Showing posts with label Hobart Gaol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hobart Gaol. Show all posts

Beware AI generated images of your criminal ancestors!

Eugenicist Hamish Maxwell-Stewart's AI fake photographs of 19th century Tasmanian convicts
Breaches of Moral Rights and Copyright of heritage property using AI generated data
Thomas J. Nevin's real photographs/mugshots of Tasmanian prisoners taken in the 1870s-1880s.



Source of talk at the National Family History Month - Opening Ceremony
- https://familyhistorymonth.org.au/index.php/videos/video/2023-opening-ceremony
Topic: Artificial Intelligence

PRETTY CARTOONS
Why would you accept an AI generated image of your deceased family member which was made from data taken from various unrelated photographic and non-photographic sources when you may already possess a real photograph of that person or their immediate descendant? Then don't. Protest about this to the National Trust of Tasmania, to the Australian Research Council and the Australian Copyright Council.

No extent of warnings that the images created are FAKE will ever account for Hamish Maxwell-Stewart's waste of public research money in this, his latest attempt at messing up the digital environment with FAKE images of your deceased family members which he has assigned to YOUR REAL FAMILY NAMES. These images are FICTIONS playing with eugenics and phrenology all over again, this time with a new toy called ChatGPT. The resultant image of YOUR CONVICT is a pretty cartoon akin to the coloured drawings created by Simon Barnard's representation of convicts in his illustrated book Convict tattoos : marked men and women of Australia, (Melbourne, Vic. The Text Publishing Company, 2016.) Website: https://www.simonbarnard.com.au/product/convict-tattoos/

In a new exhibition assisted by Andrew Redfern called UNSHACKLED (2023) proposed for the National Trust at the old Penitentiary, Hobart Gaol, Campbell Street, Maxwell-Stewart wants you to believe this nonsensical indulgence is worthwhile. No it isn't. It's a waste of time and money, with no authentic historical merit and no apology for any distress he is causing to bearers of those family names. He has created FAKE images of 19th Tasmanian prisoners to show YOU what your ancestor MIGHT have looked like, subsuming in the process those real photographs already extant in Australian public collections, correctly attributed to government contractor Thomas J. Nevin taken in the 1870s, and now building on a previous mess of FAKE and homogenised "Port Arthur offenders" images of 1870s prisoners he developed for an earlier exhibition held there at the Old Penitentiary in 2019.

The field called criminal anthropology (to which this project affects an affiliation) long ago discredited Lombroso's stereotype, the "criminal type", with Goring's study published in 1913 of  statistics gathered from 3000 prisoners in British prisons over a ten year-period:


Dr. Charles Goring, Deputy Medical Officer of H. M. Prison, London, in the Most Important Contribution of Recent Years to Criminology Upsets Accepted Theories Through Statistics Gathered from 3,000 Convicts.



"THERE IS NO CRIMINAL TYPE," SAYS PRISON EXPERT
THE NEW YORK TIMES
November 2, 1913, Sunday Section: Magazine Section, Page SM13, 4250 words
THE 'criminal type' is an anthropological monster. There is no such thing as a criminal type.' In other words, the criminal is a normal person, not markedly different from the rest of humanity who have managed to keep out of prison. In other words, there are in ministers and Cambridge undergraduates and college professors the making of pickpockets and thieves, as well as murderers and forgers...
Read about the REAL photographs of Tasmanian prisoners ("convicts" in tourism discourse) taken by government contractor Thomas J. NEVIN in the 1870s-1880:

- https://tasmanianphotographer.blogspot.com/2008/07/the-parkhurst-prisoners-anthropometry.html
- https://tasmanianphotographer.blogspot.com/2019/07/exhibition-2019-t-j-nevins-mugshot-of.html.
- https://prisonerpics.blogspot.com/.
- https://thomasnevin.com/category/19th-century-prison-photography/

Clip: Beware AI generated images of your criminal ancestors! #1



Clip uploaded to Thomas Nevin's Youtube channel:
- https://www.youtube.com/@klwnfcgroup/featured
- https://youtu.be/av_9D3mZ3wQ?si=-3Hmzr1syfiYEB5k

Note here Maxwell-Stewart's assumption that his gratuitous act of using the NAMES and photographic records of REAL people and their families to attach to his AI generated FANTASY IMAGES of their ancestors is perfectly fine. It is not. He is breaching their moral rights and their copyright.

TRANSCRIPT
0:00 so I wanted to quickly say a little bit
0:02 about how we're generating those images
0:03 so the the AI takes the physical
0:06 description from the record the age of
0:09 the prisoner and where they're born and
0:11 it matches them to 19th century prison
0:14 and other photographs that we've
0:17 harvested online now again as we get
0:20 better at this what I want to do is to
0:23 create our own
0:25 um resource of images
0:28 um so that we can fine-tune this
0:31 experience but the images of individual
0:34 convicts have been created by merging
0:36 multiple photographs which share
0:38 characteristics
with their record
0:41 and the faces that have been generated
0:43 are really quite striking so this is um
0:46 one we generated for William Allen and
0:48 again this is almost certainly not what
0:50 William Allen would have looked like
but
0:52 I think it's it's best seen as the AI's
0:54 best guess at what he might have looked
0:56 like
0:58 and this allows us to um you know we're
1:01 playing around with slogans now for this
1:03 experience
1:11 and we can also do this so this is
1:13 Michael Heath who's one of our amazing
1:16 volunteers there are about 40 volunteers
1:19 who just pump data into various um
1:22 projects that digital history Tasmania
1:24 is focusing on
1:26 um Michael like many of you are the
1:27 volunteers who who spend time with with
1:30 DHT
1:32 um is a descendant of a convict and so
1:34 we fed his photograph into the AI and
1:37 this is the the image that the AI came
1:40 up with for his
1:42 convict ancestor and I think this gives
1:45 you an indication of how we can we can
1:47 get better at this image Generation by
1:49 seeding more and more photographs in we
1:52 want to use the photographs that James [sic - John]
1:55 Watt Beattie took uh Tasmanians in the
1:58 1890s because we'll know a lot about
2:01 their descent to fine-tune this process
2:04 um even further
2:07 and here you can see a whole lot more of
2:10 these and we're hoping that that this
2:13 the AI will provide a new way for
2:16 visitors to Hobart to engage with the
2:19 convict past and to actually understand
2:21 the work that family historians and
2:23 academic historians have done ...
Source: Beware AI generated images of your criminal ancestors! #1
Thomas J. Nevin: https://youtu.be/av_9D3mZ3wQ?si=-3Hmzr1syfiYEB5k

What is the point of this expensive project, apart from Maxwell-Stewart's personal motivation to prolong his academic career in the space of penal history? Attendees at this talk expressed strong misgivings that the CREATED IMAGES of their ancestors, using both mugshots and family photographs, will not be fully understood as AI FICTIONS when viewed and copied. These are some of their questions and responses from Maxwell-Stewart and Andrew Redfern:



Clip: Beware AI generated images of your criminal ancestors! #2
https://youtu.be/yhiCaXMadqk?si=3FGNzVZWBDVhjALp

