Winter and summer prison uniforms 1870s
Auction of copies of Tasmanian prisoner cdv's December 2024
Two different photographs are held in the National Library of Australia's collection of 1870s Tasmanian "convict portraits" - and not recorded in any other public collection - of a prisoner whom the Tasmanian police discharged as Charles Heys on 22nd July 1874, noting in the gazette that his alias was Ward, transported to Tasmania as Charles Heys on the Moffatt 2. He was 18 years old when transported for seven (7) years for stealing a handkerchief, arriving at Hobart on 1 April 1838.
Government contractor Thomas J. Nevin took both photographs at the Hobart Gaol but which photograph was the one taken on discharge of the prisoner identified by police as Charles Heys in July 1874? The prisoner was photographed on two separate occasions in two different sittings, in one wearing the standard issue winter uniform as Charles Hayes according to the verso , and in the other the summer uniform as Charles Ward.
The NLA has catalogued the first cdv (on left) from information inscribed on verso as "Charles Hayes, per Moffat 2, taken at Port Arthur, 1874." (NLA PIC Album #P1029/74). For this sitting with Thomas Nevin he wore the standard issue prison heavy overcoat, so he was most likely the man recorded by police as Charles Heys - not Hayes - alias Ward when Thomas J. Nevin photographed him on discharge in the winter month of July, 1874 at the Hobart Gaol. Neither photograph was taken at Port Arthur. The title of each photograph was devised by the NLA cataloguer from the inscription written for touristic exhibitions in the 1900s at John Watt Beattie's "Port Arthur Museum", 51 Murray St. Hobart. The NLA acquired these cdv's in the 1960s-1980s by donation, purchase or loan from government estrays (Gunson Collection) and the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston.
Different cdv's of the same prisoner Charles HEYS alias Ward or Hayes
National Library of Australia Collection, titles from versos:
Left: Charles Hayes, per Moffat 2, taken at Port Arthur, 1874. NLA PIC Album #P1029/74
Right: Charles Ward, per Moffatt 2, taken at Port Arthur, 1874. NLA PIC Album #P1029/46
A carte-de-visite inscribed verso with the names "Charles Ward or Hayes" taken in July 1874 by Thomas J. Nevin at the Hobart Gaol, was sold at Leski's auction, Melbourne, 7 December 2024. It was sold in a group of even (7) similar 1870s Tasmanian prisoner mugshots. Absent from the verso or recto of the cdv sold at Leski's in 2024 and absent as well from the versos of the other six copies of these prisoners' photographs taken in the 1870s which were sold at the same auction are any mid-to-late 20th century accession numbers, stamps or markings used by libraries and museums, which suggests strongly this copy inscribed verso as Charles Ward or Hayes per Moffatt 2 and numbered 312 & 313 has survived in the private collectables market for 120 years - or hidden somewhere in a public institution.
Screenshot detailing the display and sale of this cdv identified as "Charles Ward or Hayes" from this article posted here:
Link: https://tasmanianphotographer.blogspot.com/2024/12/leskis-auction-of-t-j-nevins-1870s.html
Two photographs, three mugshots
Two different photographs and three mugshots are now extant of the prisoner who was transported as Charles HEYS, who was gazetted by police in 1868 as Charles WARD alias Hayes, and gazetted again by police in 1874 as Charles HEYS alias Ward. Two different photographs of the same prisoner are held at the National Library of Australia (NLA), and a degraded copy of one of those two photographs recently surfaced at Leski's auction, Melbourne, sold on 7 December 2024 for AU$1,100. Three mugshots but two different images: commercial photographer and contractor Thomas J. Nevin took book original photographs of the prisoner for police and prison records at the Hobart Gaol, years apart and in different seasons of the year.
Two copies of the photograph of the prisoner wearing summer uniform are now extant. The copy held at the NLA of the prisoner in summer uniform was inscribed verso with the number 313. The second, auctioned at Leski's in December 2024 was inscribed with two numbers - 312 & 313. That copy, sold from a private collection [provenance - ? see below] therefore, is most likely to be the other print from the same negative, number 312.
