanent basis, eventually joining the civil service full-time in 1876. He continued working with police in Hobart's courts and prisons until 1886. This is one of many extant examples of T. J. Nevin’s government contractor stamp with the Royal Arms insignia which he was required to display on the versos of at least one photograph per batch supplied on commission to the Lands and Survey Department and the Municipal Police Office, Hobart City Council, between 1865 and 1876

All government contractors used the Royal Arms insignia. Naval contractor J. Callaghan proudly displayed it as his business credentials above his butchery shop entrance.



Photograph – J Callaghan’s Butcher’s shop, Morrison Street, Hobart
Description: 1 photographic print
ADRI: NS1013-1-1075
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania

Just as the butcher J. Callaghan displayed his government contract credentials above his shop entrance, Thomas J. Nevin would have displayed a similar sign at his studio in Elizabeth Street.

The studio stamp on the verso of Nevin's photograph of prisoner William Smith's portrait (below), held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, carries the government's official Royal Arms insignia with lion and unicorn rampant. Unlike other types of studio stamps which Nevin used between 1867 and 1884, this particular version carries the middle initial "J" for James in his name: "T. J. Nevin". The same stamp appears on the versos of T. J. Nevin's police photographs of convicts William Smith and James Mullins held at the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW.



Convict William Smith per Gilmore (3), transported 20th August, 1843.
Photo by T. J. Nevin, 1874, held at the QVMAG, Launceston.



Convict William Smith per Gilmore (3),
Photo by T.J. Nevin 1875, recto and verso
Mitchell Library NSW (PXB 274)
Photos © KLW NFC 2009 Arr





Above: Both these photographs of prisoners, James Mullins on left and William Smith on right, bear Nevin’s contractor stamp with the Hobart Supreme Court Royal Arms insignia.
Mitchell Library NSW (PXB 274)
Photos © KLW NFC 2009-14 Arr

Under instructions from the Attorney-General W.R. Giblin, Thomas Nevin worked with Frederick Stops, Clerk to the Attorney-General to photograph men at trial in the Supreme Court and Hobart Gaol by 1872, and the inmates from the Port Arthur penitentiary on their transfer to the Hobart Gaol in 1873. Government printer James Barnard designed this stamp for Nevin and registered it at the Town Hall Municipal Police Office in February 1872 when Nevin's commission as police and prisons photographer was underwritten by contract to the Colonial Government.



The Tasmanian Prison Act 1868 with the Royal Arms insignia:
Consolidation and Amendation of the Tasmanian Prison Act 1868, printed by James Barnard.
Source: eHeritage database, State library of Tasmania

H.H. BAILY
Photographer Henry Hall Baily, a close associate of Thomas Nevin, used a variation of the Royal Arms insignia on his studio stamp with the words, "Under the Patronage of His Excellency Sir G. C. Strahan", and the initials "K.C.M.G" beneath.

Sir George C. STRAHAN, Governor Major, KCMG 7, held the office between December 1881 and 28th October 1886, which indicates that Baily assumed the Governor's patronage no earlier than 1881. Baily's earlier studio stamps ca. 1870s on the verso of portraits taken at his Elizabeth Street studio - which was directly opposite Nevin's City Photographic Establishment - lack the Royal Arms insignia.



H.H. Baily stamp, ca 1881-86 (TMAG 1995).

ALFRED WINTER
Commercial photographer Alfred Winter (1837-1911) was fond of fashionable society and grand landscapes. He held a commission with the Land and Works Department from 1876, but retained full independence as a commercial photographer at his studio in Elizabeth St. Hobart. His usual stamp from the late 1870s into the 1880s carried the wording“By Appointment to His Excellency The Governor”.  This studio portrait of Anne Delaware was taken in 1884.



Photo recto and verso courtesy of John McCullagh
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2007

John Nevin's Wesleyan Lament

JOHN NEVIN snr TASMANIAN POETRY
WESLEYANS William GENGE
IN LOCO PARENTIS

Four poems written in the 1860s by John Nevin snr (1808-1887) are extant online in the NLA Trove newspaper and gazettes section or available in public collections:

In August 1863, he wrote a lament on the death of his comrade-in-arms, James William Chisholm, titled "WRITTEN on the much-lamented death of the late JAMES WILLIAM CHISHOLM, of Hobart Town, a native of Edinburgh, aged 61 years" which was published in the Weekly Times (Hobart Town, Tas.), Saturday 29 August 1863, page 6.

In September 1863 he published a poem called "Hope" on the topic of slavery in the Weekly Times (12 September 1863), p. 3., online at https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article233621295

In January 1866, he published a poem on the death of his daughter Rebecca Jane Nevin titled "Lines On the much lamented Death of Rebecca Jane Nevin Who died at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley, On the 10th November, 1865, in the 19th year of her age" (which is held at the University of Melbourne Library, Special Collections)

In 1868 he published in pamphlet form "My Cottage in the Wilderness", held at the Mitchell Library, SLNSW, in the David Scott Mitchell Collection.

John Nevin most likely wrote and published several more poems in the intervening years between 1868 and the fifth poem to surface, a ten stanza lament he wrote in 1881 on the death of his friend, neighbour, fellow Wesleyan and in-law, Thomas Genge, titled "Lines written on the sudden and much lamented death of Mr William Genge who died at the Wesleyan Chapel, Melville-street, Hobart on the morning of 17th January 1881, in the 73rd year of his age".



John Nevin snr from the scrapbook of his grandson George Nevin
Full-length carte-de-visite by his son Thomas James Nevin ca 1874. © KLW NFC Private Collection.