TRANSCRIPT
0:01 uh where there are known photographs of
0:04 convicts I have one of a convict as an
0:06 older man could these be compared with
0:09 an AI generated image to test the
0:12 accuracy
0:15 um yes so one of the things that AI can
0:17 do is unage a photograph
0:20 and so
0:22 um yeah that's I think great potential
0:25 for using photographs taken at different
0:27 stages in life to try and reconstruct
0:31 what somebody might have looked like at
0:32 a younger age
0:35 and I think your example to Hamish of
0:37 the um your volunteer that you uploaded
0:40 his photo and then generated the
0:42 ancestor I think that's a great example
0:44 of that as well where the the two yes it
0:47 can sort of take Modern Images or other
0:49 images and then cross-reference and
0:51 correlate
0:54 and there's a great line in in the chat
0:56 as well for Maureen about
0:58 um how do we prevent these being passed
1:00 ff as the real images online and I mean
1:02 I think that's a that is a huge danger
1:04 and so as a community I think that we
1:06 have to construct guidelines for the use
1:10 of all of this
1:11 um you know when the penitentiary
1:14 experience on Chapel goes live we need
1:16 to have a
1:17 um a statement about how these images
1:19 were created and they're not what the
1:22 individual would have looked like but
1:24 it's using the best tools in order to
1:27 try and imagine what they might have
1:28 looked like
1:30 um and there's a a an interesting little
1:34 line from Michelle there as well which
1:36 um I totally agree with and we we tend
1:38 to We tend to there's a danger of
1:40 thinking that particularly paintings or
1:43 newspaper images of convicts that were
1:46 done at the time are the Real McCoy
1:49 whereas of course they are often very
1:52 strongly influenced by people's um
1:55 attitudes towards um convicts or people
1:58 of various classes or in different
1:59 people of different Sexes and so you
2:02 know using the originals doesn't
2:04 necessarily get us out of the minefield
2:07 hmm and Fran has also asked will the
2:11 images be marked saying that they're
2:13 produced by AI
I guess that is related
2:17 to what tool you're using
2:19 yes most definitely we will
2:24 um yes and um that's been
2:27 um we're certainly working going back
2:31 now and doing any images that we've uh
2:33 generated through the Ironclad
2:34 Sisterhood project we're going to
2:36 explicitly have I mean it says it on the
2:38 web page that they're AI but we're
2:40 actually going to put it on each
2:41 individual photo
as well so that if they
2:44 do get copied uh which I'm sure we've
2:47 all had that happen with you know people
2:49 copying things in online trees that at
2:52 least hopefully that will alert others
2:56 that they
2:57 um artificially intelligent intelligence
3:00 generated images
3:02 hmm
Youtube and transcript source:
Beware AI generated images of your criminal ancestors! #2
https://youtu.be/yhiCaXMadqk?si=3FGNzVZWBDVhjALp

RELATED POSTS main weblog

PrisonerJohn FITZPATRICK and/or John FITZGERALD 1867-1885

Convict transportation records and prisoner aliases 1840s
Key penal discipline documents tabled in the Tasmanian Parliament 1870s

The Mugshot
Two copies of this photograph are extant. Nowhere does the error of the ship's name written on the verso of this mugshot- viz. Ld Lyndoch 2 - appear on the transportation records for prisoner John Fitzpatrick. From T. J. Nevin's original uncut photograph and duplicates (usually 4) produced for Hobart Gaol records in 1874, to the format of a single carte-de-visite in a buff mount printed for distribution to regional and intercolonial police on the prisoner's discharge, it was incorrectly inscribed verso by later archivists when selected for display as an artefact of Tasmania's penal history during the tourism boom years of the 1890s -1930s.



John Fitzpatrick per Lord Auckland 2 - not Lord Lyndoch 2 - was 52 years old when T. J. Nevin photographed him on being received at the Hobart Gaol during transfer of several dozen prisoners under remand and sentence between July 1873 and August 1874 from the derelict Port Arthur prison. There may exist a mugshot taken on the arrest in 1880 of a younger prisoner called John Fitzgerald whose name John Fitzpatrick used in 1870 as an alias - or not, given the destruction of prison records during the Joseph Lyons era of government in the first decades of the 20th century. Fifteen year old John Fitzgerald arrived at Hobart on the same ship, the Lord Auckland 2, in August 1846 as 21 year old John Fitzpatrick.

The TMAG copy
This copy of the mugshot of prisoner John Fitzpatrick per Lord Auckland 2 was salvaged from the Sheriff's Office Hobart Gaol (Tasmania) by John Watt Beattie in the early 1900s for display at his convictaria museum in Murray Street, Hobart. The original photograph of the prisoner was taken for police records by commercial photographer and government contractor Thomas J. Nevin in the years 1873-74. It was numbered "218" verso by Beattie et al decades later with the prisoner's name "John Fitzpatrick". Two factual errors were then added regarding (a) the name of the ship on which John Fitzpatrick was transported to Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1846 - it was the Ld Auckland 2, not the Ld Lyndock 2 [sic Lyndoch] and (b) where and when Nevin took the photograph. It was not taken at Port Arthur in 1874; it was taken for the Colonial government and Hobart Municipal Police Office on prisoner John Fitzpatrick's transfer to the Hobart Gaol in 1873-1874, and most likely reprinted from the same negative on his discharge in 1876.

The number on the recto of this copy -"182" - was written in 1983 when it was removed from John Watt Beattie's collection at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston. It was among 50 or more similar mugshots taken by T. J. Nevin in the 1870s to be included in an exhibition at the former Port Arthur prison 60 kms south of Hobart. At the close of the exhibition this mugshot and the other fifty (50) or so were not returned to Beattie's collection at the QVMAG (see the list of those missing here). It was deposited instead at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart where it remains and was scanned for this weblog in 2015.



Prisoner John Fitzpatrick
Location and date: Hobart Gaol and Police Office 1874-1876
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Recto inscription: "182"; verso inscription "218"
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Ref: TMAG Q15613



Verso inscriptions:
Left margin, vertical: "6 months escaping prison, 22 Jan [/] 86 "
Numbered - 218 -
"John Fitzpatrick
per Ld. Lyndock 2nd [sic Lyndoch]
(Taken at Port Arthur 1874)"
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Ref: TMAG Q15613.back

The NLA copy
This is a clean cdv copy (below) of the original 1874 photograph in a buff mount of prisoner John Fitzpatrick which was donated by Dr Neil Gunson to the National Library of Australia, Canberra, in the 1960s and correctly attributed to photographer Thomas J. Nevin on accession. It was sourced from government estrays, possibly from remainders offered for sale which were associated with intercolonial travelling exhibitions of convictaria on board the fake convict hulk, Success of the 1890s, to which John Watt Beattie contributed photographs, manuscripts and artefacts from his "Port Arthur Museum" located in Murray Street, Hobart. Beattie used a synoptic version of the Supreme Court trials and Hobart goal records such as the Parliamentary Papers (below) to make a selection of the more notorious criminals for display in his museum, and those are the photographs which are now extant, transcribed with a generic date "1874" and the label "Port Arthur" to cater to the tourist's fascination with Tasmania's history as a British penal colony, a complement to the publication date of Marcus Clarke's serial and bestselling novel, "For the Term of His Natural Life", 1870/1874 and the films based on the novel which followed in 1907 and 1929.

1960s-2007: NLA catalogue record





The verso of this copy carries the same errors regarding the ship and date and place of capture as the verso inscription of the TMAG/QVMAG copy, minus the vertical inscription with the date 1886, indicating clearly that it was either copied earlier from the only copy held at the QVMAG, or it was one of the four duplicates which Nevin would have produced from his glass negative at his one and only sitting with the prisoner in 1874 at the Hobart Gaol.



John Fitzpatrick, per Ld. [i.e. Lord] Lyndock 2,[sic] taken at Port Arthur, 1874.
Part of collection: Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874.
Gunson Collection file 203/7/54.
Title from inscription on reverse.
Inscription: "218"--On reverse.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-142913116

The National Library's recent confabulation of a photographer attribution to the Port Arthur commandant A. H. Boyd which appeared on their catalogue notes in 2010 for their collection of 80 or so "Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874" is a corporate perversity. Put simply, it is corrupt librarianship to abject their original and correct attribution to T. J. Nevin in the 1960s-1980s simply to appease those few in the 1990s photohistory cohort (Reeder 1995, Long 1995, Clark 2010) who sought personal gratification and career advancement through baseless speculation about a possible attribution to the non-photographer A. H. Boyd. Despite all factual and freely available historical evidence testifying clearly to Thomas J. Nevin as the original accredited and contracted photographer in historical documents held within the NLA as well as at the Archives Office Tasmania (and there are a dozen more of his mugshots held by the State Library of NSW), and having discovered none whatsoever in the last 20 years that proves in any way their fantasy about A. H. Boyd, the NLA still has his attribution visible on some of their catalogue entries.

Records tabled in Parliament 1870 and 1874
Early 20th century archivists and exhibitors of these extant mugshots (1930s-1950s) used the two key parliamentary documents of 1870 and 1874 (below) when deciding which prisoners' photographs to select and display from the collections held at the QVMAG, the TMAG, the NLA and the Tasmanian Archives Office. Those old early selections have persisted as groups of mugshots to be exhibited whenever required by a gallery, museum, library or even publisher right up to the present (e.g.Sideshow Alley: Thomas Nevin at the NPG Canberra exhibition 2015).

