Prisoner James FOLEY

National Library of Australia copy
Government contractor Thomas J. Nevin photographed prisoner James Foley in one sitting, on the prisoner's discharge in October 1874 from the Hobart Gaol. This cdv is the mounted original taken in 1874 by Nevin, donated to the NLA in the 1960s as part of the Gunson collection of government estrays.

Prisoner James FOLEY
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)

Notes from the NLA Catalogue
Part of collection: Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874.
Gunson Collection file 203/7/54.
James Foley, per Ld. [i.e. Lord] Dalhousie, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
Title from inscription on reverse.
Inscription: title and "78"--In ink on reverse.
Condition: Slight foxing.
Also available online https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-142916210

Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery copy
This black and white copy (below) of Thomas J. Nevin's original mugshot of James Foley taken in October 1874 on discharge from the Hobart Gaol was created at the QVMAG in 1985 from a sepia duplicate made by Nevin from his single original capture on glass. The 1870s duplicate was collected from government estrays in Hobart by convictarian John Watt Beattie in the 1900s and donated to the QVMAG as part of Beattie's estate in the 1930s. The number on the versos of both copies - "78"- was inscribed at the same time as the phrase "Taken at Port Arthur 1874", probably by Beattie in the early 1900s for display at his museum in Hobart of Port Arthur convictaria. As with the majority of these photographs of Tasmanian prisoners (or "convicts" as they are called in tourism discourse) which survive, they were produced on contract by T. J. Nevin in the 1870s at Hobart and not at Port Arthur. The additional number on the recto of the QVMAG copy - "96" - was added in 1983 when this copy - together with several dozen others similarly numbered in sequence on recto - was removed from the QVMAG in Launceston to be displayed at an exhibition held at the Port Arthur Heritage Site, 1983-1984.

Prisoner James Foley (black and white copy created at the QVMAG 1985)
Ref: QVMAG 1985_p_0105. Numbered recto "96"
Photographer Thomas J. Nevin 1874

Verso: Prisoner James Foley (black and white copy created at the QVMAG 1985)
Ref: QVMAG 1985_p_0105. Numbered recto "96"
Photographer Thomas J. Nevin 1874

Archives Office of Tasmania copy
A paper copy also from the b&w cdv held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery was online at the Archives of Tasmania in 2005.

Webshot: Archives Office Tasmania PH30/1/3208
Caption: "James Foley, convict transported per Lord Dalhousie. Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin".

Police Records: James Foley 1874-75

James Foley, native place Cork (Ireland) was tried at the Supreme Court Hobart on 5th September 1865 for larceny and prison offences, sentenced to 9 years. He was 43 yrs old when he was discharged on 21st October 1874, and photographed by T. J. Nevin on discharge. Within months of discharge, he was convicted in Launceston again of larceny, using an alias Sullivan, his trade listed as sweep, his age bumped up to 50 yrs old.

James Foley as Sullivan was convicted at Launceston to 6 months for larceny on 11th September 1875 and received once more at the Hobart Gaol. His photograph by T. J. Nevin taken in 1874 was duplicated from the Gaol Photo Book for inclusion on his rap sheet.

IN HIS OWN WORDS...

"T. J. NEVIN
PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTIST,
Returns his sincere thanks to his friends and the public for past favours, and having made a considerable Reduction in his Prices to suit the times, he solicits a continuance of their patronage, and invites attention to his circulars, showing particulars of the small cost for a first-class faithful Likeness.
140 ELIZABETH-STREET"
Hobart Mercury, 1st February 1873

“I hope that you have not got it in your mind that I am implicated with the ghost“.
Hobart Mercury, 4 December 1880

"Defendant said that he was the father of a large number of children, and did not know which one was referred to. (Laughter.)"
Hobart Mercury, 11 August 1886

"Mr. Thos Nevin was under the impression that the police should be under stricter supervision."
Hobart Mercury, 19 July 1888.

BIOGRAPHY: professional photographer Thomas James Nevin snr (1842-1923) produced large numbers of stereographs and cartes-de-visite within his commercial practice, and prisoner identification photographs on government contract. His career spanned nearly three decades, from the early 1860s to the late 1880s. He was one of the first photographers to work with the police in Australia, along with Charles Nettleton (Victoria) and Frazer Crawford (South Australia). His Tasmanian prisoner mugshots are among the earliest to survive in public collections, viz. the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston; the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart; the Tasmanian Heritage and Archives Office, Hobart; the Port Arthur Historic Site, Tasman Peninsula; the National Library of Australia, Canberra; and the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, Sydney. Thomas J. Nevin's stereographs and portraits are held in public and private collections in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, France and Switzerland.

Click here for KEY DATES 1842-1923

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Important Notices

INDIGENOUS NOTICE:
lutruwita/Tasmania/Van Diemen's Land (loo-tru-wee-ta) always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

This weblog pays respect to the ancestors and elders past, present, and emerging of the first Australian peoples and acknowledges their continued connection to land, sea and culture as the traditional custodians of this country.

Irish-born Thomas J. Nevin would have been keenly aware that the residence and photographic studio he occupied at No's 138-140 Elizabeth St. Hobart in the 1870s was built on the traditional lands, nipaluna/Hobart, of the palawa people. It is no small irony that today, the very same property, which is renumbered as No. 198 Elizabeth St. Hobart and is occupied by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, has returned to its traditional owners.

Looking east from the corner of Patrick St., the Royal Standard Hotel, 142 Elizabeth St. then T. J. Nevin’s studio and residence, 140-138 Elizabeth St. Hobart, 1870s

We also acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation as the traditional custodians of the City of Sydney, and the Ngunnawal people of the Australian Capital Territory on whose lands this site is maintained.

PLEASE NOTE: images on this weblog represent deceased people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Viewing such images may cause sadness and distress.

DISCLAIMER: We have not voluntarily contributed to any publication which supports the misattribution of T. J. Nevin's prisoner/convict photographs (300+ extant) to the non-photographer A. H. Boyd, nor do we condone any attempts by public institutions or private individuals to co-opt the work on these Thomas J. Nevin weblogs and associated sites to apply the misattribution.

Our 19th Anniversary 2005-2024

Click on image for full list tagged "About women"

NINETEEN YEARS ago (before 2005 actually) we started blogging about Tasmanian photographer Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923). We look forward to another year or so as the project draws closer to completion. Contributions and donations are most welcome, and many thanks for your involvement.

SABBATICAL 2023-24: We are taking a short break from regular posting through 2024 but will be available to answer queries.

Anthony Trollope at Port Arthur

Thomas Nevin's VIP commission 1872

VISIT TO PORT ARTHUR.- Mr. Trollope and the Hon. Howard Spensly, Esq., Solicitor-General of Victoria, accompanied the Hon. the Premier, J.M. Wilson, Esq., and the Hon. the Attorney-General, W.R. Giblin, Esq., embarked in the Government schooner late last night, some time after Mr. Trollope had concluded his lecture on "Modern Fiction, as a recreation for young people," and left for Port Arthur. Their visit to the Peninsula will be a very hurried one, and will afford them only scant opportunity of inspecting the penal establishment, it being the intention of Messrs. Trollope and Spensly to leave Hobart Town for the North, en route for Victoria in a few days ...

Source: The Mercury 2 February 1872