Thomas J. Nevin took this photo (above) of his father John Nevin snr in his studio at 140 Elizabeth Street, Hobart Town, ca. 1874. He must have decided it appropriate to capture his father in the pose of writing because John Nevin was indeed a writer, a published poet and a journalist. This is the lament he wrote on his friend's death in 1881:



"Lines written on the sudden and much lamented death of Mr William Genge who died at the Wesleyan Chapel, Melville-street, Hobart on the morning of 17th January 1881, in the 73rd year of his age" by John Nevin snr

Copy courtesy of the State Library of Tasmania 2006
Title:Lines written on the sudden and much lamented death of Mr. William Genge, who died at the Wesleyan Chapel
Author/Creator: Nevin, J.
Publication Information: Hobart : Pratt, printer, 1881.
Physical description: 1 sheet.
Record ID: SD_ILS:542990
Allport Library Pamphlets P 820.A NEV

John Nevin snr saw service with the Royal Scots First Regiment in the West Indies from 1825 to 1837, and at the Canadian Rebellions from 1838 to his discharge on medical grounds in 1841, returning to London's Chelsea Hospital and then back to Ireland. On migration from Ireland in 1852 as a pensioner guard of convicts on board the convict transport Fairliewith his wife Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson and their four children all under 12 years of age, he settled the family at Kangaroo Valley, near Hobart, where he was employed as resident school master at the schoolhouse and Wesleyan Chapel on the property owned by the Trustees of the Wesleyan Church (1 acre) situated above the Lady Franklin Museum. He built a house there, and established a farm and orchard in a garden (another 1 acre) on an adjoining property owned by Mary Nairn, widow of Edward Nairn, convict Superintendent and Sheriff of Hobart.



Screenshot: John Nevin, occupier of the Wesleyan Chapel, school house, dwelling, and garden
Source: Hobart Valuation Rolls 1866.
Archives Office Tasmania





Screenshot: John Nevin, occupier of the Wesleyan Chapel, school house, dwelling, and garden
Source: Hobart Valuation Rolls 1881. Archives Office Tasmania

John Nevin's first wife Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson, mother of Thomas James, Mary Anne, Rebecaa Jane and William John (Jack), died at Kangaroo Valley, Hobart in 1875.

The Valuation and Electoral Rolls for the district of Glenorchy, Tasmania show John Nevin occupying the School House and dwelling at Kangaroo Valley between 1854 and 1887, the year he died there in his garden. He applied to the Education Board in 1875 to establish a night school for adult males, and may have been the district teacher, a background detail which explains the numerous stereographs of the school house at Kangaroo Valley and the Public School at New Town taken by Thomas Nevin, held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, e.g. :



Stereograph of Mary Ann Nevin by her brother Thomas J. Nevin ca. 1870 taken at Kangaroo Valley near the school in the company of an adult male and children.
TMAG Collection Ref: Q16826-1-2
TITLE: 'School House Kangaroo Valley'
DATE: 1860s
DESCRIPTION : This photo depicts three adults and four children at Kangaroo Valley (LenahValley)
INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: A Pedder



New Town Public School
Stereograph by Thomas J. Nevin ca, 1870
TMAG Collection Ref: 16826.27
Photos copyright © KLW NFC 2014 ARR



Glenorchy district electoral roll 1879,
John Nevin, father of Thomas Nevin,
Occupancy of the School House and dwelling at Kangaroo Valley

The Tasmanian Pioneer Index lists a second marriage for the father, John Nevin. At the age of 71 yrs old, he married Martha Salter, aged 46 yrs, in Hobart, on the 23rd October, 1879
(Source: Tasmanian Pioneer Index: 711/1879/RGD:37)

Martha Salter nee Genge, 42 years old, had sailed from Plymouth (UK) on 21st June 1878 on board the Somersetshire. She disembarked at Melbourne (Victoria) and boarded the Tamar for Hobart Town, arriving on 16th August 1878 (Edward Freeman, agents). She was listed an an immigrant, 43 yrs old, without children, a Wesleyan who could read and whose stated qualification was "needlewoman". She was born in Taunton, Somersetshire, England, to William Genge, her father who was already resident in Hobart, the sponsor who paid the bounty of £16 for her ticket (No. 215). His application, as noted on this document, was signed off by B. Travers Solly on 16th August 1878, and forwarded to Treasury on 22nd August 1878.

The Nevin family were key members of the Wesleyan Chapel congregation of Kangaroo Valley near Hobart. Thomas Nevin married Elizabeth Rachel Day there in 1871, and her sister Mary Sophia Day married Hector Axup there in 1878. Thomas and Jack's only surviving sister Mary Ann Nevin married John Carr there in 1877. John Nevin snr also had strong affiliations with the Wesleyan Chapel at Melville Street, Hobart, where William Genge was a lay preacher. John Nevin's second wife, Martha Salter nee Genge, was the widowed daughter of William and Mary Genge. The discrepancy between their ages at the time of their marriage in 1879 - John Nevin was 71, Martha Salter was 46 - might have caused surprise but there was a reason: they provided the in loco parentis role for John Nevin's grand daughter - Minnie Carr. Her mother, John Nevin's only surviving daughter, Mary Ann Nevin  who married John Carr in 1877, died at Sandridge, Victoria, 20 days after giving birth, The child was fostered by her grandfather and step-grandmother, John Nevin and Martha Salter nee Genge. But Minnie Carr too met an untimely death, aged 20 years, in 1898 due to haemorrhage, which took place at Martha Nevin's house in Patrick St. Hobart where they had moved from Kangaroo Valley on John Nevin's death in 1887.

Martha Nevin died in Hobart in 1925, born Martha Genge, 1833, Somerset, England. She married John Nevin in 1879 with the name Martha Salter. Her gravestone at Cornelian Bay (Southern Regional Cemetery Trust) reads: Martha Nevin, daughter of William and Mary Genge.