1870: Port Arthur
In this list of prisoners under sentence and funded as Colonial convicts (as distinct from Imperial funded convict) which was submitted to the Tasmanian Parliament by James Boyd, Civil Commandant, Port Arthur (not to be confused with his successor A. H. Boyd), on 30th September 1870, the only prisoner listed with the name John Fitzpatrick was transported on the Lord Auckland, not the Lord Lyndoch. In 1870 John Fitzpatrick was 45 years old and serving a sentence of five (5) years imprisonment.

The name "John Fitzgerald", his alias when arrested in January 1870, does not appear in this 1870s list tabled in Parliament, nor does the ship "Lord Lyndoch" appear next to Fitzpatrick's name. By 1880, an "old man" called John Fitzgerald was arrested for developing counterfeit moulds. He was sentenced to five years, but was he John Fitzpatrick or John Fitzgerald? Both had arrived on the Lord Auckland 2 in 1846. Had John Fitzpatrick reverted to his former alias, "John Fitzgerald" or was this offender a different person whose real name was Fitzgerald but whose mugshot seems not to have survived? The Launceston Examiner's report referred to him as "an old man" in 1880, recorded by police as 51 years old, per Ld Auckland, born therefore ca. 1829 (see section POLICE GAZETTE records below).



Name: Fitzpatrick, John
Ship: Lord Auckland
Age in 1870: 45
Sentence: 5 years imprisonment

1870 - Tasmania
Convicts. Paupers and Lunatics at Port Arthur
Return to an Order of the House dated 8th September 1870 (Mr. C. Meredith)
Laid upon the Table by the Colonial Treasurer, and ordered by the House to be printed October 13, 1870

See ADDENDA 1 below for the full document
Source: https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/PPWeb/1870/HA1870pp128.pdf

1874: Hobart Gaol
This is the document which provides the most interesting evidence of where those prisoners whose mugshots have survived were employed when officially listed as inmates of the Gaol and House of Corrections for Males, Hobart Town during the years 1873 and 1874. There are several dozen names of prisoners in this list whose mugshots are currently extant that were taken by Thomas J. Nevin at the Supreme Court and Hobart Gaol while these men were still under remand or sentence at Hobart, especially those with longer sentences processed in 1873 and earlier. Most of these prisoners would have been photographed, their mugshots discarded, lost, stolen or destroyed. Those which are extant can be found on this site. To find the photograph and more details of prisoners' criminal careers on this list, use this site's Complete Archive on front page, and Search Box in sidebar.

Try these Rogues Galleries in the first instance.

Rogues Gallery: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Collection
Rogues Gallery: the QVMAG prisoner photographs collection
Rogues Gallery: the National Library of Australia collection

Pages 5-7
Nominal Return of all Prisoners whether under Remand or Sentence, in the Gaol and House of Correction for Males at Hobart Town, on the 8th December 1874.







[From left to right]
Age: 52
Name of Prisoner: Fitzpatrick, John
Offence for which imprisoned: Receiving
Date of Sentence: 13.1.70 [1870]
Extent of Sentence: 5 years
How employed on 8th December 1874: Gang labour
Remarks as to Character: Indifferent.

TASMANIA.
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY.
PENAL DISCIPLINE
REPORT OF COMMISSION.
Laid upon the Table by the Attorney-General, and ordered by the House to be printed, August 10, 1875.

See ADDENDA 2 below for the full document
Source: https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/PPWeb/1875/HA1875pp49.pdf

Dozens of names in these lists can be found on the versos of prisoners' photographs held in the NLA, TMAG and QVMAG collections. In a recent publication sponsored by the National Library of Australia titled Exiled: The Port Arthur Convict Photographs (Edwin Barnard, NLA 2010), John Fitzpatrick's photograph and transportation details appear on page 205:



From the NLA collection of "Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874"
Page 205: Exiled: The Port Arthur Convict Photographs (Edwin Barnard, NLA 2010
Prisoners George Fisher, John Fitzpatrick, James Foley, William Forster, Thomas Francis
Photo © KLW NFC 2013
Read more in this article here.


Police Gazette Records
John Fitzpatrick per Ld Auckland 2, 42 years old, native of Dublin, 5'4" in height, dark brown hair, Free in Servitude (FS) was tried at Kempton (Tas) on 9 February 1867 for larceny. He was sentenced to six months at the Hobart Gaol on 9 February 1867 and discharged on 9th October 1867.

1867: sentenced to 6 months



Source: Tasmania Information for Police (weekly Police Gazette)

1870: convicted 5 years
Three years later John Fitzpatrick per Lord Auckland 2 was using an alias "John Fitzgerald" when he was arrested for feloniously receiving and sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment. Or did the police just confuse him with the 15 year old John Fitzgerald who also arrived at Hobart on the same ship?



Source: Tasmania Information for Police (weekly Police Gazette)

1876: convicted 6 months



Source: Tasmania Information for Police (weekly Police Gazette)

John Fitzpatrick per Ld Auckland, 52 years old, was convicted at New Norfolk for larceny, sentenced to six months. He was 52 years old when convicted, photographed on sentencing by government contractor T. J. Nevin on being received at the Hobart Gaol and House of Correction for Males, Campbell Street.

1876: discharge 7 years
John Fitzpatrick per Ld Auckland 2 had received an addtional two years to his sentence of five years for prison offences by the time of his discharge in February 1876. He was listed as 54 years old on this record.



Source: Tasmania Information for Police (weekly Police Gazette)

When John Fitzpatrick was discharged from two months' respite at the Invalid Depot, Launceston, in 1879, the name of his ship was erroneously recorded as "Lady Auckland".



John Fitzpatrick, Invalid Depot, Launceston FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1879
Source of all police gazette notices: Tasmania Information for Police (Police Gazette) J. Barnard, Gov't printer

1880: Fitzgerald or Fitzpatrick?



Source: LONGFORD. (1880, June 26). Launceston Examiner p. 3.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38259736

TRANSCRIPT
LONGFORD. (From our own Correspondent.) An old man named John Fitzgerald was taken into custody last night by Mr Superintendent East and Constable Hall upon a charge of uttering counterfeit shillings. He had succeeded in passing three or four during the last four days to several shopkeepers on the township, and when arrested had another in his purse. He had only recently taken up his residence upon Primrose Hill, where, upon search being made this morning, his "working plant" was discovered. He was brought up at the Police Office this morning, and remanded until Monday, when there is no doubt the charge will be clearly proved against him. June 25.
Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899), Saturday 26 June 1880, page 3
John Fitzgerald, aged 51 years, charged base shillings to Richard Groves, Jamos Allen, and Jacob Bond, on the I8th, 21st, and 22nd June last.

1880: In his own words:John Fitzgerald at trial
Launceston Examiner, Friday 27 August 1880, page 3
https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38261920

