Saturday, December 20, 2008

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.

Axup and Nevin daughters

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 Sonny Nevin

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.


Sunday, December 07, 2008

Convict photographs (cartes-de-visite) by Thomas J. Nevin 1870s at the new NPG Canberra

EXHIBITION, Tasmanian mugshots 1870s, NPG 2008
MISATTRIBUTION and the National Library of Australia

The new National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, opened to the public on December 4, 2008.



Convict cartes by Nevin at NPG

Case captures courtesy of NPG staff.
Exclusive copyright remains with © KLW NFC 2008

Currently displayed in the A and S Liangis Gallery are six identification carte-de-visite photographs of Tasmanian "convicts" - the term is used in 20th century tourism discourse even though the police gazettes by the 1870s in Tasmania only ever used the term "prisoners".  The six cdv's were borrowed from the National Library of Australia with the correct attribution to the commercial and police photographer Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923) , and incorrect attribution to A. H. Boyd who was not a photographer, was not known as a photographer in his lifetime, and has no extant works surviving in any public or private collection.

The A. H. Boyd misattribution derives from an error made by one photo-historian in the 1980s (Chris Long, 1995) which arose from (legally inadmissable) hearsay about cameras at Port Arthur as told in a children's fictional story by Boyd's niece E.M. Hall (typescript 1942, State Library of Tasmania). This piece of children's fiction mentions neither Boyd by name nor the photographing of prisoners, and it certainly makes no mention of a darkroom at the Port Arthur prison. A. H. Boyd was little more than a corrupt accountant promoted to commandant (1871-1873) of the Port Arthur prison through nepotism: his brother-in-law was the Attorney General W. R. Giblin.

The misattribution betrays the aesthetic assumptions and art history backgrounds of its apologists: the photographs are catalogued at the NLA as "portraits" when they are in fact vernacular documents, viz. police mugshots. The art historian aesthetic has a normative expectation that these police photographs can be treated as art photography and should therefore bear the photographers' studio stamp in line with the common commercially sold cartes-de-visite  of the period. The absence of a studio stamp, according to this line of thinking, abjects Nevin, a commercial photographer. However, police photographs are rarely if ever accredited except when a commercial photographer was involved, as was the case with T. J. Nevin. Only one trade sample in every batch of 100 prisoner photographs was stamped while Nevin worked under tender (1871-1876) as a commercial photographer contracted to special duties at the Hobart Gaol, and once he joined the civil service (1876-1886) working for the Hobart City Corporation at the Town Hall where the central registry of prisoner photographs and records was compiled by the Municipal Police Office, no studio stamp was necessary. The photographer's studio stamp was used for registration of joint copyright with the Municipal Police Office and Customs during the years 1871-1876. It was printed by James Barnard, the government printer, to include Nevin's details encircling the government Royal Arms insignia.

The National Library of Australia originally archived and catalogued their collection of 78 prisoner mugshots [84 are now held] of Tasmanian "convicts" from the 1980s to May 2007 with sole attribution to Thomas J. Nevin based on factual evidence from the Archives Office of Tasmania, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery exhibition of 1977, and private collections. No factual evidence of any kind exists in the official documents of the period that associates A. H. Boyd with the skills or mandate to personally photograph prisoners. No evidence has been mustered or published to support the NLA's catalogue inclusion since May 2007 for a photographer attribution to the accountant A.H. Boyd. No creditable commentator would wish to be associated with such a naive idea.

Thomas Nevin and his brother Constable John Nevin are the only photographers known to have worked on contract and in civil service in prisons from the early 1870s to the mid-1880s. The majority of the 300 or so mugshots now held in public collections are estrays of a much larger corpus, now lost or destroyed. They were taken at the Supreme Court and adjoining Hobart Gaol, either when the prisoner, a second or habitual offender, was sent to trial and sentenced, and BEFORE the prisoner was returned to the Port Arthur prison to serve the sentence, if that was his fate. However, from 1872, those few prisoners remaining at Port Arthur were returned to the Hobart Gaol in a steady stream, and by 1874 most of the criminal class of offender had been transferred to Hobart where Nevin photographed him if he had been sent to trial in the 1860s. The prisoner was also photographed on being received from regional lock-ups including trials at the Supreme Court Launceston  if sentenced for a period of more than three months, and photographed once more before he was discharged on a ticket-of-leave, or even before his execution.