This photograph (below) is of Martha's parents, Wesleyan preacher William Genge (1808-1881), the subject of John Nevin's lament, taken with wife Mary Slade (d. 1891) in Hobart. It possibly dates to the lmid 1870s, and is unattributed. Genealogical information on the Genge family and photo was provided by Louise Genge (November 2007).



William Genge and Mary Genge nee Slade 1870s
Hobart, Tasmania. Unattributed.
Photo courtesy of the Genge family




Above: Southern Regional Cemetery Trust burial record for John Nevin (1808-1887), Cornelian Bay, Hobart, Tasmania.

Nevin & Smith tinted vignette of Elizabeth Rachel Day 1868

ELIZABETH RACHEL DAY (1847-1914)
NEVIN & SMITH, photographers, Hobart Tasmania 1868
HAND-TINTED PORTRAITS 1860s

Less than a dozen portraits and stereographs have survived in public and private collections of the work conducted by Robert Smith (n.d.) and Thomas J. Nevin while operating the firm with the name business name "NEVIN & SMITH" at the former studio of Alfred Bock, 140 Elizabeth Street, Hobart (Tasmania) from ca. 1867 to February 1868 when the partnership was dissolved.

This rare hand-tinted portrait was taken by Thomas J. Nevin of his fiancée Elizabeth Rachel Day (1847-1914) while in partnership with Robert Smith ca. 1868.



Yellow tinted vignette of Elizabeth Rachel Day 1868s
Verso stamp: Nevin & Smith, Hobart
Copyright © KLW NFC Private Collection 2005-2007. ARR. Watermarked.

The "coloured ones from Smiths"
Robert Smith may have been an independent photographer prior to his partnership with Thomas Nevin. By about 1863, according to Mrs Esther Mather (1795-1872), Smith was providing the citizens of Hobart Town with coloured photographs. In this letter written by Mrs Mather to her [step] grandson, dated 1st October, 1865, she refers to a coloured portrait taken at Smiths, possibly a few years earlier, which compared less favourably with the one taken that day of her brother at Charles A. Woolley's studio. The entire letter is transcribed here because of the insights she gives into family life in 1865, and her use of language.





Notes and Source: Morris Miller Library, University of Tasmania
Special Collections Ref: M.19/70
Notes: "The letter is from the Mather family papers and is from Esther Mather to her [step] grandson, Joseph Francis Mather, in which she makes reference of her likeness from Woolleys being better than the coloured ones from Smiths. It is dated 1.8. 1865"

TRANSCRIPT

[Page 1]

My dear Francis,
Thou wilt think me long in not not [sic] sending the likeness I promised but it has not been for want of thought about thee but I have been so very much engaged with one thing or another that I have hardly had time to write a few lines but thou wilt be better off in the end for I only met up with my Brother to day [sic] which I also enclose Its from Wooleys [sic] and I consider it a very good # one [superscript inserted] probably more like him now than the coloured ones from Smiths I dont remember having given George one but if I have not I will get one for

[Page 2]
Him and send It. I was in Liverpool Street this morning and saw thy Father and Sisters who seem all well at present Esther has been poorly but She is now quite convalescenct [sic] Lizzy Amos is still with them Marion with the two children are at Brocks Buildings went yesterday and are to return tomorrow they have very many engagement [sic] and their time will be getting short
This day week thy Cousin has to give his Lecture a vey [sic] formidable thing for him I dont think I shall go to hear him I should be afraid of his Breaking down
I have no doubt but at times thou wilt feel lonely at being much shut out from society

[Page 3]
yet I trust the Occupation thou hast chosen is still agreeable to thee and that thou wilt acquire a through [sic] knowledge of Farming which I think is a very pleasant employment better than behind the counter or counting House but of course all depends on us feeling for ourselves that we are in our right places The Bishops son making one of # the [superscript inserted] number at Ellinthorp seems rather a curious mixture but I hope thee and George will strengthen each other in what is good you will no doubt have had the truth set before you in a clearer # light [superscript inserted] so that more circumspection of conduct is required He may and no doubt is a nice youth but a [sic] many things he has been brought up to see

[Page 4]
as harmless might be wrong for either of you but my dear Francis I feel as tho [sic] I need hardly write to thee is this ? [word is illegible] being persuaded that thou art endeavouring to follow thy Divine leader
My Brother is only poorly at present He writes with me in love to thee and George tell the later [sic] I beleive [sic] all are well at the Bank
I remain thy affectionate
Grandmother
Esther Mather
20 Wilmot Terrace Harrington Street
Hobart Town 1st 8/65

The portrait (below) of a grandmother and toddler, identities unknown, was taken by Charles A. Woolley in the late 1860s, certainly some time later than 1866 because of the wording on verso, "Melbourne 1866, Prize Medal awarded to Chas. A. Woolley, 42 Macquarie St. Hobart Town." This is the type of portrait to which Esther Mather refers in her letter. We can clearly see, 160 years later, that Nevin & Smith's tinted portrait is by far superior, technically speaking; it has survived mould and mistreatment, it has retained its delicacy of colouring and sharpness on albumen, which Woolley's portrait, faded and fuzzy and foxed, has not. Esther Mather's abjection of Smith's earlier portrait of her brother in favour of one by Woolley, however, may be index of a prevalent social prejudice against colouring, which prettified the truer likeness or "reality" conventionally rendered in sepia.



Unidentified woman and child, Charles A. Woolley, ca. 1868
Copyright © KLW NFC Private Collection 2007 ARR.