TRANSCRIPT
SUPREME COURT, LAUNCESTON
CRIMINAL SESSIONS.
THURSDAY, August 26.
Before His Honour Mr Justice Dobson.
The Crown prosecutions were conducted by the Solicitor-General, Mr R. P. Adams UTTERING. John Fitzgerald, aged 51 years, was charged with having in his possession a mould for making counterfeit coin. The prisoner pleaded, not guilty. The following jury were empanelled: Messrs D. Burke (foreman), T. Watson. J. Coulson, ,Vm. Brown, D. Lucas, R. Mead, J. l'OClemon, Chas. Lucas, J. Lansdell, F. Reid, C. Box, John Smith. James East, Superintendent of Police at Longford, deposed that he went to prisoner's hut in company with Constable Hall; the hut was situate at Primrose Hill; witness went to the hut in consequence of complaints having been made about persons receiving bad money ; when witness went to the hut he told prisoner that he was suspected of passing bad money; prisoner denied the fact; witness then asked if he had any money, which he denied ; witness then said he should want to see; prisoner then handed the purse produced to witness, which contained 6s in good money, and in another compartment was some bad money; the coin produced was one; prisoner said he must have taken it from Mr Cooper; prisoner was then arrested; Constable Hall, who was present at the hearing of the case against the prisoner, has since left the colony ; on the way to the watchhouse prisoner said that he had done no more than any other person would have done when taking a bad shilling, try to pass it to someone else.
Detective-Sergeant Wilson deposed that he knew Constable Hall of the Longford Police, and last saw him on the 17th of July, when he left by the S.S. Mangana, for Melbourne ; Hall said that he had been suspended for neglect of duty, and was going to George Town to see a friend; a warrant had been issued for his apprehension ; on the return of this steamer witness was informed that Hall went to Melbourne.
Henry S. Hutchinson, Council Clerk at Longford, deposed that he took the evidence of Constable Hall at the hearing of the case against the prisoner at the Longford Police Court; the prisoner had an opportunity of cross-examining Hall.
The deposition of Constable Hall was here read, which stated that he had found a plaster of Paris mould, a tin pannikin, and some ointment at the prisoner's house. Mr Hutchinson, re-examined, deposed the mould bore the impress of a shilling; he also produced the plaster of Paris, as well as a box of ointment, which is used to brighten shillings with; the counterfeit coin resembles a genuine coin. David Allen, a baker in Longford, deposed that he went to prisoner's hut with Constable Hall ; two coins were found in the plates of the wall by witness, which were handed to Hall; they were like the coins produced; Hall found a bit of metal in the fireplace amongst the ashes ; these resemble the pieces produced.
James Cooper deposed that the prisoner was in his employment about the 24th June last, and had been so for about nine days; witness sold him a pound of plaster of Paris a day or two before that; prisoner did not then say what he wanted the plaster of Paris for, but afterwards said that a man on the Cressy-road wanted some and asked him to get some ; the plaster of Paris was folded up in a bag like the one produced; witness never gave prisoner a bad shilling.
Richard Groves Taylor deposed that he was a storekeeper at Longford, and recollected the prisoner coming to his shop and tendered in payment a shilling, which witness afterwards found to he bad ; witness handed the shilling back to prisoner, who said that he had got it from Dickenson, the butcher; witness had taken a bad shilling the night previous.
Thomas Dickenson, a butcher, deposed that he never gave the prisoner a bad shilling, and had no knowledge of his dealing at his shop.
This closed the case for the prosecution.
The prisoner here read his statement, which stated that when he took the cottage he found a couple of tin pannikins, one of which contained some metal ; he asked Mrs Stapleton, a next door neighbour, if she knew anything about them ; she said she did; prisoner afterwards found a shilling, which turned out to be bad; prisoner afterwards heard that some more bad shillings were found, but he could solemnly declare that he knew nothing about them.
Ann Stapleton, a prisoner at present undergoing a'sentence in the female House of Correction, deposed that she did not recollect the prisoner making any statement about finding some tin pannikins or saucepans in the house.
His Honour having summed up, the jury retired, and after a brief absence returned into Court with a verdict of guilty.
SENTENCES. ... John Fitzgerald, convicted of having a mould in his possession for the making of counterfeit coin, on being asked if he had anything to say why judgment should not be passed upon him, said that he knew nothing about the mould being in the hut when he went to live there. His Honour said the prisoner had been found guilty of having a mould for the making of counterfeit coin in his possession, and he had no hesitation in saying that he considered the jury had arrived at a just conclusion, when it was taken into consideration that only just before to the prisoner had purchased some plaster of Paris, which no doubt had been used in the making of the moulds. Passing bad money was a most serious offence, as it often robbed both poor people and shopkeepers, who took it in exchange for their goods. The sentence of the Court would be five years' Imprisonment.

Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston, Tas. : 1835 - 1880), Thursday 26 August 1880, page 3

1880: arraigned for casting counterfeit coin


Source: Tasmania Information for Police (weekly Police Gazette)

Charged as "John Fitzgerald" per Lord Auckland, 51 yrs old. The Launceston Examinerstated confidently that "there is no doubt the charge will be clearly proved against him."

1885: discharged to Invalid Depot



Source: Tasmania Information for Police (weekly Police Gazette)

John Fitzgerald, 65 yrs old, 5'4" tall, per Ld. Auckland was discharged from the Hobart Gaol on 23 May 1885, tried at the Supreme Court, Launceston on 26 August 1880, sentenced to 5 years for having a mould for making base coin. Scar across left fingers, face slightly pockpitted, scar centre forehead. Residue of sentence remitted.



Source: Tasmania Information for Police (weekly Police Gazette)

No. of Authority, 29. John Fitgerald per Ld Auckland was discharged from the Invalid Depot, New Town, Hobart on 14 July 1885.

An ex-prisoner called John Fitzpatrick died at the Invalid Depot, Launceston, on 11 January, 1888 of senility. He was supposedly 74 years old, which would indicate he was born ca. 1814, and if it was the same man who was transported per the Lord Auckland 2 in 1846, he would have been 32 years old on arrival, which does not tally with his age as 52 yrs at 1874 and an arrival date of 1846, .

Another ex-prisoner called John Fitzgerald, a tanner, died of senility at the New Town Charitable Institution, Hobart on 22 August 1894, age 66 years, born Ireland, which would indicate he was born ca. 1828. Since none of these records confirm one way or another who the real John Fitzpatrick was when his name was printed in the 1870 Port Arthur list tabled in Parliament as a 45 year old colonial prisoner serving 5 years imprisonment, and therefore born ca. 1825, and again in the December 1874 Hobart Gaol list of inmates tabled in Parliament as a 52 year old prisoner of indifferent character serving 5 years for receiving, sentenced 13 January 1870, and employed in gang labour, born therefore ca. 1822, accurate conclusions about this prisoner's transportation records remain elusive. But given the circumstances under which photographer Thomas J. Nevin was commissioned to provide the Colonial government with mugshots of over 200 prisoners who were transferred to the Hobart Gaol from the Port Arthur prison between July 1873 and August 1874 (see ADDENDA 2 below), with the addition of others extending into the 1880s, the most likely contender would be the prisoner called John Fitzpatrick who was transported on the Lord Auckland 2, arriving at Hobart in 1846, 21 years old, b. ca. 1822-1825.

Transported records to VDL
The Archives Office of Tasmania holds three different transportation records, which appear to conflate or confuse prisoners called John Fitzpatrick and John Fitzgerald, all arriving at Hobart on the same date, 25 August 1846 and on the same ship, the Lord Auckland 2. One record is for a prisoner who was 40 years old in 1846 on arrival named John Fitzpatrick (no. 19043); another named John Fitzpatrick (no. 19036) who was 21 years old in 1846, and yet another named John Fitzgerald (no. 19037) who was 15 years old on arrival in 1846. The confusion between these three men stems from the apparent coincidence that a 21 yr old named John Fitzpatrick and a 15 year old named John Fitzgerald both arrived at Hobart on the Lord Auckland in August 1846, and that the older man John Fitzpatrick, photographed by Nevin, used the alias of John Fitzgerald to confuse police when convicted at the Supreme Court, Launceston, in 1870.

This record for the 21 year old John Fitzpatrick, transported for 7 years, carries the mysterious note:
"Again Transported Vide Misc. 8 Nov.26 73". 



Fitzpatrick, John
Record Type: Convicts
Employer: Cahill, Joseph: 1857
Additional identifier: 1
Property: Port Arthur Penal Station
Departure date: 19 Apr 1846
Departure port: Dublin
Ship: Lord Auckland (2)
Place of origin:Dublin,
Voyage number: 270
Remarks: Application to bring out family GO33/1/70 p576
Police number: 19036
Index number: 23639
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1392320
https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-82$init=CON33-1-82P54


This conduct record (below) indicates further offences and sentence for convict (no. 19037) "John Fitzgerald" in 1868, 1879, and 1880. Some of John Fitzgerald's employment and criminal activities are listed on this document, including duties as a hospital wardsman in 1855.



Name: Fitzgerald, John
Record Type: Convicts
Property: Port Arthur Penal Station
Departure date: 19 Apr 1846
Departure port: Dublin
Ship: Lord Auckland (2)
Place of origin: Kilkenny
Voyage number: 270
Police number: 19037
Index number: 23540
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:139221
Link:https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-82$init=CON33-1-82P55


Addenda 1:
1870 Tasmania
Convicts. Paupers and Lunatics at Port Arthur
Return to an Order of the House dated 8th September 1870 (Mr. C. Meredith)
Laid upon the Table by the Colonial Treasurer,
and ordered by the House to be printed October 13, 1870
Source: https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/PPWeb/1870/HA1870pp128.pdf



Cover and pages 3-7


Pages 6 and 7


Source: https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/PPWeb/1870/HA1870pp128.pdf

Addenda 2
(No.49) 1875.
TASMANIA.
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY.
PENAL DISCIPLINE. REPORT OF COMMISSION.
Laid upon the Table by the Attorney-General, and ordered by the House to be printed, August 10, 1875.

