Showing posts with label Cascades. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cascades. Show all posts

Prisoner Albert DORAN 1874

Prisoner Albert DORAN or Alfred or Archibald DORMAN
Photographer T. J. NEVIN at the MPO 1874 and Hobart Gaol 1875
Crimean shirts, photos by J. Bishop-Osborne


The TMAG copy
The verso of this cdv of Albert Doran bears his name - or rather his incorrectly transcribed alias - the ship on which he was transported to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), the inscription - "Taken at Port Arthur 1874" - and the number "35" . This information was inscribed by photographer and collector John Watt Beattie with his assistant Edward Searle in the early 1900s for the tourist market despite their provenance as official police documents. The number "35" on the verso of this cdv also appears on the bottom right of Beattie's sepia reprint from Nevin's original negative, inscribed by Beattie when preparing the print to be pasted to one of three panels he offered for sale in 1916 at his "Port Arthur Museum" located at 51 Murray St. Hobart (see below). This cdv, together with another 300 or so Tasmanian mugshots, was accessioned at the QVMAG Launceston from Beattie's estate on his death in the 1930s.

Between February and April 1983, five dozen or more cdv's from Beattie's collection of mugshots held at the QVMAG in Launceston were removed and exhibited at the Port Arthur prison site south of Hobart for the Port Arthur Conservation and Development Project (PACDP). To keep track of them, each was numbered in pencil on the front mount underneath the prisoner's image. Those numbers do not correspond to the original numbers written on the versos by Beattie in the early 1900s. After the exhibition, fifty (50) or so of those cdv's exhibited at Port Arthur in 1983 were not reinstated in Beattie's collection at the QVMAG, they were deposited instead at the TMAG in Hobart. An inventory of 200 mugshots drawn up in the 1980s at the QVMAG with these new numbers recto showed 127 were missing, dispersed to national and state libraries, museums and even publishers, and 72 were remaining. Albert Doran's mugshot, numbered "21" on the mount in the removal to Port Arthur and relocation to the TMAG in Hobart, was among those missing.The QVMAG inventory list can be viewed here.





Prisoner DORAN, Alfred [sic - registered by police as Albert Frederick DORAN, transported as Archibald Dorman, arrested as Alfred Dorman, Dormian and Albert Doran.
Source: TMAG Ref: Q15580

Albert Doran was transferred from Launceston to the Hobart Gaol on 29 Dec 1873. He was photographed by Thomas J. Nevin at the Police Office Hobart on 18 February 1874 when he was arrested for escaping from a gang at the Cascades Reservoir. Within days, on 22 February 1874, he was sent to the Port Arthur prison, 50 kms south of Hobart. He was transferred back to the Hobart Gaol - the Hobart House of Corrections - on 9 March 1875 when Nevin would have printed more duplicates of his cdv to be pasted to Doran's rap sheet. Unfortunately, these rap sheets from the 1870s seem not to have survived. This information is taken from the conduct record below:



Albert Doran as Archibald Dorman and McQueen
Tried Launceston Court 17 Sept 1872 Four years imprisonment with hard labor
Removed to Hobart Town 29 Dec 1873
PO Hobart Town 18.2.74 Escaping 6 months imprisonment with hard labor
Received again at Port Arthur 22 Feb 1874
Transferred to the Hobart House of Corrections 9 March 1875
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON94-1-2/CON94-1-2P61

The QVMAG copies
Albert Doran's photograph in this panel is top row first on left. It is one of three panels with 40 uncut sepia mugshots which John Watt Beattie offered for sale at his convictaria museum, Hobart, from his 1916 catalogue.



QVMAG Collection: Ref : 1983_p_0163-0176 (one of three panels)



The photograph (above) is an unmounted sepia print from the negative of Thomas J. Nevin’s sitting with Albert Doran taken at the MPO 18 February 1874. It is held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. In the early 1900s John Watt Beattie salvaged this unmounted print from the Hobart Gaol records for display at his "Port Arthur Museum" located in Murray Street Hobart, and for inclusion in intercolonial travelling exhibitions of convictaria associated with the fake convict hulk, Success, Hobart Adelaide, and Sydney. Beattie pasted this print on one of three panels of 40 sepia uncut prints of Tasmanian prisoners sourced from the Hobart Gaol Sherriff's Office and the Municipal Police Office, Town Hall, removing them from prisoners' rap sheets and the police "Photo Books" of mugshots. He offered the three panels for sale in his 1916 Catalogue. The number "35" visible in reverse at bottom right of the print was inscribed by Beattie for numbering the print and the cdv he produced for display and sale as tourist souvenirs.

