Tag Archives: convict portraits NLA

A missing or unidentified mugshot: Alfred Harrington

Posted on December 12, 2010 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 6 photos.

The research we have provided on these weblogs since 2003 about the police work of professional photographer Thomas J. Nevin in Tasmania during the 1870s and the mugshots he produced has stimulated and inspired a global reading public. If you are curious enough to pursue your own detective work regarding the prisoner’s identity in this handful of the few remaining mugshots yet to be documented (see below), take advice from researcher Peter Doyle. In his latest publication of mugshots from the NSW Justice and Police Museum , Crooks Like Us (2009), Doyle states that the police gazettes were the first he consulted and the most reliable source of information (p.312). The equivalent Tasmanian police gazettes are available as searchable CDs (from Gould’s) and are also online at the Archives Office of Tasmania (although not as easily searchable). Continue reading →

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Convict Wm Meaghers, original by Nevin 1874-5

Posted on January 7, 2010 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 13 photos.

William Meaghers was transported to NSW in 1838 on board the Bengal Merchant. Originally from Dublin, he was court martialled in Quebec, Lower Canada on 26 September 1836. In Paramatta, NSW, he was sentenced to 14 years for housebreaking on 10 December 1842 and transported to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) on board the Sir J. Byng, arriving on 23 September 1843. He was married with two children. No date of birth appears on his arrival record, however, police records show he was 56 yrs old in 1871, so he was born ca. 1815, and was ca 59 years old in 1874 when Nevin photographed him. The NLA misattribution to Searle and the date of photographic capture catalogued as 1915 would mean that the prisoner William Meaghers, born in 1815, had to be a 100 year old man; clearly, the prisoner was photographed in his fifties on the occasion of his release, in 1874. Continue reading →

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Poster boys 1870s

Posted on November 12, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 25 photos.

Who were they? They were T.J. Nevin’s sitters for police records, mostly “Supreme Court men” photographed on committal for trial at the Supreme Court adjoining the Hobart Gaol when they were isolated in silence for a month after sentencing. If sentenced for a long term at the Supreme Court Launceston, they were photographed, bathed, shaved and dressed on being received in Hobart. These procedures, past and present, were reported at length by a visitor to the Hobart Gaol and Supreme Court in The Mercury, 8th July 1882: Continue reading →

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Rosetta, Charles

Posted on May 4, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 1 photo.

The NLA has attributed this image to the copyists Searle and Beattie, ca. 1915. Charles Rosetta was photographed by Thomas Nevin at the Hobart Town Hall Police Office on December 6, 1876, on Rosetta’s discharge. Glass negative printed. Continue reading →

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Lee, William

Posted on May 4, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 1 photo.

The NLA has attributed this image to the copyists Searle and Beattie, ca. 1915. William Lee was photographed by Thomas J. Nevin on discharge , 12th September 1874. Lee was admitted to various pauper institutions and released on several occasions over a period of ten years. Continue reading →

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Cavanagh, Henry

Posted on April 8, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 1 photo.

NLA Catalogue full record (as at April 17, 2009) Henry Cavanagh at Port Arthur, Tasmania, 1874 [picture] Title Henry Cavanagh at Port Arthur, Tasmania, 1874 [picture] Date 1874. Extent 1 albumen print : sepia toned; 10.5 x 6.5 cm. Context … Continue reading →

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Maldon, i.e. Malden, Alfred

Posted on April 8, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 1 photo.

