“Hair inclined to be curley”: prisoner Henry SMITH aka Clabby aka Cooper

Prisoner Henry CLABBY alias Cooper, 22 yrs old, and locally born (“native”) in Tasmania was photographed by Thomas J. Nevin at the Hobart Gaol for the Municipal Police Office Hobart, between 4th-24th January 1874. This photograph of Henry Clabby was originally held at the QVMAG, numbered “142” on recto and transcribed verso in 1915 for display at convictarian John Watt Beattie’s Port Arthur Museum, located in Hobart. It is now held at the TMAG Ref: Q15600. More than sixty photographs taken by government contractor Thomas J. Nevin in the 1870s of Tasmanian prisoners – or “convicts” as they are labelled in tourism discourse – are held at The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. See 56 copies from the TMAG Collection, acquired by this weblog in 2015. Unlike the majority of those prisoner mugshots mounted as cdvs from the QVMAG and TMAG collections which show verso evidence of having been pasted to paper or cardboard and then removed, this cdv of Henry Clabby is clean apart from the curator’s number recto “142”, suggesting it was reprinted in recent times, or even composed entirely as a new artefact for exhibition in the late 20th century. … More “Hair inclined to be curley”: prisoner Henry SMITH aka Clabby aka Cooper

Good reading for The Kid 1921 : Tasmanian police gazettes

In 1884, the Colonial Government of Tasmania changed the name of its weekly police gazette to Tasmania Police Gazette for Police Information Only. The cover of each issue prior to 1884 was headed Tasmania Reports of Crime For Police Information (and the alternative – Information for Police) which was published by the government printer James Barnard dating back to its first appearance in 1861 … More Good reading for The Kid 1921 : Tasmanian police gazettes

Prisoner Elijah ELTON aka John Jones and ‘Flash Jack’

The prisoner whose identity was established by police as Elijah ELTON had many aliases. He was transported in 1842 as Elisha NELMES per Emily 1. He was sought on warrant with the aliases Thomas TURNER and John JONES. He was incarcerated and discharged as Elijah ELTON from 1865-1879. The birth of his daughter Mary Elisha to Sarah Ann Brown formerly Clark was registered with his full name as father in 1862 (see Addendum below). But when he died of cancer of the tongue on 31st May 1883 (at 64 yrs old) his death was registered at the New Town Pauper Establishment with the name Elisha NELMES, the alias by which he was originally known when transported to VDL back in 1842 (Archives Office Tasmania RGD35-1-10P111) .His nickname was Flash Jack. He was not known to police over the two decades of his criminal career by the name of BROCKLEHURST – see this photograph and police records for James Jones aka Spider. This alias and this moniker were used by an entirely different prisoner called James JONES. … More Prisoner Elijah ELTON aka John Jones and ‘Flash Jack’

Prisoner James JONES alias Brocklehurst, known as Spider

Three duplicates or copies are extant in public collections from T. J. Nevin’s original negative taken of prisoner James Jones alias James Brocklehurst at the Hobart Gaol in late February 1875 on Jones’ discharge. This prisoner James Jones aka James Brocklehurst, known by the moniker “Spider” is not to be confused with the prisoner Elijah Elton, transported as Elisha Nelmes, who used the alias “John Jones” and was known by the moniker “Flash Jack”, an error which has appeared on the National Library of Australia catalogue entry … More Prisoner James JONES alias Brocklehurst, known as Spider

Convict Carte No. 1: George WHITE aka NUTT

The database image with verso at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery: note that the verso is inscribed with the conventional date of Nevin’s photographic registration (1874), the alias, and the ship on which Nutt was originally transported before 1853, but the transcription which appears on many other versos of convicts’ cartes – “Taken at Port Arthur” – is absent. Nevin may have photographed Nutt at Port Arthur between 23rd February and 8th May 1874; the former date being another sentence for Nutt for breaking the cell while trying to escape, the latter being one of the dates on which Nevin attended Port Arthur on police business. He was absent from Hobart when his father-in-law Captain James Day registered the birth of Thomas James Nevin jnr in May 1874. … More Convict Carte No. 1: George WHITE aka NUTT