The individuals most anxious to see the name of A.H. Boyd perpetuated in venues such as the new National Portrait Gallery are photo-historians like Helen Ennis, Warwick Reeder, and Isobel Crombie, who assumed Chris Long's "hypothesis" had some basis in fact and have committed it to print. And then there are the bandwagonners and brawlers, the heritage "interpreters" in the business of promoting penal tourism such as the cravenly dishonest Julia Clark at the Port Arthur Historic Site.

THE SIX PRISONER MUGSHOTS



Case captures courtesy of NPG staff.
Exclusive copyright remains with © KLW NFC 2008 ARR.

The six cartes-de-visite mugshots are displayed in this order. They were sourced here from the National Library of Australia with the inclusion of the incorrect NLA catalogue information below each photograph.

NOTE BENE: none of these photographs was taken in 1874 at Port Arthur by A.H. Boyd. All of these photographs were taken by government contractor, commercial photographer Thomas J. Nevin at the Supreme Court, Hobart Gaol and Municipal Police Office, Hobart Town Hall between 1872 and 1884. Hayes and Appleby were photographed in the early 1870s by Thomas Nevin; the photograph of Ormiston with a moustache was taken in 1876; Sutherland, Morrison and the later Ormiston minus moustache were photographed in the mid 1880s by Thomas Nevin with the assistance of his brother Constable John Nevin at the Hobart Gaol, Campbell St. .

Top left:

convict William Hayes

"nla.pic-vn4416519 PIC P1029/75A LOC Album 935
William Hayes, per Asia, 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]"


Top right:

convict Appleby

"nla.pic-vn4270331 PIC P1029/51 LOC Album 935
John Appleby, per Candahar, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture] 1874. 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm., on mount 10.4 x 6.4 cm. Part of Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]"


Centre left:

convict Sutherland

"nla.pic-vn4270311 PIC P1029/43 LOC Album 935
Sutherland, 29.5.83 [picture] 1883. 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm., on mount 10.4 x 6.4 cm. Part of Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture"


Centre right:

convict Morrison

"nla.pic-an24612677 PIC P1029/60 LOC Album 935
John Morrison, native, 12 months, age 19 [picture] [ca. 1884] 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.7 x 5.6 cm. Part of Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]"


Lower left:

convict Ormiston

"nla.pic-an24612704 PIC P1029/65 LOC Album 935
George Ormiston, [per] F.C. Monqund, 3 years, 5.2.84, horse stealing and uttering [picture] 1884. 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 10.0 x 5.7 cm. Part of Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]"


Lower right:

convict Ormiston

"nla.pic-vn4270377 PIC P1029/66 LOC Album 935
George Ormiston, [per] F.C. Monqund, 3 years, 5.2.84, horse stealing and uttering [picture] 1884. 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm., on mount 10.4 x 6.4 cm. Part of Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture] 1874."


The card caption accompanying these cartes displayed at the new National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, reads as follows:
Convict Portraits, Port Arthur 1874 attributed to Thomas Nevin (1842-1923) and Aldolarius [sic] Boyd (1829-1891) albumen silver carte de visite photographs on loan from Pictures Collections National Library of Australia
William Hayes, John Appleby, Sutherland, John Morrison and George Ormiston were all prisoners during the later years of its operation when it was decided to document its inmates photographically. The photographs are the only known official convict portraits and are among the earliest examples of photography's use in prison record-keeping.
Five convicts are named on the caption card: the sixth, lower right, is also supposed to be the same man as the fifth one lower left - George Ormiston. The National Library gives totally incorrect identical personal information for both images.