List of offences of male prisoners, Hobart Gaol, December 1874: Superior Courts



List of offences of male prisoners, Hobart Gaol, December 1874: Inferior Courts



Pages 3 and 4



Pages 5 and 6



Page 7



(No.49) 1875.
TASMANIA.
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY.
PENAL DISCIPLINE. REPORT OF COMMISSION.
Laid upon the Table by the Attorney-General, and ordered by the House to be printed, August 10, 1875.
Source: https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/PPWeb/1875/HA1875pp49.pdf


RELATED POSTS main weblog

A missing photograph and missing letter: John SMITH (x 2) per "Mangles" and Lord Calthorpe

Prisoners called John SMITH per Mangles 1835
Lord CALTHORPE's missing letter
T. J. NEVIN's missing mugshot(s) of a John Smith



Convict ship Mangles, master John Coghill
Date [ca. 1858-ca. 1911]
Identifier(s) H92.410/20
State Library of Victoria
Link: http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/132516

This is a very interesting ship with a colourful history. A logbook of the Mangles on this voyage, listing passengers, crew and prisoners, is held at the New York Public Library (Archives and Manuscripts). It contains entries made by Edward Roberts (3rd officer on board) from April 10, 1835-April 1, 1836, commanded by Captain William Carr. The ship left Deptford and Portsmouth, voyaging to Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), disembarking a company of soldiers, convicts, and some of the passengers before proceeding to Timor and Lombok, Dutch East India. A thoroughly engaging account written by Veronica Peek of the arrival of the Mangles and crew at Murray Island in the Torres Strait on the voyage to Dutch East India details the discovery by the crew of a white man living among the islanders.

Further reading:
https://archives.nypl.org/mss/2588
https://veronicapeek.com/2012/06/16/part-two-voyage-of-the-barque-charles-eaton/

The short John Smith and the tall John Smith

Two convicts called "John SMITH" were transported from Britain to Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on the ship Mangles, arriving at Hobart, 1 August 1835. One of these men was 5ft 4½ inches tall, the other was 5ft 10½ inches tall.

Ship Mangles (7) (1835)
Ship Name: Mangles (1835) (7th voyage)
Rig Type: S.
Built: Calcutta
Build Year: 1802
Size (tons): 594 Voyage
Master: William Carr
Surgeon: Peter J. Suther
Sailed: 21 April 1835
From: London
Arrived: 1 August 1835
Port: VDL
Route: Days Travel: 102
Convicts Landed: 310 males & 0 female convicts

Details for the two convicts called John SMITH per Mangles (1835)
1. Convict Name: John Smith (no. 2035, the short one, 5ft 4½ inches tall)
Trial Place: Suffolk Quarter Session
Trial Date: 21 October 1834
Sentence: Life

2. Convict Name: John Smith (no. 2045, the tall one,5ft 10½ -11 inches tall)
Trial Place: Wilts Quarter Session
Trial Date: 14 October 1834
Sentence: 7 years

Source of notes: Hawksbury on the Net
Link:https://www.hawkesbury.net.au/claimaconvict/shipDetails.php?shipId=594

One of these two men called John Smith per Mangles, prisoner no. 2035 arrived with a letter of reference from his former employer, Lord Calthorpe, addressed to the Governor who would have been Lt-Gov Colonel George Arthur in  August 1835 at the time of the ship's arrival, the letter now apparently lost. The other prisoner called John Smith per Mangles, no. 2045 reportedly absconded from the Port Arthur prison on December 3, 1873. According to the Tasmanian police gazette notice of his escape on December 12, 1873 (p. 203), the police had in their possession photographs of prisoner no. 2045 which they stated they had distributed (see police gazette record below). Lacking further information, we are assuming the photographs were police mugshots rather than private studio portraits, and that the police had distributed them to colleagues in regional police stations. Those photographs, apparently, are now lost as well. A recidivist who consistently offended from 1860s to the 1880s, he would have been photographed by T. J. Nevin as a matter of course at the Hobart Gaol.

Prisoners photographed at the Hobart Gaol
When Sheriff of Tasmania and Inspector of Police, John Swan was questioned on Penal Discipline in Tasmania for the Commissioners' Report, tabled on July 24th, 1883, he stated that prisoners tried at the Supreme Court Hobart. Tasmania, were photographed on incarceration. He made no mention of photography for prisoners admitted at the Launceston Gaol in the north of the island. His description of the procedure dated back to its inception in Victoria and NSW when T. J. Nevin's contractual arrangements were formalised for 14 years' duration, from 1872-1886, for the provision of prisoner identification photographs to the Tasmanian colonial government.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1883
JOHN SWAN, Esq., further examined.
12. Do you hold any other office besides that of Sheriff?
Yes; I am the Inspector of Police.
13. What steps are taken for the classification of prisoners in each Gaol respectively?
Proper classification is impossible under existing arrangements. This has been reported, and was pointed out by the Commission of 1874. Parliament voted a sum for effecting certain alterations. Plans were prepared, and a report from Mr. Hunter furnished. In Hobart, first and second convicted prisoners from Supreme Court are kept in the Gaol, old offenders in the House of Correction. In Launceston, there is no separation during the day. At night first and second convicted prisoners occupy cells, old offenders dormitories.
14. Are the Gaols and Houses of Correction sufficient to accommodate the present . number· of prisoners? [etc etc ....

..pages 11 & 12:



TRANSCRIPT
20. Describe the course a convicted prisoner passes through from reception to discharge?
At Hobart, a prisoner tried at the Supreme Court on reception is bathed, shaved, has his hair cut, is dressed in prison clothing, and photographed; he is then put into H. Division to serve a certain period of his sentence in separate treatment. At the expiration of such period he is put to hard labour, either at a trade or gang labor. He is bathed once a week, and attends Divine Service on Sundays; those who wish to attend school at night are allowed to do so. An Inferior Court prisoner on reception is bathed, shaved, and hair cut according to regulations; is then dressed in prison clothing, and put to hard labour either in the quarry or garden gangs; is bathed once a week, and attends Divine Service on Sundays. At Launceston, on admission he enters the receiving-room, his personal description is recorded, searched, and then taken to the male house of correction, where he is bathed, deprived of his clothing, dressed in a grey suit, hair cut, and whiskers shaved. If he is an effective he is placed in the stone-yard until Sheriff's authority is received to employ him outside the prison, He is then drafted into one of the gangs, where he usually remains until his sentence expires.
Source Parliamentary Papers 1883
Link: https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/PPWeb/1883/HA1883pp41.pdf

ESTIMATED VALUE of a WRITER and PHOTOGRAPHER at the HOBART GAOL
Constable John Nevin (1852-1891), younger brother of professional photographer and government contractor Thomas J. Nevin, was resident at the Hobart Gaol on salary as Gaol messenger when he contracted typhus and died on 17th June 1891. He had assisted his brother Thomas J. Nevin with prisoner admissions since 1875 at the Hobart Gaol when Thomas was needed to photograph the prisoner on sentencing at the Hobart Supreme Court (next door to the Gaol) and incarceration. With John Nevin's death, and his brother's retirement from professional photography in 1886, the colonial administration advertised in 1892 for the employment of  one or two civil servants to replace the services of the Nevin brothers.

This document records the cost of employing a "writer and photographer" at the Hobart Gaol in 1892 was £77.0.0. No similar cost was incurred at the Launceston Gaol, so it would seem that prisoners there were not photographed until or unless they were relocated to the Hobart Gaol if their offense was serious enough to warrant imprisonment for longer three months.

