Thomas J. Nevin  | Tasmanian Prisoner Photographs 1870s-1880s

Mugshots taken by commercial and police photographer Thomas J. NEVIN in Tasmania 1870s-1880s

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SABBATICAL 2025

We are taking a short break from regular posting through 2025 but will be available to answer queries.

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PHOTOGRAPHER T. J. NEVIN

PHOTOGRAPHER T. J. NEVIN
Police and commercial photographer T. J. Nevin self-portrait 1873. Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection. DO NOT REPRODUCE or PUBLISH.
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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.

Click here for KEY DATES 1842-1923

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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.

POLICE PHOTOGRAPHERS

POLICE PHOTOGRAPHERS
Brothers John and Thomas Nevin 1870s

RECENT POSTS

Rape, fraud, stabbing, perjury and a smoking jury: the Supreme Court Hobart 10-12 February 1876
Leski's auction of T. J. Nevin's 1870s "Tasmanian Convict Photographs", 7 Dec 2024
Charged under the CRIMES ACT: brothers Bill, George and Tom NEVIN, 1909-1911
Thos J. Nevin, juror on the Casimaty case, SC Hobart, 1918
Prisoners Hugh McCALLUM and George WILSON alias White 1872
Mugshots of Women Prisoners, Tasmania 1897-1910
Prisoner Thomas RYAN 1867-1877
Prisoner George CHARLTON, photo by T. J. Nevin, September 1874.
Prisoner Charles J. GARFORTH said he would make Superintendent Adolarious H. BOYD pay dearly, 1875
Beware AI generated images of your criminal ancestors!
The Poulter album: "Weekly Courier" reprints 1900s of 1870s photographs by T. J. Nevin
Prisoner John FITZPATRICK and/or John Fitzgerald 1867-1885
In a party mood: prisoner Michael LYNCH (as Horrigan, Harrigan or Sullivan), Christmas Eve, December 24th 1881
Prisoner Cornelius HESTER, photograph by T. J. Nevin 1874
T. J. NEVIN's cdv's of Wm PRICE and Wm YEOMANS; A.H. BOYD's testimony 1875
A missing photograph and missing letter: John SMITH (x 2) per "Mangles" and Lord Calthorpe
Prisoner Thomas ARCHER alias Thomas SMITH or James SMITH 1875
The case against Henry Stock (var. Stocks) 1884 for murder of his wife and her child

Featured this month

Featured this month
!! Beware AI generated images of your criminal ancestors!!

MOST VIEWED TODAY

  • Rape, fraud, stabbing, perjury and a smoking jury: the Supreme Court Hobart 10-12 February 1876
    Stephen SPURLING, charged with false pretences Patrick LAMB, charged with wounding John NOWLAN as Dowling, charged with rape Eliza Ann Mc...
  • Sideshow Alley: Thomas Nevin at the NPG exhibition 2015
    Ten Tasmanian prisoner mugshots by T. J. Nevin, 1870s Exhibited at the NPG, Canberra, Sideshow Alley: Infamy, the macabre and the portrai...
  • Parkhurst Boys on board the "Fairlie" 1852
    John NEVIN snr and family FAIRLIE 1852 Parkhurst boys PRISONER MUGSHOTS by Thomas J. NEVIN 1870s Photographic portraits by Thomas J. N...
  • The pauper on Thomas Nevin's carpet and Brother Payne
    PAUPERS and STREET HAWKERS 1870s T. J. NEVIN studio decor I t is likely that the man photographed here standing on Thomas Nevin's car...
  • Thomas Nevin’s glass plates of prisoners 1870s
    Thomas J. NEVIN's glass plate negatives of Tasmanian prisoners 1870s John Watt BEATTIE's reprints of police records for sale as tou...
  • Poster boys 1991 of Tasmanian prisoners 1870s
    W ho were they? They were T. J. Nevin's sitters for police records, mostly "Supreme Court men" photographed on committal for t...
  • Rogues Gallery: the QVMAG prisoner photographs collection
    Government contractor and commercial photographer Thomas J. NEVIN 1870s Convictarian collector and photographer John Watt BEATTIE 1916 ...
  • Two mugshots of convict Hugh COHEN or Cowen/Cowan 1878
    These two images of Tasmanian prisoner Hugh Cohen (or Cowan/Cowen) differ slightly in details of his scarf arrangement and shirt collar. T...
  • Constable W. J. NEVIN at inquest for Frank GREEN 1882
    NEVIN BROTHERS Thomas J. and Wm John (aka Jack) HER MAJESTY'S GAOL HOBART INQUEST for Constable Frank GREEN May 1882 T he N evin B r...
  • Tasmanian crime statistics 1866-1875
    MOVEMENT of PRISONERS Hobart-Port Arthur-Hobart 1871-1875 NEPOTISM and CORRUPTION: W.R. Giblin and A.H. Boyd PHOTOGRAPHS of PRISONERS: Tho...