The writer of this caption at the NPG recites the idea common to the late 20th century belief that these photographs were produced to cater to public and scientific interests in eugenics, anthropometry and other late 19th century uses of images of freaks, criminals and the indigenous. Apart from this misconception, the card contains several factual inaccuracies:

1. None of these prisoners was ever sent BACK to Port Arthur, and none was there in 1874. The dates on the versos of some of these cartes are 1883 and 1884, yet Port Arthur was well and truly closed by 1877. Some are photographs of young "native" or locally-born who had not offended prior to incarceration. The assumption that these photographs were taken at Port Arthur in 1874 derives from an archivist's inscription - "Taken at Port Arthur, 1874" - on the verso of dozens of these cartes due largely to John Watt Beattie's commercial imperative to sell them as tourist tokens once he salvaged them from the Sheriff's Office at the Hobart Gaol ca. 1915. Some are also his reprints dating from 1910s of T. J. Nevin's glass negatives. All of these prisoner photographs were taken at the Supreme Court and Hobart Gaol by the Nevin brothers from 1872 to the late1880s.

2. Newspaper accounts and parliamentary proceedings of the day clearly state why the prisoners were photographed, when, where and by whom. The practice of making several duplicates of a prisoner's photograph was established in accordance with penal and police reforms adopted in NSW and Victoria by 1873 to ensure that the regional police authorities also had a record while the prisoner was on release with a ticket-of-leave work permit.

3. The 83 cartes held at the NLA are not the only extant mugshots of their type taken by Thomas Nevin.  More than 300 originals and copies survive in public and private collections, e.g. the Archives Office of Tasmania, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, the State Library of Tasmania, the Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site, and the Mitchell Library, NSW, and several bear Nevin's Royal Arms colonial warrant studio stamp. Included amongst these examples held at the NLA are government archival estrays from the Gunson Collection, donated in the 1960s.The majority held in all public collections, with the exception of the eleven prisoner cartes at the Mitchell Library NSW, were extensively copied from the QVMAG collection in 1958, 1977, 1982, 1983- 1985 and 1987, and circulated to other State and national collections

4. Frazer Crawford in South Australia, and Charles Nettleton in Victoria, took photographs of prisoners earlier than 1870. Tasmania followed in the early 1870s.

convict Appleby per Candahar 1842

For original documentation of this convict's offenses, see the digitised record of the Candahar 1842 lists of transportees at the Archives Office of Tasmania: Appleby's record is shown below. For police records of his criminal career dating from 1871, see the record below and the police gazettes.

AOT record for Candahar 1842

John Appleby per Candahar
Archives Office of Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1369258



Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police 1871-1875,
James Barnard Gov't Printer


John Appleby was tried in the Supreme Court Hobart on 4th July, 1871 for receiving stolen plate, and sentenced to six years' imprisonment at the Hobart Gaol. In 1841 he was a 15 year old sentenced for burglary, arriving in Hobart in 1842. In 1871 he would have been 45 years old on sentencing at the Supreme Court and the Hobart Gaol, and 49 years old when he was photographed on discharge, March 4, 1875 for future police reference. This photograph is held at the NLA, numbered "84" on verso by a copyist in the early 1900s.

RELATED POSTS main weblog
For more information on the Boyd misattribution:
For more information on the government contract photographers Crawford and Nettleton

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Babette Smith on Australia's Birthstain





pp304-5 Click on images for readable version

These two prisoners were not incarcerated at Port Arthur in 1874 when they were photographed. They were both discharged from the Hobart Gaol on the same day, January 7th, 1874 and were photographed by Thomas J. Nevin during the preceding fortnight up to that date.

Fleming and Baker discharge 7Jan 1874

Discharge of Fleming and Baker, January 7th, 1874

Fleming was arrested several times over the next twelve months for theft, larceny, escape and absconding:



Fleming convicted July 1874




Fleming absconded on August 4th, 1874, etc etc etc

Source:
Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police 1871-1875

The source of these two identification cartes included in Babette Smith's book on the legacy of the convict era is the Archives Office of Tasmania.

from page 41

page 42

However, Babette Smith's caption for these two photographs - "... at Port Arthur, ca. 1874" is misleading. She omits the Tasmanian State Archives' online catalogue wording "Taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin 1874".