The cost and estimated value of labour performed by the incumbent(s) as writer and photographer, £77.0.0, was shown on this return of 1892:



Source: Tasmanian Parliamentary Papers 1856 - 1901
Link: https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/PPWeb/1893/1893pp44.pdf

Following legislative requirements introduced in NSW and Victoria in 1872 for prisoner identification photographs to be taken on sentencing and discharge, the colonial government in Tasmania engaged professional photographer T. J. Nevin in prisons to produce up to six duplicates from his capture on glass in a single sitting with every prisoner when merited. In all likelihood, he photographed one prisoner or several who called himself "John Smith" over more than a decade, yet no mugshot identified as either prisoner, whether the short one or the tall one, or indeed another using the name as an alias, has survived, or been suggested as likely among the handful yet to be identified in the Beattie collection held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston.  As each primary document - the letter and the photograph - appears to be lost, these details of each prisoner's criminal career may assist in differentiating one from the other. A further problem appears to be the conflation of records for both men as one catalogue entry at the Archives Office of Tasmania. See this set of records, for example, at -
https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1435437

If a mugshot and duplicates were made of prisoner no. 2045, John Smith per Mangles (1835) as the police gazette attests, there is no reason to assume that the prisoner (a) was not photographed at the Hobart Gaol, or (b) that the photographer was not government contractor Thomas J. Nevin. There is not now, nor will there ever be any factual evidence that the commandant at the Port Arthur prison, A. H. Boyd had photographed this or any other prisoner in 1873 while in charge. As Julia Clark - the most recent and the most ardent fantasist wanting to "believe" in a Boyd accreditation for the National Library of Australia's collection of "convict portraits" which were correctly attributed to T. J. Nevin before she started her whimpering to them that she thought Boyd "should get the guernsey" in 2007 purely in self-interest in her quest for a PhD degree - as Julia Clark all too clearly reveals here in her ignorance of jurisdictional procedures of the era, her laziness in not conducting proper research, her confabulation of circumstance to prove her case, and her willingness to buttress these naively conceived fictions about Boyd with abuse of T. J. Nevin AND his descendants, she has not one iota of information to offer on the subject:-
A John Smith arrived on the Mangles on 1 August 1835 but his record stops for lack of room in the 1840s and I have not been able to find any further record of him. No image inscribed ‘John Smith’ has been found and he does not appear in the supplementary lists.... One might then expect that there would be some mention of this project in Boyd’s reports and official correspondence for 1873 and/or 1874; none has so far been found, which is curious....Boyd does not mention photographs in his Annual Reports from Port Arthur, which seems strange given that they include quite detailed accounts of expenditure that note, for example, what it cost to feed the working dogs.654 Perhaps photography was seen as an inexpensive, one-off project rather than a recurring expenditure....
From: Clark, Julia ‘Through a Glass, Darkly’: the Camera, the Convict and the Criminal Life
Unpublished, PhD thesis 2015, University of Tasmania  pp148-149.
Read our comments on this sad little thesis here:
The LONG con: our comments on Julia Clark's fraudulent thesis


Two prisoners called John SMITH

1. Prisoner no. 2035 John Smith per Mangles and the letter
Age: 38 years old on arrival at Hobart in 1835, born ca. 1797
Crime: larceny, stealing money
Trial place: Suffolk Quarter Session
Trial Date: 21 October 1834
Sentence: Life
Height and description: 5ft 4½ inches; hazel eyes; dark brown hair.
Occupation: groom and coachman
Religion: Protestant
Literacy: can read
Native Place: Worcester.
Family: Wife Sophia at Hampton; 6 children.
Stated he had lived with Lord Calthorpe for 25yrs.
Letter from Master Lord Calthorpe addressed to the Lt Governor.
1835 and 1837 Musters in Van Diemen’s Land: assigned at Government House, Hobart.



No. 2035 John Smith per Mangles. His Conduct Record noted this statement:
"I lived with Lord Calthorpe for 25 years"
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON31-1-40$init=CON31-1-40P131JPG

Frederick Gough, 4th Baron Calthorpe (1790–1868) lived at Perry Hall Staffs, at the time prisoner no. 2035 John Smith per Mangles (1835) claimed he lived with him as a servant for 25 yrs. If this John Smith, servant to Lord Calthorpe, was 38 years old on arrival in Hobart, born therefore ca. 1797, and had "lived with" Lord Calthorpe for 25 years, he must have begun service at Perry Hall ca. 1810 when he was 13 years old.



Frederick Gough, 4th Baron Calthorpe (1790-1868) and Lady Calthorpe (1790-1865)
Carte-de-visite 1860 by Disdéri of Paris.
Source: http://www.19thcenturyphotos.com/Lord-and-Lady-Calthorpe-125853.htm

More information regarding a letter from Lord Calthorpe was noted twice on the opposing page of the INDENT record for No. 2035, John Smith per Mangles:



"Letter deposited in the M M Office from his Master Ld Calthorpe"
written in original script, and the second, enclosed in quotation marks, added in original script in faded blue coloured pencil -
"In possession of the Lieutenant Governor"
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON14-1-4$init=CON14-1-4P49

Assuming that the letter accompanied the prisoner no. 2035 John Smith on the Mangles, it was deposited on arrival in 1835 at Hobart. The second note states the letter was then placed in the possession of the Lieutenant Governor, who was George Arthur in 1835, and Sir John Franklin by January 1837. John Smith's CONDUCT record states that during 1837- 1838 he was a coachman assigned to Government House when he committed further offences. The contents and purpose of this important letter from Lord Calthorpe, probably testifying to John Smith's capabilities as groom and coachman despite his criminal offences which earned him transportation for life, must have worked in his favour, since his first assignment was to the highest official in the colony, the Governor.  The letter might therefore be among the letters held by Sir John Franklin until his departure or those of this successors, still undiscovered at the Archives Office of Tasmania along with relevant documents pertaining to employment of prisoners at Government House in those years.

Police no. 2035, John Smith per Mangles 1835 received a Conditional Pardon on 29 August 1848 and soon after departed, probably for the Victorian gold fields. He may not have returned to Tasmania.



Prisoner No. 2035 John SMITH per Mangles
Detail: Conditional Pardon 1848
Archives Office Tasmania Ref: CON31-1-40P131

TRANSCRIPT (where legible)
2035 SMITH John
Mangles 1st August 1835
Suffolk QS 21st Oct 1834. Life

Transported for Larceny. Gaol Report. Bad character convicted before, a drunkard. Hulk. Report orderly. Married. Stated this offence, Stealing a purse from Maria Vickers once for Beer, 12 months, Married, 6 Children, Wife Sophia at Hampton. I lived 25 years with Lord Calthorpe, Surgeon's report Good.

April 27th 1837, Gov't House Charged by Mr Hepburn in assaulting David Webster. Solitary Cell at nights for 10 nights after his labour by day. [? initialled by authority] To be recorded in his favour his good conduct at the recent fire of Gov House [? initialled] Vide Sup 2 Dec 1837. Nov. 8th 1838 Coachman Govt Ho/ In a public House after hours [? initialled] January 22nd 1839 Drunk and ill using his masters horses Cells on bread one week [? initialled] July 8, 1839 [? initialled] Being in a public house after hours. All 7 nights doing his work by day [? illegible, struck through -"refusing to work.." initialled] June 23, 1840 making use of obscene language - 14 days cells [? initialled] August 24th 1840 [?..Wal?] Stealing 15lb of flour the property of his master To be [? ] to hard labor in chains for 6 mos [months- two sets of initials] Oct 9, 1849 C J [initialled] Ch (chain) Gang. Misconduct in leaving the church during divine service without leave, Rept disch Tol [ticket of leave] 1.3.44.
12 Sepr 1845 TL Breach of Police Act fined 20/- JP/ Recommended for a Con Pardon 29/8/48
Although commended for good conduct when a fire broke out at Government House, Hobart on 21st December 1837, John Smith was not among the three assigned convicts who received a public commendation. In 1837, with the arrival of Sir John Franklin, costs of the forty (40) convicts who were assigned to Government House, Hobart, to Government Cottages at Launceston and New Norfolk, the Domain and Gardens, called "billet men", were defrayed to the Colonial Revenue (page 3, Launceston Advertiser, Thursday 7th December 1837).



... The Lieutenant-Governor has been pleased to grant tickets-of-leave to the following men as a reward for their meritorious exertions on the occasion of the recent fire at Government House: — William Morrow, Moffatt ; James Wicks, Roslyn Castle ; John Adams, Bussorah Merchant.
Source: THE HOBART TOWN GAZETTE. Friday, December 15, 1837).