The NLA has mispelt this prisoner’s name: he was MALDEN not Maldon, according to police records(below). He was a “native” of New York, convicted to 10 years in 1871 for shooting with intent and photographed by T.J. Nevin on conditional discharge from the Hobart Gaol, April 25th, 1874. Continue reading →

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Jeffries, Henry (aka Thomas)

Posted on January 20, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Henry Jeffries aka Thomas Jeffries, was tried in the Supreme Court Launceston on 1st September 1873, sentenced to 8 yrs, transferred to the Hobart Gaol when he was photographed by T.J. Nevin on being received, and discharged 25 September 1878. He may have been photographed again by T.J. Nevin at the Hobart Municipal Police Office on release. Continue reading →

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Walter Johnstone aka Henry Bramall or Taylor

Posted on January 19, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Henry Taylor was tried at the Supreme Court Hobart on 4th July 1871, along with John Appleby, one of the first photographs of prisoners taken by T.J. Nevin at the Supreme Court Hobart. The photograph of Taylor aka Bramall or Johnston was hand coloured by Nevin’s studio and placed in his shop window to assist the public in recognition and recapture of the prisoner when he absconded on February 6, 1874 from a gang at the Cascade factory. Continue reading →

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Hayes, William

Posted on January 19, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 9 photos.

William Hayes’ prison ID photograph was among the first taken by Thomas J. Nevin at the Hobart House of Corrections when William Hayes was discharged from a 2 year sentence for indecent assault in the week ending 24 April 1872.

The same image in these two cartes was printed at different times from Nevin’s original glass negative. In the top carte, Hayes’ image was straightened, eliminating the lean to the right in the carte below. Haye’s petty minor offences between 1873-1875 after release from the Hobart Gaol were tried in Launceston, where the reprint of his ID photograph was sent in 1874. Continue reading →

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Harrison, William

Posted on January 19, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Warrant for William Harrison’s arrest 8 January 1875, discharged and photographed by Nevin at the Supreme Court, 29 December 1875 Continue reading →

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Baker, William

Posted on January 19, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 1 photo.

William Baker arrested, photographed by Nevin on 4th April 1874 Continue reading →

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Killern or Killeen, Peter

Posted on January 19, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 3 photos.

Ticket-of-leave 29th January 1875, photographed on discharge by Nevin at the Municipal Police Office, Town Hall, Hobart. Continue reading →

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Gregson, John

Posted on January 19, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 1 photo.

The Gregsons were discharged 27th January, 1875, and were photographed again by Nevin in the preceeding week. They were not photographed at Port Arthur before January 9th, 1874. They escaped from the Domain in Hobart on that date and were photographed on arrest one month later by Nevin when they were received at the Hobart Gaol. These two brothers re-offended on a regular basis every few months right up to 1879, and were photographed once again in 1878 at the Supreme Court, Hobart by Nevin. Continue reading →

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Funt, John

Posted on January 19, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 2 photos.

John Funt was photographed by Nevin on discharge on 3 February 1875. Continue reading →

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Edington, John

Posted on January 19, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Edington, John. Photographed by Constable John Nevin at the Hobart Gaol 23 July 1879. Continue reading →

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Doran, John

Posted on January 19, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 1 photo.

John Doran was photographed by Nevin again at the Hobart Gaol on 4 August 1874, discharged 12 August 1874. Continue reading →

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Jones, James alias Brocklehurst, known as Spider

Posted on January 19, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 1 photo.

James Jones known as Spider, absconded, 26 June 1872. And arrested 15 July 1872. Photographed by Nevin on discharge. Continue reading →

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Foley, James

Posted on January 19, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Foley discharged 21st October 1874, photographed by Nevin. Continue reading →

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Ormiston, George

Posted on January 19, 2009 by TP Publishers

This gallery contains 5 photos.

Two different carte-de-visite photographs of a convict identified as George Ormiston are held at the National Library of Australia. Both photographs were taken by T.J. Nevin at different times for different offences for different occasions. The one featuring Ormiston with a moustache was taken first, in 1876, the second minus the moustache and with a haricut was taken later, in 1884. George Ormiston was photographed by Nevin – as were all other prisoners on discharge – when he was issued with a Freedom Certificate (FC) at the Hobart Municipal Police Office in 1876. However, Ormiston was a repeat offender – the reason why all these police photographs were taken – and he was photographed again in 1884 while incarcerated on arraignment and transferred from the Launceston Supreme Court to the Hobart Gaol, as were all offenders with sentences of 3 months and longer. Continue reading →