The sources of the Archives Office information, photograph originals and copies were -

1. the materials donated from the Port Arthur kiosk (see extract above for details),
2. the collections of photographs taken by Nevin donated by the Allport Law firm as the Pretyman Collection,
3. the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, where many more prisoner cartes were located amongst the Beattie Collection's convict memorabilia, and exhibited there in 1977.

Most of the AOT's convict carte collection by Thomas Nevin is now also catalogued at the State Library of Tasmania, indicating provenance from the Pretyman Collection dating from the 1900-1930s. See also Miscellaneous Collection of Photographs - 1900 - 1920 (PH30)

An original carte by Nevin ca 1874 of the Attorney-General W.R. Giblin who commissioned Nevin as prisons photographer was also originally an item in the Pretyman Collection at the AOT.





W.R. Giblin - AOT Ref: NS1013-1971c
Taken by Thomas Nevin ca 1872-1874

See also the Archives Office of Tasmania digitised records of the original registers of convict names for each ship.

Convict records AOTConvict records AOT

AOT REF: CON14-1-14_00001_L

RELATED POSTS

Friday, November 07, 2008

The Medical Officer's report of the Fairlie passengers 1852



The Voyage Out
The barque Fairlie, 775 tons, two guns, was a convict transport built in Calcutta. The ship departed Plymouth on March 11, 1852 with 45 crew and arrived at Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on July 3, 1852. On board were 292 male convicts and 30 pensioner guards with families. There were 24 women and 47 children also on board. In charge of the convict guard was Ensign Meagher for the 99th Regiment. Surgeon Edwarth Nolloth RN voyaged in the Cabin as did the religious instructor John B. Seaman and his wife.

The ship's cargo included 1 bag of despatches, 2 ropes, 8 leather bags, 1 ship bag and 1 small paper parcel. When the Fairlie sailed into the River Derwent at Hobart, the pilot Mr Hurburgh boarded at 4pm, and reported the weather was fine, winds light, and the ship's draught was 18 feet.

The Port Officer's Form carried the REMARKS:
2 Deaths Convicts - 1 Birth - Female
And this note:
"The Pest Bomangee" was to leave [?] in about 3 weeks after this vessel sailed
"The Sylph". Sailed from Plymouth three days before.



Port Officer's log, Fairlie 3 July 1852
Source: State Library of Tasmania
Series Number MB2/39
Title: REPORTS OF SHIPS' ARRIVALS WITH LISTS OF PASSENGERS

Nevin family members on the Sick Lists
Thomas James Nevin's father, John Nevin snr, born in 1808 at Grey Abbey, County Down, Ireland, with service in the West Indies (1825-1838) and Canada (1839-1842), was one of 30 pensioner guards travelling with the 99th Regiment on board the Fairlie when it left Plymouth. Thomas' mother Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson was one of 24 women on board, and Thomas himself, together with his three younger siblings, Mary Ann, Rebecca Jane and William John were numbered among the 47 children. Among the convicts were 32 boys from the Parkhurst prison who had embarked at the Isle of Wight.



Reference: ADM 101/27/2
Medical journal of convict ship Fairlie .
Admiralty and predecessors: Office of the Director General of the Medical Department of the Navy and predecessors: Medical Journals Convict Ships etc. Date: 1852. Source: The Catalogue of The National Archives [UK]

Folio 2: John Nevin, aged 43, Private of pensioners; sick or hurt, diarrhoea; put on sick list 28 February 1852, discharged 2 March 1852 to duty. Folio 2: Mary Nevin, aged 40, Wife of pensioners;

Folio 2: Mary Nevin, aged 40, Wife of pensioners; sick or hurt, diarrhoea; put on sick list 14 March 1852, discharged 25 March 1852 to duty.

Folio 4: Mary Nevin, aged 5, Child of Guard; sick or hurt, diarrhoea; put on sick list 23 April 1852, discharged 30 April 1852 to duty. Folio 4: Mary Nevin, aged 40, Wife of Guard; sick or hurt, diarrhoea; put on sick list 24 April 1852, discharged 14 May 1852 to duty.