The 300 or so extant cdv's of Tasmanian prisoners taken in the 1870s by Thomas J. Nevin were removed from police files and inscribed verso with the unfactual statement "Taken at Port Arthur 1874" in the late 1890s-1900s when John Watt Beattie and assistant Edward Searle salvaged hundreds of these cdv's from the Hobart Gaol and arranged them sequentially in albums or on display boards at his "Port Arthur Museum" located at 51 Murray St. Hobart, to be offered for sale to intercolonial tourists seeking images and records of their criminal ancestors. The inscribed numbers "312 & 313" suggest both cdv's which identify the prisoner by his alias "WARD or Hayes" were arranged one after the other and alphabetically, where the cdv's of prisoners with surnames beginning with "W" were placed last in an album and that the album contained no more than a total of about 300 to 320 names from A to Z.
Copy sold at Leski's Auction 7 December 2024
The one and only original photograph of prisoner Charles HEYS as Ward in summer prison uniform, seated facing lower right of frame when captured on Nevin's glass negative, was printed at separate times, perhaps years apart, with very different results. The NLA copy is clean. It was probably not exposed to atmospheric pollution, nor bent by repeated handling. It may be Nevin's original first print off his negative, cut from the square and pasted onto a buff cdv oval mount, giving a clear and close view of the prisoner's features and clothing. It is a clean print, whereas the cdv sold in December 2024 at Leski's auction was printed from the same negative but cut showing more of the prisoner's upper body and coat, his features reduced and much less defined. None of the other 6 cdv's on sale at Leski's auction show so much of the man's coat, nor do the majority of the other 300 or so extant cdv's taken by Nevin in the 1870s.
Whoever printed this copy chose a dark mount and pasted the print slightly off centre so that the prisoner appears to be leaning back and to his right to where his gaze was directed. The ink marks, extensive foxing, the finger print at upper left, and the overall fuzzy look of this cdv suggest the following scenarios. First scenarios: the printed cdv was exposed to air and dust and handling by police during the 1870s, perhaps even printed by a junior police clerk at the Hobart Gaol in Nevin's absence while he was at Port Arthur in 1874, the purpose either experimental or to fill a request from regional police for a copy while the prisoner was assigned to an employer. Second scenario: it was exposed to air and dust and handling during the 1900s-1920s at Beattie's museum in Hobart, and later at Radcliffe's Curiosity Shop at Port Arthur, acquired from Beattie's collections before his death in 1930. The collection held at Radcliffe's was acquired by Parks and Wildlife when the museum closed and was sold off in 1972 to multiple state entities, with only a portion going to the Port Arthur Historic Site.
So, who bought this one, when or why? Who owned it to have it submitted to auction at Leski's in December 2024? Was it held by descent from a family collection? In plain speaking, we have to ask from whose deceased estate has this "private collection" of seven 1870s Tasmanian mugshots surfaced? Who died? As it happens a number of people died recently who have had their hands on these 1870s prisoner mugshots for many years in public collections: at the TMAG (Farmery), at the QVMAG (Simpson, Long, McPhee ), and at the NLA (Gunson). Take your pick. Our collective guess is the A. H. Boyd descendant Kim Simpson (Tasmanian Heritage Council, QVMAG), and their apologist Vicki Farmery (TMAG) because of this encounter at the TMAG in November 2014 - read the section "Obstructive Museum Workers". RIP.
Lot 363:
"TASMANIAN CONVICT PHOTOGRAPH: A carte-de-visite, annotated verso: "312 + 313 Charles Ward or Hayes per Moffatt 2 . Taken at Port Arthur 1874." Ward (who called himself John) arrived aboard the Moffatt in May 1834, following his conviction at York. His sentence was transportation for 14 years.
Estimate $1,000 - $1,500 Price Realized $1,100 Status Sold"
View: https://auctions.leski.com.au/lot-details/index/catalog/623/lot/219820/
Charles Heys: transported convict records
Charles Heys was 18 years old when transported for 7 years for theft of a handkerchief, arriving at Hobart Van Diemen's Land (VDL = Tasmania) on 1 April 1838 on board the Moffatt 2.