Thomas Nevin's 'ornaments of different colours'
On the evening of December 3rd, 1880, Thomas Nevin, Town Hall keeper, was apprehended by two policemen who were chasing a man pretending to be ghost. Nevin was detained because he was (a) in the close vicinity of the man when the incident occurred, and (b) he was allegedly intoxicated while still on duty as keeper of the Hobart Town Hall. Although not charged with the offense of acting in concert with the "ghost", he was dismissed from his position of Town Hall keeper for being intoxicated while on duty. The court proceedings reported by the Mercury the next day began with Nevin's defense by the Mayor:

By the MAYOR: ... It was not true that between the hours of 10 and 11 o’clock on Thursday night, Constables Oakes and Priest took witness home in a state of intoxication. Witness had a photographic apparatus and chemicals in his possession. He had not made any ornaments of different colours for any one lately. He was not at any time on Thursday night under the influence of liquor. He did not think it was right to leave the Town Hall for so many hours as he had. He considered, however, that when he heard the constables’ whistle he was justified in going to render them assistance.

The reader of the report learns that the "witness" - Nevin - who had spent the evening with photographer and friend Henry Hall Baily was on his way home to the Town Hall in the possession of photographic equipment and chemicals. This account clearly indicates that Nevin was producing photographic work while fully employed as the Town Hall keeper.

Additional details in his defense underscore his reputation for producing coloured photographs - "ornaments of different colours" - although not for "anyone lately". What might this mean? It possibly refers to his privileged association with his solicitor and mentor, former Attorney General Giblin, whose contractual arrangements secured Nevin the position of prison photographer at the Port Arthur prison and Hobart Gaol from February  1872.  Nevin's coloured carte-de-visite of W.R. Giblin is held at the Archives Office of Tasmania. At least six photographs - hand-tinted mugshots - taken by Thomas Nevin for police and prison authorities in the 1870s are extant in public collections, viz. the National Library of Australia and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. 

Thomas Nevin's own family portraits of his sister Mary Anne Nevin, his wife Elizabeth Rachel Day, his self-portrait, and this early one have survived in excellent condition in the Nevin family's collections. The vignettes are hand coloured. His partnership with Smith only lasted until 1868, when Nevin's most commercial stamp resumed the original design of Alfred Bock's stamps, with additional flourishes. His government contractor stamp - with the Royal colonial warrant - appeared later still, ca. 1873.



Copyright © KLW NFC Private Collection 2007 ARR.

Elizabeth Rachel Day (born Rotherhithe UK 1847- died Hobart Tasmania 1914) was barely out of her teens when the photographers Nevin & Smith composed two portraits in different formats of her in the mid to late 1860s. She was the eldest daughter of Captain James Day, master mariner (1806-1882) and Rachel Pocock who were married at St David's Hobarton, 6th January 1841 in the presence of Margaret Fuller and Captain Edward Goldsmith, brother-in-law of Captain James Day. Rachel Pocock died of consumption in 1857, just four years after the birth of her second daughter Maria Sophia Day. Both Elizabeth Rachel and Mary Sophia were nieces of Captain Edward Goldsmith. Elizabeth Rachel Day married Thomas J. Nevin in 1871 at the Wesleyan Church, Kangaroo Valley (renamed Lenah Valley in 1922) next door to the schoolhouse where John Nevin snr, Thomas' father, taught local children. Thomas also took a full length portrait of Elizabeth Rachel Nevin while working with Robert Smith in 1867-68.

In February 1868, the partnership was dissolved, apparently with unpaid liabilities. Robert Smith departed Hobart, establishing a studio at Goulburn, NSW before taking up farming and politics.



Robert Smith and Thomas Nevin, dissolution notice, Hobart Mercury 26 February 1868

The dissolution notice published in the Hobart Mercury on 26 February 1868 of the partnership between Robert Smith and Thomas Nevin. William Robert Giblin, later Attorney-General and Premier, was Thomas Nevin's solicitor and witness.

RELATED POSTS main weblog

• Nevin & Smith stereo of Elizabeth St studio
• Another rare Nevin & Smith stamp 1868
• Nevin & Smith's stock photography
• Studio decor: table with griffin-shaped legs
• W. R. Giblin, Judge, Attorney-General and Premier
• Calling the shots in colour 1864-1879

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery databases

The missing online database
This Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery notice about their photographic collections appeared in November 2006. It is now September 2010, and the promised website with viewable databases of their vast photographic holdings is still not up and running. The TMAG holds a sizable collection of rare works by Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923).



TMAG notice of website redevelopment 2006 for the images collections.

Current notice (Sept 2010):

ONLINE ACCESS TO THE STATE COLLECTION
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery is in the process of developing world-class access to our collection information. The TMAG has one of the most diverse collections in Australia, and with this diversity, challenges for digitisation are presented. The TMAG is committed to providing access to this information, and whilst our on-line service is unavailable, requests for assistance can be directed to tmagmail@tmag.tas.gov.au.

The TMAG's collections hold ninety and probably many more uncatalogued photographs by Thomas Nevin, sixty of which are stereographs, called "stereoscopes" in the former catalogue entries. In addition, fifty or so of his Tasmanian convicts' portraits are held there, but with the wrong attribution to A.H. Boyd, a result of the confusion generated by researcher Chris Long, which appeared in the TMAG's publication, Tasmanian Photographers 1840-1940: A Directory (1995:36). Boyd was a prison Commandant at Port Arthur (1871-73) but he was not a photographer, neither amateur nor official. T. J. Nevin was the commercial photographer on government contract who photographed those prisoners known as "Port Arthur convicts", i.e. those who were transported before 1853, when they re-offended in the 1870s and were arrested, sentenced and arraigned at the Supreme Court and incarcerated at the adjoining Hobart Gaol for a month BEFORE they were returned to Port Arthur to serve their sentence, if that was their fate. By late 1873-74, the majority of those sent back to Port Arthur, 109 in all, had been transferred back to the Hobart Town Gaol in Campbell St., where they were photographed on being received if sentenced prior to early 1872 when Thomas J. Nevin began the systematic documentation of their images for the colonial government.