Folio 5: William Nevin, aged 6 months, Child of Guard; sick or hurt, convulsio; put on sick list 2 June 1852, discharged 9 June 1852 to duty.

The Principal Medical Officer, Dr Edward Nollett (also spelt as Nolleth) reported no serious medical incidents had occurred during the voyage. Yet one child was still-born, vaccinations were attempted (unspecified types), and two prisoners were found to be nearly blind on disembarkation.

Four Nevin family members were placed on the sick list during the voyage: John Nevin (father), Mary Anne, aged five, her mother Mary Ann (wife) , and her six month old baby William.

See this entry for the original documentation of the sick lists (National Archives, London) and this entry for more on the shipping records of the Fairlie with John Nevin snr.

House of Commons reports on the "Fairlie"
Source: House of Commons papers, Volume 54 (Google books)

The major concern in these reports were two convicts who were reported to be blind on arrival at Hobart. Because neither convict was named, those investigating had no success in locating them once they left the ship in Hobart, according to one report, thereby absolving Surgeon Superintendent Nolloth from knowingly embarking blind prisoners before departure at Plymouth. 



Numbers embarking and arriving on the Fairlie 1852
Source: Report to the House of Commons: Vol 54
Link: Google Books Parliamentary Papers Great Britain



Religious instructor John B. Seaman
Source: Report to the House of Commons: Vol 54
Link: Google Books Parliamentary Papers Great Britain



TRANSCRIPT
August 11.
THREE years since I visited this establishment, and was much pleased with it, and extensive additions and improvements have rendered it more worthy of admiration.
(Signed) EDWARD NOLLOTH [sic] MD Surgeon Superintendent "Fairlie" Edward Nolloth MD Surgeon Superintendent
Source: Report to the House of Commons: Vol 54
Link: Google Books Parliamentary Papers Great Britain



TRANSCRIPT
SIR
I HAVE the honour to report my inspection of the "Fairlie" male prison ship, surgeon superintendent, Dr Edward Nollett.
The ship left Plymouth on the 11th March with 294 prisoners, under a guard of 30 out- pensioners, with 24 women and 47 children. They were generally healthy, the more prevalent complaints being diarrhoea and pulmonic affections. Two prisoners died, one from disease of the heart the second from pleurisy There were also two births, one still born.
I observed two prisoners who (I am informed) were embarked nearly blind They are fit cases for an invalid depot, and I have directed their removal to the General Hospital, together with four other men who are in delicate health and unfit at present for labour.
Vaccination was attempted but without success.
The berths, decks, and utensils were clean, and in good order.
I have etc The Comptroller General
(Signed) A. SHANKS Deputy Inspector General P. M. O.
Report of August 11, 1853:
Source: Parliamentary Papers By Great Britain Parliament. House of Common papers Vol 54





Source: Parliamentary Papers, Volume 54

RELATED POSTS main weblog

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Site Map No.1: Thomas J. Nevin: family biographica



Thomas James Nevin (1842-1923)
Professional photographer Thomas James Nevin was known by a number of variations of his name, and several of these are now used in books, articles, theses, and public holdings catalogues. His published names, including advertising, newspaper reports, signature on official documents and business name on studio stamps have appeared as the following:
  • Thomas Nevin
  • Thomas James Nevin
  • Thomas J. Nevin
  • Thomas Nevin senior
  • Thos Nevin
  • T. Nevin
  • T. Nevin late A. Bock
  • T. J. Nevin
  • Nevin & Smith
  • Clifford & Nevin.
Mispellings include Neven, Navin, Navan and McNevis.
Photographer Thomas James Nevin is not to be confused with his son by the same name, Thomas James Nevin (1874-1948) who was not a professional photographer.

Thomas Nevin's portraits of self, wife, brother and sister 1860s-1880

Family portraits taken by Thomas J. Nevin of himself and three of his wife Elizabeth Rachel Day (top row);
his brother William John aka Jack Nevin, himself, his sister Mary Ann Nevin, and himself again (bottom row).
Copyright ⓒ KLW NFC Imprint & Private Collection 2007


Please note that not all posts in each of these categories are listed below, and some links may be broken.

