Prisoner Francis GREGSON

The National Library of Australia copies/duplicates

NLA Catalogue - verso transcription (incorrect information)
nla.pic-vn4269975 PIC P1029/19 LOC Album 935 Francis Gregson, native, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture] 1874. 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm. on mount 10.5 x 6.3 cm.

Multiple copies or duplicates of this photograph are extant in public collections. It was taken by Thomas J. Nevin of absconder Francis Gregson at a single sitting at the Municipal Police Office Hobart Town Hall on February 18th, 1874 after Gregson's arrival from Launceston where he was arrested with his brother John Gregson.

These two very clean copies or duplicates of Nevin's prints from his glass negative taken in February 1874 are held at the NLA, photographed in December 2016.

Prisoner John Gregson, NLA copies x 2
Photographed by T. J. Nevin at the Hobart MPO February 1874
Photographs taken at the NLA 16 December 2016
Copyright © KLW NFC 2016 ARR Watermarked

Versos: Prisoner John Gregson, NLA copies x 2
Photographed by T. J. Nevin at the Hobart MPO February 1874
Photographs taken at the NLA 16 December 2016
Copyright © KLW NFC 2016

NLA Catalogue notes verso transcription (incorrect information)
nla.pic-vn4269980 PIC P1029/20a LOC Album 935 John Gregson, native, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture] 1874. 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm. on mount 10.5 x 6.3 cm.

Police Records

These are the prisoner identifications photographs mounted in carte-de-visite frames of Francis and John Gregson, photographed by Thomas J. Nevin at the MPO Hobart, on their arrest February 20th, 1874. Duplicates are held at the NLA, the TMAG, and the AOT.

The Gregson brothers were convicted, 9th October, 1871 for five and six year sentences.

The Gregsons absconded January 9th, 1874

The Gregsons were arrested February 20th, 1874

Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police 1871-1880. J. Barnard, Gov't Printer.

The Gregsons were discharged 27th January, 1875, and were photographed again by T. J. Nevin in the preceeding week. They were not photographed at Port Arthur before January 9th, 1874. They escaped from the Domain in Hobart on that date and were photographed on arrest one month later by Nevin when they were received and sent to the Hobart Gaol. They were photographed at the Police Office Hobart on February 18th 1874 after arrival from Launceston when arrested (see TAHO: CON37-1-1000498 and 9).

John and Francis Gregson, sentenced 18th Feb, 1874 at the Police Office, Hobart
TAHO Ref: CON37-1-1000498 and 9. This where they were photographed by T. J. Nevin.

Samuel Page's Coach Line
Page's coach line conveyed prisoners in irons, accompanied by constables such as Constable John Nevin, Thomas Nevin's brother and photographic assistant, from Launceston and regional lock-ups to the Hobart Gaol.

This notice about the Gregsons appeared in The Mercury, 19th February 1874

TRANSCRIPT

By Page's coach yesterday morning, three prisoners were brought down from Launceston in irons, under the charge of Superintendent Tinmins and Sub-inspector Clements, of the Hamilton Police. Two of the prisoners, named Gregson, absconded from this city [i.e. Hobart] some seven or eight weeks ago, and made their way through the back country to their sister's residence in Launceston, where they were arrested. The other one, Mitchell, is known by several names. He absconded from the Launceston gaol, and having been arrested in the country, has now been removed, and with the Gregsons, placed in the gaol here.

"By Page's coach yesterday morning, three prisoners were brought down in irons ..."

Above: Original photograph by T.J. Nevin with the figure of Tom Davis and Burdon's company name painted out (QMAG Collection Ref: 1987_P_0220). Tom Davis was a coach painter. The verso bears Nevin's Royal Arms insignia stamp used for government commissions, in this instance for the Royal Mail coach.

Inscription: handwritten on the reverse:

"From same photo held at Entally/ painted out background/ Burdons Coach Factory/ Man on r.h.s. of photo Tom Davis (has been painted out)/ 1872/ A.B. McKellar 328 Liverpool St/ coach body maker employed at Burdon and son when this coach was built"

This is an original photograph by T.J. Nevin with the figure of Tom Davis and Burdon's company name painted out (QMAG Collection Ref: 1987_P_0220). Tom Davis was a coach painter. The verso bears Nevin's Royal Arms insignia stamp used for government commissions, in this instance for the Royal Mail coach.

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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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