The TMAG's annual report for 2002-2003 gives some idea of the extent of their photographic holdings, including their chartered obligation to give the public access, in this webshot which also shows the misattribution to Boyd of one of Nevin's convict cartes, that of James Glen sentenced to 10 years in the Hobart Supreme Court on July 4, 1871. Nevin photographed James Glen on the prisoner's relocation from the Port Arthur prison to the Hobart Gaol in April 1874.



TMAG Annual Report 2002-2003

T. J. Nevin's "convict" photographs



The A.H. Boyd misattribution appears below this prisoner photograph of James Glenn taken by Thomas J. Nevin at the Hobart Gaol, April 1874 and not at Port Arthur.



James Glen was arrested for stealing plate from Webb's Hotel, notice published in the police gazette of 10 February 1871.



Source of police records: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police, Gov't printer

James Glen held a conditional pardon from Western Australia when he was sentenced to ten years for feloniously receiving.. He was sent to Port Arthur as one of the "Supreme Court men" convicted in 1871, assigned to employers, and returned to the Hobart Gaol as one of the sixty (60) of a total of one hundred and nine (109) men listed in Parliament on July 13th 1873 who had either been relocated back to the Hobart Gaol already before July or were scheduled to return to Hobart by October 1873 through to mid 1874. See the full lists (below) of the 109 sent to Port Arthur since the transfer from Imperial to Colonial government funding, and Attorney-General W. R.  Giblin's response to the question put forward to him about the progress of relocating the prisoners from Port Arthur to Hobart (called the Mainland, as distinct from the Tasman Peninsula, site of the Port Arthur prison) . As Giblin says in reply, (60) sixty had already been relocated back to Hobart by the time of his response in the session of July 13th 1873. James Glen was among them, and was photographed on arrival by Thomas Nevin, as were all these men at their Supreme Court sittings, again on their relocation, termed  being received at  the Hobart Gaol, and again on arrest, arraignment and discharge, termed being enlarged  throughout their criminal careers .

From the JOURNALS of the HOUSE of ASSEMBLY:
11th June 1873 and July 17th 1873
Port Arthur: Returns Relating to the Removal of Prisoners;





June 11th 1873 and July 13th 1873:
The Supreme Court prisoners were photographed at trial between 1871-1873, and photographed again on relocation to the Hobart Gaol May 1873-November 1873. They were NOT photographed at Port Arthur: photographic materials listed as cargo for Port Arthur in August 1873 were privately ordered AFTER the majority of the 109 prisoners had left the site, and could have been used for any number of purposes and at any time stretching into the years before the site finally closed in 1877, if indeed those glass plates listed as cargo on July 30th 1873 actually arrived at Port Arthur.

The "mugshots" of most but not all of the "Supreme Court men" listed in Session 33 of Parliament 1873 have survived (at the QVMAG, NLA, TMAG, Mitchell NSW, and AOT). They were originally held in Treasury, along with Nevin's tender, payment claims and his photograph of the Attorney-General W. R. Giblin, noted in the Mercury 1887 on Giblin's death when the search was mounted for a suitable photograph to copy in oils, and this was it, by Nevin taken of Giblin between 1872-76.



TAKE NOTE: The answer to this motion was resolved on July 13th, 1873, with -

"Mr. Colonial Treasurer may have leave to introduce a Bill to establish a Consolidated Revenue Fund."

- which was tabled in October 1873 and from which Thomas Nevin was paid for his continuing services as photographer at the Hobart Gaol with Special Duties. The payment was listed in the June 1874 Treasury statement of expenditure for the financial year, hence the date "1874" which an early 20th century archivist has written on the versos of many of these prisoner's mugshots.

T. J. Nevin's mugshots at the TMAG
Eighteen (18) prisoner mugshots with the photographer misattribution to A.H. Boyd were exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery Canberra in 2000, including that of James Glenn. The TMAG's collections of 50 or so mugshots are either Nevin's duplicates from his original 1870s negatives, or copies made at the QVMAG in Launceston and sent to the Port Arthur Heritage site for exhibition in 1983. They were then deposited back at the Archives Office in Hobart and included in the TMAG collections when the archives were transferred to the Rosny site. Typical of the collection is this mugshot of James Martin by Nevin, taken on the prisoner's discharge, 24th October 1874,  from the Hobart Goal. 



Read more about James Martin here. 

The misattribution of Nevin's convict photos at the TMAG are due to the error made by Chris Long, reiterated here by Warwick Reeder for exhibition at the NPG Canberra March 2000: Mirror with a Memory.

Thomas Nevin's stereographs and portraits at the TMAG
Seven or so of the stereo salt paper prints were online during 2006. These were catalogued in the images database. However, in the text-only database, another 53 photographs by Thomas Nevin were listed but not digitised.

Three major problems with the TMAG lists have emerged:

(a) Confusion over name: the initial "J" for James appears as a middle initial in Thomas Nevin's name in some entries and not in others, depending on which of the several versions of his studio stamps have been sighted: e.g. T. Nevin; T.J. Nevin, Thos. Nevin, Thomas J. Nevin, and Thomas Nevin, causing confusion with his son's name, Thomas James Nevin, born in 1874. Nevin used the initials "T. J. Nevin" on his Royal Arms studio stamp from at least January 1873.

(b) Wrongful attribution to A. H. Boyd instead of Thomas Nevin of the collection of Tasmanian prisoner photographs held by the TMAG, several of which are identical to those correctly attributed to Thomas Nevin in the major collections of the National Library of Australia, the QVMAG, and the Archives Office of Tasmania.