Archives Office Tasmania
Source: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON34-1-7/CON34-1-7P577
Last entries in main column:
Charles Heys, tried as Charles Brown Launceston Supreme Court 4 October 1860 for assault with intent - 7 years penal servitude at Port Arthur. Tried as Charles Ward Hobart Supreme Court 7 July 1868 - Burglary - 7 years imprisonment Port Arthur.
Remarks:
"To be discharged on 6/7/74 if conduct good Pauper Depot P.A. awaiting removal to Hobart Town 9/7/74".
Archives Office Tasmania
Conduct Registers of Male Convicts arriving in the Period of the Assignment System. (CON31)
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON31-1-22/CON31-1-22P50
Charles Heys: police gazette records
1868: Charles WARD alias Hayes
Convicted and sentenced to 7 years in 1868, the police gazetted his conviction at the Supreme Court Hobart under the name Charles WARD alias Hayes per Moffatt 2.
Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police, J, Barnard, Gov't Printer
Two explanations are possible as to why this cdv held at the National Library of Australia bears verso the prisoner's assumed name Charles WARD, his alias, and the number "313" : it was either taken in summer sometime after 1868 when he was photographed wearing the prison summer uniform but before he was discharged in July 1874 when he was photographed wearing a winter coat; or it was this police gazette record dated 1868 rather than the police gazette record dated 1874 that was retrieved from old records by the person who wrote the inscription using the name from the 1868 record, Charles Ward alias Hayes in the 1900s, numbering the cdv "313" in a sequence devised for exhibition. So when was this photograph first taken of the prisoner wearing the summer uniform, and what was the occasion? This is a question which needs further examination because another copy was printed from the same negative but with very different results, namely the cdv which has surfaced from a private collection [provenance?] and was sold at Leski's Auction, Melbourne, 7 December 2024 (see below).
Charles Ward, per Moffatt 2
Call Number PIC Album 935 #P1029/46
Created/Published 1874
Extent 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm., on mount 10.4 x 6.4 cm.
Physical Context PIC Album 935 #P1029/1-85-Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]/Charles Ward, per Moffatt, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
Part of collection: Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874.
Gunson Collection file 203/7/54.
Title from inscription on reverse in ink
Inscription: "313; Charles Ward as Hayes, per Moffat 2, taken at Port Arthur, 1874"-Condition: Slight foxing.
1874: Charles HEYS alias WARD
The cdv above was transcribed from the 1868 police gazette record naming the prisoner Charles WARD alias Hayes. The inscription of this cdv (below) identified him six years later as Charles HEYS alias Ward, the name gazetted by police when he was discharged in 1874, and the name under which he was transported. Just possibly, the cdv (above) which identifies him as Charles Ward first, and his alias as Hayes is the earlier one, posed facing to right of frame, taken when assigned to an employer (he was FS - free in servitude), and this cdv (below) which identifies him as Charles Heys, transferred from Port Arthur and discharged from the Hobart Gaol in July 1874, is the cdv in which he is facing to left of frame.
Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police, J, Barnard, Gov't Printer
The NLA's copy catalogued as Charles HAYES and numbered 75 on verso shows the prisoner wearing the standard issue winter prisoner uniform. This particular photograph of Charles Heys in winter uniform, his gaze directed down and to left of frame has not been recorded in any other collection. The title was devised from the inscription verso written in the 1900s for exhibition. The original photograph was taken by T. J. Nevin at the Hobart Gaol in 1874.
Charles Hayes, per Moffat 2
Call Number PIC Album #P1029/74
Created/Published 1874
Extent 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm. on mount 10.5 x 6.3 cm.
Physical Context PIC Album 935 #P1029/1-85-Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]/Charles Hayes, per Moffat, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture].
Part of collection: Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874.
Gunson Collection file 203/7/54.
Title from inscription on verso.
Inscription: "75 ; Charles Hayes, per Moffat 2, taken at Port Arthur, 1874"--In ink on verso.
Condition: Some foxing.
Also available online http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-142920564
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