An IMPORTANT UPDATE

An IMPORTANT UPDATE
This is not John Jones per Wm Jardine 2
In Exiled, The Port Arthur Convict Photographs (NLA 2011, pp 166-171)

HOBART GAOL

Mugshots of Women Prisoners, Tasmania 1897-1910
Prisoner Thomas RYAN 1867-1877
Beware AI generated images of your criminal ancestors!
Prisoner John FITZPATRICK and/or John Fitzgerald 1867-1885
A missing photograph and missing letter: John SMITH (x 2) per "Mangles" and Lord Calthorpe
Prisoner Thomas ARCHER alias Thomas SMITH or James SMITH 1875
The case against Henry Stock (var. Stocks) 1884 for murder of his wife and her child
Prisoner Joseph WALMSLEY: "a queer-looking man" 1842-1891
John Nevin at inquest for James Thornton 1889
Exhibition 2019: T. J. NEVIN's mugshot of prisoner James BLANCHFIELD 1875.
Prisoner Daniel DAVIS 1883, 1892 and 1897
Prisoner William TURNER 1841-1879

PRISONER Aliases

Prisoner George CHARLTON, photo by T. J. Nevin, September 1874.
Prisoner Charles J. GARFORTH said he would make Superintendent Adolarious H. BOYD pay dearly, 1875
In a party mood: prisoner Michael LYNCH (as Horrigan, Harrigan or Sullivan), Christmas Eve, December 24th 1881
Prisoner Thomas ARCHER alias Thomas SMITH or James SMITH 1875
Prisoner James GLEN 1874 and 2003
"Hair inclined to be curley" : Henry Smith as Cooper as Clabby 1872-1894
Prisoners George NEAL (aka Neill) and George NEAL
A glaring fraud: Joseph James COOPER aka the "Artful Dodger" 1875-1889
Prisoner Thomas JEFFRIES, aka five-fingered Tom
Prisoner James MORGAN alias Morgan the Poet who sings in pubs
Prisoner George WILLIS 1850-1880s
Good reading for The Kid 1921: Tasmanian police gazettes

KEY PERSONNEL

KEY PERSONNEL
Attorney-General W.R. Giblin, photo by T. J. Nevin 1874

CONSTABLE JOHN NEVIN

CONSTABLE JOHN NEVIN
Constable John Nevin, photo by his brother T. J. Nevin ca. 1880. Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection. DO NOT REPRODUCE or PUBLISH.

TASMANIAN CONVICT PORTRAITS

TASMANIAN CONVICT PORTRAITS
T. J. NEVIN's cdv of prisoner Wm Smith and verso with government contract stamp 1874

ROGUES GALLERIES

T. J. Nevin's mugshots at the TMAG

T. J. Nevin's glass plate negatives 1870s


The Nevin collection at the State Library NSW

T. J. Nevin's mugshots at the QVMAG

Poster boys: T. J. Nevin's mugshots 1870s

T. J. Nevin's mugshots at the NLA

Categories and Tags

19th century photographers (10) 19th century prison photography (71) Aboriginal Tasmania (3) Archives Office Tasmania State Library (33) Art Gallery South Australia (2) Art Gallery of NSW (2) Attribution Issues (46) Biographica (21) Biotica (2) Cascades (5) Clothing (15) Exhibitions and Publications (79) Featured (25) Group Portraits (2) Hobart Gaol (43) Hobart Town Hall (5) KLW NFC photography (8) Kangaroo Valley Hobart (5) Legal fraternity (9) Misattribution (30) Mitchell Library SLNSW (31) National Archives UK (4) National Gallery (NGA) (1) National Library (NLA) (124) National Museum(NMA) (1) National Portrait Gallery (NPGA) (6) Negative prints (8) New Zealand National Collections (3) Newspapers (21) Parliament (5) Police Records (104) Police photographers (2) Prisoner aliases (22) Prisoner mugshots 1870s (101) Private Collections (15) QVMAG (63) Ships and Captains (5) Soldiers (4) State Library Victoria (3) Stereographs (10) Supreme Court trials (122) TMAG (55) The Port Arthur Convicts Commission (50) Thomas Nevin's Family Portraits (5) Trademarks and stamps (10) Updated (34) Videos (8) Women prisoners (5)

ARCHIVE descending 2025-2007

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From the KLW NFC Group
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COPYRIGHT NOTICE

PLEASE OBSERVE:
Copyright © Thomas J. Nevin |Tasmanian Photographer & KLW NFC Imprint 2003-2025 ARR. All research is original and in press. Theft of our online intellectual property is actionable under the Moral Rights Act 2000, the Digital Agenda Act 2000, and the Digital Millennium Act (USA).

Mugshots taken by commercial and police photographer Thomas J. NEVIN in Tasmania 1870s-1880s by KLW FC Group is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

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From the KLW NFC Group

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FEATURED POST

Hobart Gaol camera and mugshot books 1891-1901

Marion's Excelsior Camera, 22 & 23 Soho Sq., London W, The firm operated from this address between c.1866 - 1913. Held at th...

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Amy BOCK

Amy BOCK
NZ police mugshot of Amy Bock 1886, daughter of Alfred Bock, Nevin's partner 1863-67

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