(c) Items which have been displaced from their series lose their attribution; for example, item no. Q1994.56.4 belongs to a series by Thomas Nevin, and it was online. It is a stereograph of a group at the Rocking Stone, Mt. Wellington, and belongs in the series Q1994.56.1 etc etc which bears "T. Nevin" impressed on front. Because it lacks attribution, it does not appear among the 53 entries in the list attached.

The TMAG list 2006
NB: This list with notes was copied verbatim  - spelling errors etc included - from the TMAG online catalogues in 2006. Information regarding any of these photographs now needs to be cross-checked for errors in this list's descriptions against the same photographs documented with factual research which were posted on this weblog after November 2014 when copies were obtained and put online.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q9134 ITEM NAME: Photograph print : MEDIUM: Albumen silver carte de visite, MAKER: T Nevin late A Bock [Artist]; TITLE: 'Melville West Hobart under snow ' DATE: 1868, July DETAILS: Wellington Park exhibition DESCRIPTION : View is looking to Mt Wellington from the southern side of Melville and also shows the Kings Arms near the center of image; St Mary's burial ground near center left of image. A store is shown on the corner of Murray and Melville ?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.7 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope salt paper print , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Salmon Ponds at Plenty near New Norfolk INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impressed on front: T Nevin/ photo

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.5 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope - oval image, MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; TITLE: 'Ladies and gentleman, seated and standing round stone wall? Same group as in Q994.56.1, Q1994.56.24' DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : recreation, walking INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impressed on front: T.Nevin/ photo.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.34 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; TITLE: 'Lady Franklin's Museum, KangarooValley' DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Group of people at Lady Franklin's Museum, Kangaroo Valley INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: On back in pencil: Mrs A Pedder / and in different hand Lady Franklin's Museum/ KangarooValley and in different hand again best picture

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.33 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Elizabeth Street showing Nevin & Smith photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth Steet near [Patrick ? Street] INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: None

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.30 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope, DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Hobart from Lime Kiln Hill looking down Harrington Street INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: On back in pencil: a Pedder and stamped Thos Nevin/ Newtown

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.28 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope, MAKER: Thos Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : New Town ? looking to the Domain INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Stamped on back: Thos Nevin/ Newtown

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.24 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Group of people in bush setting, same group as in Q994.56.1, Q1994.56.5 INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impressed on front: T Nevin/ photo

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.22 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; TITLE: 'Two men sitting at fence looking out over a field' DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : post and rail fence, pipe INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impressed on front: T Nevin/ photo

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.21 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope salt paper print , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Scene near New Norfolk ? INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impressed on front: T Nevin/ photo

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.20.1 ITEM NAME: Label: MEDIUM: Paper and printing ink, MAKER: Nevin & Smith [Artist]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : Label from the back of Q1994.56.20 for photographers Nevin & Smith, 140 elizabeth Street, Hobarton INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: On back a pink label: Tasmanian views/ from/ Nevin & Smith,/ Photographers,/ 140, Elizabeth St., Hobarton./ Stereoscopic and Album Portraits/ Views Photographed./ Viiews of Residences, Tombstones copied, Terms —Cheap!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.20 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope salt paper print , MAKER: Nevin & Smith [Artist]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : Group of people dancing in field. INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: On back a pink label: Tasmanian views/ from/ Nevin & Smith,/ Photographers,/ 140, Elizabeth St., Hobarton./ Stereoscopic and Album Portraits/ Views Photographed./ Viiews of Residences, Tombstones copied, Terms —Cheap!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.2.1 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope - Arched image, MAKER: T J Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Label from back of stereo view Q1984.56.20 -Scenic view showing waterfall INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Printed on back in oval stamp: T J Nevin/ Photographic Artist/ 140 Elizabeth Street.,/ HobartTown/ Copies may be had at any time

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.2 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope - Arched image, MAKER: T J Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Scenic view showing waterfall INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Printed on back in oval stamp: T J Nevin/ Photographic Artist/ 140 Elizabeth Street.,/ Hobart Town/ Copies may be had at any time

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.17 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : D Chisholm, standing at gate Bathurst ? Brisbane ? Street, Hobart Town, D Chisholm , school master, New Town School, 1872 [refer Q1987.388] INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: None

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.13 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Fern Tree ? INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impress on front: T Nevin/ photo

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.12 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope salt paper print , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1860s late DESCRIPTION : Hobart from near 140 Elizabeth Street on corner Patrick ? Street. Nevin & Smith photographic Studio in buildings on extreme right [ refer also to Q1994.56.33] INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impress on front: T Nevin/ photo

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1994.56.1 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope - arched image, MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Group of gentlemen and a lady on board a ship. Capstan wheel in centre of image. Same group as in Q994.56.5, Q1994.56.24 INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impressed on front : T Nevin/ Photo

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1990.25.401 ITEM NAME: Photograph print: MEDIUM: carte de visite, MAKER: Clifford & Nevin [Artist]; DESCRIPTION : Studio portrait of unknown woman standing next to chair INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: In ink on back: Clifford & Nevin/ HobartTown

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1990.25.400 ITEM NAME: Photograph print: MEDIUM: carte de visite, MAKER: Clifford & Nevin [Artist]; DESCRIPTION : Studio portrait of unknown woman INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: In ink on back: Clifford & Nevin/ Hobart Town