1852departure probably for the Victorian gold fields
Name: Smith, John
Record Type: Departures
Rank: Steerage
Status: Conditional Pardon
Departure date: 18 Mar 1852
Departure port: Launceston
Ship: Shamrock
Ship to colony: Mangles
Bound to: Melbourne
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:609880
Resource: POL220/1/1 p617

2. Prisoner no. 2045 John Smith and the photographs
Age: 21 years old on arrival at Hobart in 1835, born ca. 1814
Crime: house breaking
Trial Place: Wilts Quarter Session
Trial Date: 14 October 1834
Sentence: 7 years
Height and description: 5ft 10½; 2 blue marks, brown complexion; black hair; blue eyes.
Occupation: ploughman/farm labourer
Religion: Protestant
Literacy: can read
Native place: Osborne
Family: single, brothers - David and Thomas. Sisters - Jane and Sophia. Supreme Court, Hobart 17/04/1844 - sentenced to another 7yrs.



Prisoner No. 2045 John Smith per Mangles (1835) family members, housebreaking offence
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
CON14-1-4P64, CON14-1-4P65



Prisoner No. 2045 John Smith per Mangles (1835) criminal record 1830s
Source; Archives Office Tasmania Ref:CON31-1-40P135



Prisoner no. 2045, John Smith, criminal record 1840s
CON32-1-2P135
Police number: 2045
Index number: 65510
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1435437
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1435437



Prisoner no. 2045 John Smith per Mangles (1835) criminal record 1850s-1878
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
CON34-1-5P710

EXTRACT (loosely transcribed)
22 May 1860 Tried Supreme Court Oatlands 26 September 1860 Assault & Robbery being armed. Death recorded. Commuted to Penal servitude for life. Never again allowed to engage with the community.
4 August 1864, Port Arthur. Absconding from the Penitentiary PA, 5 years imprisonment with hard labour in chains, the first six months in separate prison
10 August 1868 Misconduct PA 4 days in solitary conf
13 November 1869 PA Misconduct 7 days solitary conf
19 December 1873 Absconding 12 months SP Separate Prison first month in solitary confinement
22 May 1875 Misconduct 6 months solitary confinement PO police office Torquay
25 6 1878 Larceny 2 months

SIDEBAR column:
To be released from heavy chains & placed in medium irons until further orders. C. O. 27.9.67
Released from chains 30.11.68
The Gov in C declines to interfere 20. 12. 70
H.C. (House of Corrections, Hobart) 7/8/75
Gov inf 20/11/76 T of L. granted Not to reside in Hobart Town
Died Invalid Depot New Town [Hobart] 11 January 1892

1873: "Photographs distributed" of absconder John Smith
This notice was to inform police that prisoner no. 2045, John Smith per Mangles, 60 yrs old in 1873, 5 ft 11 inches tall was wanted on warrant. His mugshot and its duplicates, in existence by December 1873, have disappeared, whether lost, damaged, stolen or destroyed. If he was at the Port Arthur prison prior to absconding in December 1873, and not on a chain gang in Hobart at the Domain with the Gregson brothers among others, he was photographed there during the visit of partners Samuel Clifford and Thomas J. Nevin in August 1873



TRANSCRIPT
ABSCONDED: -
On the 5th instant, from Port Arthur, whilst under-going a sentence of life passed on him at S. C. Oatlands, 26th September, 1860, for assault and robbery.
John Smith, per Mangles, aged 60, 5 feet 11, sallow complexion, brown to grey hair, hazel eyes, long nose, medium mouth, round chin, native of Hampshire, England, 2 blue marks inside right arm. Photographs distributed.
Tasmanian police gazette notice, 5 December 1873. John Smith was arrested within a week and sentenced to 12 months. His record shows he petitioned the Attorney-General in 1870 who declined to interfere. He was transferred to the Hobart Gaol, Campbell St. on 7th August 1875 where Nevin may well have photographed him again on being received, as well as on discharge in November 1876, per regulations in force since 1872. 

1876: discharged from Hobart
Prisoner no. 2045, John Smith per Mangles, 64 yrs old in 1876, 5 ft 11 inches tall, discharged.



John Smith per Mangles was tried at Oatlands S.C. on 26 September 1860 for assault and robbery being armed.
Sentence extended to life.
Native place: Hampshire
Age: 64 years old
Height: 5 ft 11 inches, grey hair, mole near left temple
Discharged 29 Nov 1876. Ticket of Leave.

1878: ticket-of-leave, convicted and discharged
This again was prisoner no. 2045, John Smith per Mangles. When convicted of larceny at Port Sorell (20 kms east of Devonport, northern Tasmania) per this police gazette notice of June 29th, 1878, John Smith per Mangles (1835) held a ticket-of-leave (TL). Now 64 years, 5 feet 11 inches tall, (still growing?) a baker by trade and resident of the Midlands district (Tasmania), the notice recorded a sentence of two months for theft of a watch, and quite remarkably, failed to record any of his prior convictions.



He was discharged two (2) months later, per this notice 31 August 1878.



According to this notice in the Tasmanian police gazette of discharges between 31 August and 4 September 1878,  John Smith, transported per Mangles, 64 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall, with grey hair and mole near left temple, born England, was tried at Torquay, the former name of Devonport (Tasmania - see Addenda below) on 25 June 1878 for larceny, sentenced to two months' incarceration, and was discharged in late August 1878

1880-1890: Health and Welfare Records
Which of the two men called John Smith per Mangles (1835) do these records describe? Records for the short prisoner John Smith no. 2035 cease after 1852. Given the death date of the tall John Smith in 1892, these records most likely pertain to the former prisoner with the record no. 2045. From 1880 to 1890, John Smith was admitted and discharged at Invalid Depots in Hobart. For example, this notice recorded his admission in 1880 because of disobedience of orders, and his discharge because he was able to work in 1881.
Feb 2, 1881, return of paupers discharged from Invalid Depots Tasmania
Authority No. 64. John Smith per Mangles admitted at Campbell Town on 12 July 1880,
Date discharged: 1 February 1881,
Remarks: Discharged because of disobedience of orders, able to work.
Archives Office Tasmania Ref: POL709-1-18P28



Feb 2, 1881, return of paupers discharged from Invalid Depots Tasmania
Authority No. 64. John Smith per Mangles admitted at Campbell Town on 12 July 1880,
Date discharged: 1 February 1881
Remarks: Discharged because of disobedience of orders, able to work.
Archives Office Tasmania Ref: POL709-1-18P28
Source: Tasmania Reports for Police, (police gazette), February 1881

John Smith per Mangles was admitted again in 1889 and discharged in 1890.
Prisoner John SMITH per Mangles
Return of Paupers discharged from the Invalid Depots Tasmania
Authority No. 38, admitted from Hobart on 10 Sept 1889, discharged 11 Feb 1890
Remarks: at own request
Archives Office Tasmania
Ref: POL709-1-23_1890P47
Source: Tasmania Reports for Police, (police gazette), February 1881-1890



Source: Archives Office Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1605660

1892: Death of John Smith (prisoner no. 2045)
Unless both men transported on the Mangles (1835) called John Smith were bakers in late life, this record of John Smith's death at the New Town Charitable Institute of senile debility, 76 yrs old, on 10th January 1892, is the record of the taller one, former prisoner no. 2045, John Smith, 5ft 10½ -11 inches tall. Looking back to his Conduct and Indent records, he was 21 years old on arrival at Hobart in 1835 on the Mangles, so in 1892, he was ca. 78 years old, born ca. 1814.



Smith, John (former prisoner no. 2045)
Record Type: Deaths
Gender: Male
Age: 76
Date of death: 10 Jan 1892
Registered: Hobart
Registration year: 1892
Record ID:NAME_INDEXES:1236916
Archives Office Tasmania Resource: RGD35/1/13 no 977

Disambiguation: George MARSH alias John SMITH
None of these prisoners with the surname or alias of SMITH in the list below who were scheduled in July 1873 to be transferred from the Port Arthur prison back to the Hobart Gaol was prisoner no. 2045, John Smith per Mangles,(1835) 60 years old who reportedly absconded from Port Arthur in December 1873, and was sentenced to 12 months when arrested within weeks. Why wasn't he listed, if the place from which he absconded was Port Arthur? He was most likely a "billet man" working on a chain gang,  perhaps near Torquay (Devonport) in the north of Tasmania when he absconded, and not at Port Arthur, the original place of his incarceration and recidivism for most of the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s. He was confined again at the Police Office, Torquay in 1875 .