Family portraits of Thomas Nevin's parents, siblings, wife, in-laws and children

At Kangaroo Valley, Hobart, Tasmania 1854-1887

Captain Edward Goldsmith, uncle of Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day

Descendants and in-laws

Axup, Day and Genge families

Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin’s children: Davis, Bates and Drew families

Thomas & Elizabeth Nevin’s grandchildren
Grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren: only a few posts are included here out of respect for the living or recently deceased descendants and their families of Thomas and Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day.


Summary: The Generations
Below is a brief summary of three generational levels of the immediate families of photographer Thomas J. Nevin and his wife Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day. Only a few articles are available of living or recently deceased descendants.

GENERATION ONE:
  • Nevin, John and wife Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson
  • Nevin, John and second wife Martha Salter nee Genge
  • Day, Captain James and wife Rachael Day nee Pocock
  • Goldsmith, Captain Edward and wife Elizabeth Goldsmith nee Day

Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson (1810-1875) and John Nevin snr (1808-1887) had four children, all born near Belfast, Ireland between 1842 and 1852, prior to arrival as free settlers at Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) on the convict transport Fairlie in July 1852. Mary Ann Dickson was born at the Borders, UK and moved with her brother, rose grower Alexander Dickson to Newtonards, Ireland where she met and married John Nevin in 1841. John Nevin snr was a former soldier of the Royal Scots First Regiment, a journalist, poet, teacher, Wesleyan and gardener. They were settled at Kangaroo Valley (known as Lenah Valley since 1922) near Hobart, Tasmania by 1854. John Nevin married a second time in 1879 to widow Martha Salter nee Genge after the death of his first wife Mary Ann Nevin in 1875.



Thomas J. Nevin's portraits of his parents ca. 1872
Copyright ⓒ KLW NFC Imprint & Private Collection 2007

Parents of Thomas J. Nevin
Mother: Mary Anne Nevin nee Dickson (1810-1875)
Father: John Nevin snr ca (1808-1887)

GENERATION ONE extended: John Nevin's second marriage: Genge and Chandler families
Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson (1810-1875), first wife of John Nevin snr (1808-1887) died in 1875. He married his second wife, widow Martha Genge (1833-1925) (formerly Salter), in 1879. There were no children born to Martha Genge and John Nevin, although they acted as step-grandparents to Minnie Carr (1878-1898) daughter of John Nevin's daughter Mary Ann Carr nee Nevin (1844-1878) who died in Victoria within weeks of giving birth.

Mary Chandler nee Genge (1835-1923), sister of Martha Nevin nee Genge was the second wife of shoe maker William Chandler. Of the three children born in this marriage, the youngest, James Chandler (1877-1945), who would become a professional photographer, was Thomas J. Nevin's successor to the vocation of photography within the extended family network.

GENERATION TWO
  • Nevin, Thomas James and wife Elizabeth Rachel Day
  • Axup, Hector and wife Mary Sophia Day, sister of Elizabeth Rachel Day
  • Goldsmith, Edward jnr, son of Captain Edward and Elizabeth Goldsmith nee Day (sister of Captain James Day)

NEVIN-DICKSON children
Children of Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson and John Nevin snr:

1. Thomas James (Thos) Nevin (1842-1923) m. Elizabeth Rachel Day (1847-1914)
2. Mary Ann Nevin (1844-1878) married John Carr in 1877
3. Rebecca Jane Nevin (1847-1865)
4. William John (Jack) Nevin (1852-1891)

Thomas J. NevinConstable John Nevin

Left: Thomas J. Nevin with stereoscopic viewer and white gloves mid-1860s.
Right: Portrait by Thomas Nevin of his brother Jack (Constable William John) Nevin ca 1880
Copyright ⓒ KLW NFC Imprint & Private Collection 2007

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

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



Elizabeth Rachel Day, married Thomas J. Nevin in 1871
Taken by Thomas Nevin at Nevin & Smith (late Bock's) ca. 1868 at 140, Elizabeth Street Hobart Town.
Full-length portrait, carte-de-visite. Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint. Watermarked.