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1987.388 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: carte de visite, MAKER: Thos Nevin [Artist]; TITLE: 'Brisbane Street, Hobart. Shows D Chisholm, schoolmaster at New Town Public School leaning on fence. ' DATE: 1870 s INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: In ink on back: "Bathurst ?/ or Brisbane St ?/ Hobart /1870s My father D Chisholm/ at the gate/ Bathurst St/ Hobart Town"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.9 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin [Photographer]; TITLE: 'Tasmanian Views.' DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : No information relative to title of his images. This one, of a house or maybe a school. INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: (On bacK) Tas. Views from Nevin & Smith (Late) Photographers (s crossed out) 140 Elizabeth Street. Steroscopic and Album Portraits Views Photographed. Views of Residences, Tombstones copied, Terms:-Cheap!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.7 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'Beacon Light Mount Wellington ' DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : A group of people on Mt.Wellington The party appears to consist of 3/4 women and perhaps 10 malesof assorted ages.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.6 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : A Gentleman slouched against a tree. Possibly, Mr Chisolm, the school teacher from New Town

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.5 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'New Town' DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Cottage in New Town

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.4 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'A Party at the Rocking Stone, MountWellington' DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : A group of people at the Rocking Stone on Mt.Wellington. Consists of 4 men and three women.The two women sitting on the ground in front of the rock appear to be sisters.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.38 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : A Bush Scene. Thick scrub, probably near Hobart.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.37 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : A Bush Scene. Thick scrub, probably near Hobart. A river could be in the top of the photo,

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.36 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: TJ Nevin ? [Photographer]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Mount Wellington Foothills?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.35 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: TJ Nevin ? [Photographer]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Mount Wellington

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.34 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin ? [Photographer]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Ferns. Possibly near Hobart, maybe Mt.Wellington or KangarooValley.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.33 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: TJ Nevin [Photographer]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Ferns. Possibly near Hobart, maybe Mt.Wellington.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.32 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Shows 3 men astride large rocks on Mt.Wellington.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.31 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia coloured stereoscope, MAKER: Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Ferns With Snow. Ferns with snow, possibly at KangarooValley. (LenahValley)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.30 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia coloured stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'Ferns KangarooValley.' DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : (LenahValley)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.3 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'Domain Hobart' DESCRIPTION : Hobart Domain with two men in the foreground and Government House in the background, the Derwent can be seen on the right.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.29 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'A conservatory' DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Inside a conservatory. Location unknown.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.28 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin [Photographer]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : New Town Public School

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.27 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin [Photographer]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : New Town Public School

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.22 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: TJ Nevin [Photographer]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : A River Front Scene. Location is impossible to identify. Maybe the Huon or the Derwent near new Norfolk.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.21 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : Appears to be a rural location two timber cottages in the foreground. Others on the right further up the hill which looms over the site. Two people are entertaining a deer. A horned steer or cow is menacingly standing behind them. A dog kennel is further behind them near the fence.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.20 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin [Photographer]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Mount Wellington - not Mt Wellington - looks like a man made channel

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.19 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : A waterfront shot. Location is uncertain. Possibly, the Huon. INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: T.J. Nevin Photographic Artist 140 Elizabeth Street Hobart Town. Copies may be had at any time. A. Peddar.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.16 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Thomas Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : New Norfolk , bridge over the Derwent. Bush Hotel can be seen on the left. A gentleman is observing the scene in the right forehand.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.15 ITEM NAME: photogrpah: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Thomas Nevin ? [Photographer]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : A shot of 2 men inside the entrance of Salt RockCave at Victoria, Huon INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: T.J. Nevin Photogrpahic Artist 140 Elizabeth Street Hobart Town. Copies may be had at any time. On back of Q 16826.14

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.14 ITEM NAME: photogrpah: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Thomas Nevin [Photographer]; TITLE: 'Salt Rock Cave Victoria Huon' DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : A shot of five men inside the entrance of Salt Rock Cave INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: T.J. Nevin Photographic Artist 140 Elizabeth Street Hobart Town. Copies may be had at any time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.12 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Thomas Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'Landscape, not Tasmanian' DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : Perhaps not even Australian, but Antipodean. (NZ)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.11 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Thomas Nevin [Photographer]; TITLE: 'A Mining Operation' DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Appears to be a mining operation. The presence of crushed rock/ore. A trolley on tracks. Horse and pulley. Location uncertain, but there is a mountain or something like one shrouded in mist in the background. Perhaps Mt. Wellington. There are three men in the scene. One is partially hidden beside the shed on the right. INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Thomas Nevin New Town

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.10 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'A Garden Gathering' DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : A gathering in the garden. Note the presence of statues the lion in front of the young girl; and a couple of other rather ''grotesquely'' interesting looking characters. The 3 girls look sullen and the boy troublesome. Two gentlemen appear to be supervising proceedings. No hint of location, there are some buildings in the background. Two watering cans present.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.1.2 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'School HouseKangaroo Valley' DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : This photo depicts three adults and four children at Kangaroo Valley (Lenah Valley) INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: A Pedder

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826.1.1 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: salted paper print stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'School House Kangaroo Valley' DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : This photo depicts three adults and four children at Kangaroo Valley (Lenah Valley) INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: A Pedder

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q16826 ITEM NAME: photograph: MAKER: Nevin [Artist]; TITLE: 'Collection of stereoscopic views by various photographers. Numbering to be expanded'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q14529 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: carte de visite, TITLE: 'Mrs. Morrison.' DATE: 1870C INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: in ink on back: Mrs Morrison and stamped : T Nevin late A Bock city photographic establishment in oval design encircled in belt

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Photographer: T. Nevin, Elizabeth St. Hobart Town
TMAG Ref: Q1994.56.33

Thomas Nevin & Samuel Clifford's partnership and identical views 1860s-1870s

CLIFFORD, Samuel and NEVIN, Thomas 1860s-1870s
PARTNERSHIP Clifford & Nevin inscription
STEREOGRAPHS 1860s-1870s