1. John Smith alias Wm Orrin, 42 years old, date of conviction 26 November 1872, tried at the Supreme Court, Hobart, Crime- Feloniously receiving, Sentence - 10 years. (DOB ca. 1830)
2. John Smith alias George Marsh , 55 years old, date of conviction 13 June 1871, tried at the Police Office Launceston, Crime - Larceny and absconding, Sentence - 6 months (DOB ca. 1816)
3. Henry Smith, 37 years old, date of conviction, 12 September 1871, tried at the Supreme Court, Hobart, Crime - Housebreaking, Sentence - 5 years (DOB ca. 1834)
4. Campbell, William alias Job Smith, 45 years old, date of conviction 19 March 1872, tried at Supreme Court, Launceston, Crime - Uttering a forged cheque, Sentence - 8 years (DOB ca. 1827)
5. John Smith, 42 years old, date of conviction 10 September 1872, tried at Supreme Court, Hobart, Crime - Attempt at burglary, Sentence 2 years (DOB ca. 1830)
6. Alexander Smith, 40 years old, date of conviction 26 November 1872, tried at the Supreme Court, Hobart, Crime - uttering counterfeit coin, Sentence - 2 years (DOB ca. 1832)

Public outrage in the press at judicial inconsistencies in sentencing mentioned prisoners George Marsh with Henry Page and Charles Downes as getting a reprieve while Job Smith aka Campbell was hanged in 1875. John Smith aka George Marsh was 55 years old in 1871, 5ft 4 inches tall, when he arrived at Port Arthur on 9 December 1876. He was sent back to Hobart in 1877 per this Port Arthur conduct record of earnings, which incidentally doesn't show any earnings. This prisoner was not photographed at Port Arthur during incarceration there, and if he was photographed on discharge, his photograph apparently has not survived either as George Marsh or the alias he used, John Smith, but by 1884 when he was admitted to the Insane Asylum at New Norfolk suffering hallucinations of animal attacks and found to be of unsound mind, he was admitted as George Marsh.



Source: George Marsh as John Smith
Archives Office Tasmania Ref: CON94-1-2P20
Hospital records George Marsh
HSD285/1/1891 Marsh, George dob c.1820 03 Jun 1884 03 Jun 1884
https://stors.tas.gov.au/AI/HSD285-1-1891

Addenda 1: Lord Calthorpe at Perry Hall



Frederick Gough, 4th Baron Calthorpe (1790-1868) and Lady Calthorpe (1790-1865)
Carte-de-visite 1860 by Disdéri of Paris.
Source: http://www.19thcenturyphotos.com/Lord-and-Lady-Calthorpe-125853.htm
A carte-de-visite portrait of Frederick Gough, 4th Baron Calthorpe (1790-1868), and his wife, Lady Calthorpe. Born in London on 14 June 1790, he was the son of Henry Gough-Calthorpe, 1st Baron Calthorpe and his wife Frances née Carpenter. On 12 August 1823 he married Lady Charlotte Sophia Somerset, daughter of Henry Charles Somerset, 6th Duke of Beaufort and Lady Charlotte Sophia Leveson-Gower. The marriage produced at least three daughters and four sons; three of the sons succeeded in turn as Baron Calthorpe. He served as MP for Hindon from 1818 to 1826 and as MP for Bramber from 1826 to 1831. On 14 May 1845 his name was legally changed by Royal Licence to Frederick Gough. In September 1851 he succeeded his older brother George and became 4th Baron Calthorpe of Egbaston in the County of Warwickshire. Lady Calthorpe died, aged 70, on 12 November 1865 at Elvetham in Hampshire. Lord Calthorpe died, aged 77, on 2 May 1868, also at Elvetham. His will (dated 13 May 1856) was proved on 14 May 1868, at under £70,000.Photographed in 1860 by Disdéri of Paris.
Copyright © Paul Frecker 2021
Link: http://www.19thcenturyphotos.com/Lord-and-Lady-Calthorpe-125853.htm

Frederick Gough, 4th Baron Calthorpe (1790–1868) lived at Perry Hall Staffs, at the time prisoner no. 2035 John Smith per Mangles (1835) claimed he lived with him as a servant for 25 yrs.
Perry Hall was acquired by Sir Henry Gough of Oldfallings near Wolverhampton in 1669 and continued as the main residence of the family until 1923 when the estate was sold. The hall itself, which occupied the Northern end of a medieval moated site, bore the date 1576, although substantial additions and modifications had been made to it in 1788 and, by the architect S. S. Teulon, in the late 1840's. A two day sale of Perry's contents in March 1928 included parts of the structure itself, such as "1000 Stone Mullion & other windows", "120 Oak & Pine Doors" and "40 Marble & Oak Mantelpieces". It was demolished shortly afterwards but the moat remains as a boating pool in Perry Hall Park. In 1911 Perry, as part of the parish of Handsworth, was included within the City of Birmingham.



Location: Perry Barr, County WARWICKSHIRE
Year demolished: 1929
Reason: URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Source: Presented by Sir Richard Paget Bt, 1930.
Link: http://www.lostheritage.org.uk/houses/lh_warwickshire_perryhall_info_gallery.html

Perry Hall Park or Perry Hall Playing Fields is a park in Perry Barr, Birmingham, England, at grid reference SP059918. It was in Staffordshire until 1928.[1]
It was formerly the site of Perry Hall, demolished 1927, home of the Gough family, though only the hall's moat remains after the Birmingham Corporation had to choose between saving Perry Hall and the nearby Aston Hall for financial purposes. When Harry Dorsey Gough set up home in Maryland, United States, in 1774, he named his estate there Perry Hall. The site is protected by Fields in Trust through a legal "Deed of Dedication" safeguarding the future of the space as public recreation land for future generations to enjoy.[2]
The park is bisected by the River Tame, which was remodelled in 2005 to slow the flow, alleviate flooding and create improved habitats for wildlife, as part of the SMURF (Sustainable Management of Urban Rivers and Floodplains) project. The park has a small heronry.
The park is skirted by the Birmingham - Walsall railway line (the "Chase Line"), formerly the Grand Junction Railway and served by nearby Perry Barr railway station and, at the western end, Hamstead railway station.
In July 1913, the first International Scout Rally in Birmingham was held in the park, attended by about 30,000 Scouts.[3]
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Hall_Park

Addenda 2: History of Devonport (Tas)
* Prior to the arrival of Europeans the area around Devonport had been home to the Tommeginne Aborigines for an estimated 30,000 years.
* The first explorers into the area reached the Mersey River as early as 1823. Reports were not favourable with one explorer noting that the land was "mountainous, extremely barren and totally unfit for habitation".
* The arrival of the Van Diemen's Land Company in 1826 resulted in the district being explored and surveyed. Settlers began to arrive later that year.
* The local Aborigines resisted settlement. This culminated in the killing of Captain Bartholomew Boyle Thomas, the district's first settler, in 1829.
* The tiny settlement of Torquay was established on the east bank of the Mersey River in 1851.
* A settlement named Formby was laid out on the west side of the Mersey River in 1853.
* The port facilities - a store, wharf and warning beacons as well as the Don Railway - had been completed by 1854.
* Throughout the 1850s the port was used by timber cutters and boat builders. There was also some coal mining in the area.
* Prior to 1860 the only way to cross the Mersey was by boat or swimming.
* In 1860 a rough log bridge was built upstream at the village of Latrobe. Eventually a ferry plied the river.
* A local Marine Board was formed in 1868.
* The railway from Launceston reached Devonport in 1885.
* The Devonport Town Board was formed on 11 February 1890 when Formby and Torquay amalgamated.
* The port's lighthouse, now part of the National Estate, was completed in 1899. It still stands on Mersey Bluff.
* It wasn't until 1902 that a bridge was finally built across the river.
* Devonport Municipal Council was formed in 1908.
Source: Aussie Towns: Devonport, Tasmania


RELATED POSTS main weblog