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

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



Grave of Captain Edward Goldsmith and family
Large ledger with rocks and horizontal cross
St Mary the Virgin Church, Chalk Kent UK
Photo copyright © Carole Turner March 2016

GENERATION THREE:
  • Nevin, Thomas J. and wife Elizabeth Rachel Day
  • Axup, Captain Hector and wife Mary Sophia Day

AXUP-DAY children
Mary Sophia Axup nee Day (1853-1942) and Hector Charles James Horatio Axup (1843-1927) had five children between 1878 and 1891.



Studio portrait of Ella Axup (Patience Ella Mary Axup, 1889 -1913)
Taken at the VANDYCK Studios, Launceston, Tasmania ca. 1911.
Postcard format. Verso inscribed: "Cousin Ella Axup"
Copyright © KLW NFC Group Private Collections 2020

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

1. Rachel Frances Eva Axup (1878-1978) m. P. Baldwin
2. Sidney James Vernon Axup (1882-1975) m. Emily Tyson
3. Edward Harold Leslie Axup (1885-1964) m. ?
4. Patience Ella Mary Axup (1889-1913)
5. Olive Lilian Ethel Axup (1891- ? ) m. Charles Wilshire (10 March 1920)

This notice of Olive Lilian Ethel's marriage appeared in the Examiner, Launceston, Tasmania, on  Wednesday 10 March 1920, page 6:
WEDDING BELLS, WILSHIRE--AXUP A quiet (Lenten) Anzac wedding was celebrated in St. John' Church yesterday morning. Those united in holy matrimony were Sergeant Charles Wilshire (late A.I. F.), of Wiltshire, England, son of the late Mrs. Wilshire, former private secretary to Mr. W. Long (Colonial Secretary), also great-grand son of the Duke of Wellington's aide-decamp at Waterloo; and Ethel, youngest. daughter of Captain H. C. Axup, of Launceston. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. F. C. Crotty. Miss Fiora Good was the only bridesmaid, and the bride was given away by her father. The happy couple travelled to Melbourne by the Loongana in the afternoon for their honeymoon. They will subsequently return to King Island, where the bridegroom intends to pursue agricultural interests.

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

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



George Ernest Nevin ca. 1901 in best suit Full length portrait with wicker whatnot.
Family photograph taken at home by his father Thomas Nevin snr
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2020 ARR.

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



Above: an old webshot taken from the Archives Office of Tasmania website in 2005 of births to photographer Thomas J. Nevin and his wife Elizabeth Rachel Day.

GENERATION FOUR
Grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren: only a few posts are included here out of respect for the living or recently deceased descendants and their families of Thomas and Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day.

Thomas & Elizabeth Nevin’s grandchildren

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Saturday, October 04, 2008

Site Map No.2: Work as a commercial and police photographer



Thomas James Nevin (1842-1923)
Professional photographer Thomas James Nevin was known by a number of variations of his name, and several of these are now used in books, articles, theses, and public holdings catalogues. His published names, including advertising, newspaper reports, signature on official documents and business name on studio stamps have appeared as the following: 
  • Thomas Nevin
  • Thomas James Nevin
  • Thomas J. Nevin
  • Thomas Nevin senior
  • Thos Nevin
  • T. Nevin
  • T. Nevin late A. Bock
  • T. J. Nevin
  • Nevin & Smith
  • Clifford & Nevin.
Mispellings include Neven, Navin, Navan and McNevis.
Photographer Thomas James Nevin is not to be confused with his son by the same name, Thomas James Nevin (1874-1948) who was not a professional photographer.




Biographers Professor Joan Kerr and G. T. Stilwell (1992)



Curator John McPhee (ABC TV 2009) of T. J. Nevin exhibition QVMAG 1977

Main weblog

See also this separate site: Prisoner Pictures by T. J. Nevin



Please note that not all posts in each of these categories are listed below, and some links may be broken.

Career: studios, contracts, biographica


Stereography


Prison photographer, Port Arthur and Hobart Gaol


Exhibitions and Publications


Private Collections


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On board the "City of Hobart" 31st January 1872