The Partnership
Professional photographers Samuel Clifford and Thomas J. Nevin shared a long friendship and partnership from the early 1860s until Clifford's death in 1890. They produced landscapes in stereographic format for the local and intercolonial tourist trade, both individually and collaboratively sharing their stock of negatives and prints from as early as 1865 while Nevin was still at his New Town studio. Several cartes-de-visite with the inscription on verso "Clifford & Nevin Hobart Town" which were reprinted by Clifford from Nevin's stock after 1876, are held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. A few are held in private collections, this one, for example:



Hand coloured carte-de-visite, full length of teenage girl holding a sprig of holly
Verso inscription: Clifford & Nevin Hobart Town ca mid 1870s
Copyright © The Private Collection of G.T. Harrisson 2006

The man standing second from right next to Thomas Nevin's younger brother Constable John (William John aka Jack) Nevin at extreme right in this group photograph was probably Samuel Clifford. The photograph was taken at Thomas and Elizabeth's wedding in July 1871 at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley, Hobart by an unknown photographer (the tenth person present behind the camera.)





Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin group portrait, July 1871
Seated, Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin
Standing extreme right younger brother Jack Nevin
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2009 ARR

Thomas J. Nevin's negatives and prints of his private clientele taken at his studio, the City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart (formerly Alfred Bock's studio) were acquired and reprinted by Samuel Clifford in 1876 when Nevin joined the civil service as Town Hall Office and Hall Keeper and photographer with the Municipal Police Office, housed within the Hobart Town Hall.

Samuel Clifford inserted a notice in the Hobart Mercury, 17th January, 1876, informing the public that T. J. Nevin, in retiring from "Photography" had transferred his interest in his negatives to Clifford's studio, and that he would reprint any for Nevin's clients and friends on request. No longer a commercial photographer and part-time government contractor but a full-time civil servant, Nevin continued with the provision of prisoner identification photography for the colonial administration until late 1880. On leaving that position he continued working for police on contract once again from his studio at New Town, retiring in 1886, although family BDM documents in 1907, in 1917 and right up to his death in 1923 registered his occupation as "Photographer".



TRANSCRIPT

PHOTOGRAPHY T.J. NEVIN, in retiring from the above, begs to thank his patrons for the support he has so long received from them, and also to state that his interest in all the Negatives he has taken has been transferred to Mr S. CLIFFORD, of Liverpool-street, to whom future applications may be made.
In reference to the above, Mr T.J. Nevin's friends may depend that I will endeavour to satisfy them with any prints they may require from his negatives.
S. CLIFFORD

Source: Mercury, 17th January, 1876

The reason for this advertisement was to underscore Nevin's status as a full-time civil servant which was announced later in January 1876. As a civil servant, he was not entitled to further remuneration - "interest" as it is termed here - from his commercial photography. He was retired from commercial practice but not from photographic work for the Municipal Police Office, the Courts and the Hobart Gaol, continuing his earlier work photographing prisoners on arrest, arraignment, incarceration, and discharge from the prison system. And by 1880, he was producing commercial work once more with Henry Hall Baily, another close friend while still a civil servant at the Town Hall, a fact noted by the Mercury, December 4th, 1880.

The Stereographs
Below is an example of the same photograph printed twice, once as a single image, the other as a stereograph. The black and white copy is dated 1869 and held at the Archives Office of Tasmania with attribution to Samuel Clifford. The stereograph (double image) is held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and carries the impress of T. Nevin on mount.





The Archives Office gave this one the title "The Derwent River on the way to the Salmon Ponds." Thomas Nevin's standard stereograph views included these photographs taken in the upper Derwent Valley ca. late 1860s - mid 1870s:



Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Ref: Q1994.56.21
ITEM NAME: Photograph:
MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope salt paper print ,
MAKER: T Nevin [Artist];
DATE: 1870s
DESCRIPTION : Scene near New Norfolk ?
INSCRIPTIONS and MARKS: Impressed on front: T Nevin/ photo



TMAG Catalogue notes (online until 2006)
Ref: Q1994.56.7
ITEM NAME: Photograph:
MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope salt paper print ,
MAKER: T Nevin [Artist];
DATE: 1870c
DESCRIPTION : Salmon Ponds at Plenty near New Norfolk
INSCRIPTIONS and MARKS: Impressed on front: T Nevin/ photo

This stereograph by Thomas Nevin, titled "Salmon Ponds, at Plenty near New Norfolk", ca. 1870, which is held by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery is very similar to one by Samuel Clifford. Several views of the upper reaches of the River Derwent were taken by Nevin and Clifford on a joint excursion in 1874 through Bothwell and the midlands to Launceston in the north of Tasmania.

The TMAG has another stereo titled Junction of Plenty and Derwent Rivers (below) which belongs in this series, at present unattributed. It is likely to be one of Nevin's, as so many more stereographs which have a Clifford attribution in public collections are likely to be reprints of Nevin's negatives. The State Library of Tasmania holds dozens of stereographs in a Clifford Album which include Clifford's reprints of Nevin's work around Port Arthur 1872-1873.



"Junction of Plenty and Derwent Rivers"
TMAG Ref: Q1994.56.14
Sepia stereo salt paper print , 1870s

RELATED POSTS main weblog

• Thomas Nevin's stereography
• Red and violet: the impact of Brewster stereoscopy
• Stereographs by Clifford & Nevin at 'Narryna'
• Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery databases
• Six of Nevin’s salt paper stereos at TMAG
• T. Nevin & Samuel Clifford identical views
• Rocking Stone party, Mt Wellington
• At the Salmon Ponds and Plenty
• Ferns, convicts and Charles Darwin
• Hobart Town from Lime Kiln Hill