Prisoner William WELLHAM or WILLHEM 1874

Variations in spelling this prisoner's surname include WILLHAM, WELLHAM and WILHAM.

As William WILLHAM, he was 14 years old when transported for seven (7) years in 1844, per the Barrosa 2. His trade was "tailor", "native" of Chelsea (UK). He was sent to the Point Puer Juvenile Penal Station, Tasman Penisnsula on arrival.

As William WELLHAM he was granted a Ticket of Leave in 1848 but in 1851 he was reconvicted for assault and larceny, sentenced to three (3) years' hard labour at the Hobart Gaol. William Wellham/Willham was thereafter sentenced to four (4) years for uttering a forged cheque in 1856, and six months with hard labour for absconding from a road gang in 1860, with recommendation he be sent to the prison at Port Arthur (100 kms south of Hobart).

On 7 July 1868, William WILLHAM, per Barossa 2, was sentenced to eight (8) years at the Supreme Court Hobart for larceny. He was 44 years old when he was photographed by government contractor Thomas J. Nevin on discharge in June 1874. If he was 14 years old when sentenced to be transported for seven (7) years in 1844 and 44 yrs old when discharged in 1874, he was born in 1830. His age correlates with his appearance when Nevin photographed him at his one and only sitting with this prisoner at the Mayor's Court, Hobart Town Hall.

The National Library of Australia devised the title for their catalogue entries for this Tasmanian prisoner's mugshot and the other 85 or so in their collection which were accessioned in the 1960s and 1980s from information written in the late 1890s-1900s on the versos by John Watt Beattie and assistants. He removed hundreds of similar 1870s mugshots taken by T. J. Nevin from government records, displaying them for sale at his "Port Arthur" convictaria museum at 51 Murray St. Hobart. They were also displayed on intercolonial and interstate travelling exhibitions in those years on board the fake convict transport Success.

NLA Catalogue (spelling of surname incorrect)
William Welham [sic], per Barossa 2, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
nla.pic-vn4270387 PIC P1029/70 LOC Album 935
1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm., on mount 10.4 x 6.4 cm.

Archives Office of Tasmania: paper copy
This is a paper copy ca. 1985 made of the original sepia cdv held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. The QVMAG copy was numbered "124" on the front when an inventory was taken there in the 1980s, and it remained there as part of the John Watt Beattie Collection. Other similar mugshots (50) were similarly numbered on the front for relocation from the QVMAG in 1983 to be displayed at the Port Arthur Redevelopment Project at the heritage site of the former prison. Those 50 or so were not returned to the QVMAG, deposited instead at the TMAG in Hobart. The NLA copy shows no numbering on the mount at front underneath the image, suggesting it was copied earlier before the QVMAG inventory in the 1980s and acquired by the NLA from government estrays donated there by Dr. Neil Gunson in the 1960s.

Webshot 2005 Archives Office of Tasmania
Convict portraits, Port Arthur 1874 taken by Thomas J Nevin photographer (1842-1923)
Title William Wellham convict Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin
Creator KLW NFC Group 2
Published 2015-02-27 02:10:31
Caption: "William Wellham convict, transported per Barossa. Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin".

Archives Office Tasmania
Reference: PH30/1/3247 (no longer online)

Police Records
On 7 July 1868, William WILLHAM, per Barossa 2, was sentenced to eight (8) years at the Supreme Court Hobart for larceny. This prisoner was photographed on discharge by T. J. Nevin at the Hobart Gaol, 10th June 1874. The police gazette dated 12 June 1874 printed his name as William Willham.

Source: Weekly police gazette titled Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police, J. Barnard, Gov't printer.

By June 1878, William WELHAM - the mispelling now appearing the police gazette - was using an alias, calling himself William DEVINE, per Barossa 2, 48 years old, tried and imprisoned again for three (3) months for larceny, discharged on 11 September 1878. He may have committed further offenses, perhaps using yet another alias.

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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.

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THE MUGSHOTS:Thomas Nevin's extant prisoner identification prints and cartes-de-visite in oval mounts - "mugshots" - were taken between 1871 and 1888. The public collections consists of 350+ estrays from more than 2000 photographs taken of prisoners in Tasmania by Thomas Nevin and his brother Constable John Nevin. The National Library of Australia currently holds 87 photographs, the State Library of NSW holds 13 photographs, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery holds 112 photographs, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery holds more than 50, and the Archives Office of Tasmania holds 10 originals and 100 or so paper copies of the QVMAG collections. A dozen or so are held in Private Collections.

DISCLAIMER: We have not voluntarily contributed to any publication which supports the misattribution of 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 Nevin weblogs to apply the misattribution.

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 were built on nipaluna, the traditional lands 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 and Ngambri peoples, the traditional custodians of the Kamberri/Canberra region 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.

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Prisoner William WELLHAM or WILLHEM 1874

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