Original glass plate negatives by T. J. Nevin 1870s
Reprints by J. W. Beattie ca. 1915
QVMAG Collection: Ref : 1983_p_0163-0176




"Unknown" convict at the QVMAG. Ref: QVM: 1985:P: 200151
Link: https://collection.qvmag.tas.gov.au/fmi/webd/QVMAGweb

 Albert Doran's photograph, as one of the 40 mugshots pasted to three panels and offered for sale by Beattie in 1916, was reprinted in black and white from Beattie's reprint of Nevin's original sepia negative in 1985 by Chris Long during a short "residency" at the QVMAG. He fogged out cracks, dirt and scratches in the process for reasons known only to himself since they serve no apparent purpose. The prisoner, however, was not identified as Albert Doran at the QVMAG because the carte-de-visite print in an oval mount of this same capture (e.g. the TMAG cdv above) which was inscribed with his name and ship verso in the early 1900s had been removed from the QVMAG in 1983 for exhibition at the Port Arthur Heritage site. He was therefore listed as "Unknown" when put online in the 2000s (QVMAG. Ref: QVM: 1985:P: 200151).

The Archives Office Tasmania copy



Archives Office of Tasmania webshot 2005
Reference: PH30/1/3257
Title: Alfred Doran or Albert Dorman


Caption: Alfred Doran, probably Albert Dorman, convict transported per Blenheim. Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin.

DUPLICATE or COPY?
This mounted cdv of Albert Doran now held at the Archives Office Tasmania is either a duplicate made by Nevin from his original in 1874 (he produced 4 prints from his negative at the one sitting with the prisoner) or a poor copy of the cdv now held at the TMAG (see above). As a copy it was most likely sourced as an estray from Radcliffe's tourist attraction at Port Arthur (by then called Carnavon) in the 1930s called "The Old Curiosity Shop" where he displayed convictaria originally sourced from Beattie's collections.



Archives Office of Tasmania APA citation 2013:
"Alfred Doran, probably Albert Dorman, convict transported per Blenheim. Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin. LINC Tasmania"
BDM details: Albert DORAN
ARRIVAL VDL (Hobart) 1851 as Archibald Dorman, Alfred Dorman https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1388173
Dorman, Albert
Record Type: Convicts
Departure date: 29 Jul 1851
Departure port: Cork
Ship: Blenheim (4)
Place of origin: Down
Remarks: Transported as Archibald Dorman
Conviction: Larceny of plate, transported for 7 years per Blenheim 4
Source: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON33-1-104/CON33-1-104P84



Transportation record, listed as Archibald Dorman, labourer, 24 years old
LInk: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON33-1-104/CON33-1-104P84

CONDUCT 1857 -Albert Dorman
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1502869
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON94-1-2/CON94-1-2P61

CHILDREN with Bridget Kenny
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/964845
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/968990 [and more etc etc]

DEATH 21 November 1890 New Town Charitable Inst 66 yrs old
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/RGD35-1-13/RGD35-1-13P6

Police Gazette and Court Records
Sources: The Archives Office of Tasmania for original documents. Additional information from the weekly police gazettes, Tasmania Reports of Crime for Police, J. Barnard, Gov't printer, and court records with links from the Prosecution Project, Griffith University from Archives Office of Tasmania records.
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1388173;
Link: https://app.prosecutionproject.griffith.edu.au/web/public-search/search

1857: larceny
Larceny, sentenced to 2 yrs HM Gaol with hard labor
https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1502869

Name: Dorman, Albert
Record Type: Court
Status: Free by servitude
Trial date: 23 Jul 1857
Place of trial: Oatlands
Offense: Stealing 1 pair of candlesticks value: 20/- and other articles the property of daniel brown
Verdict: Guilty

1863: housebreaking
Larceny 1863 housebreaking with Bridget Doran
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/SC32-1-8/SC32-1-8_223

106576 ALBERT DORAN MALE HOUSEBREAKING AND STEALING 1863-07-29 HOBART TOWN SMITH NOT GUILTY Link 1 and Link 2

1864: discharged
Discharged 1864 by proclamation
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/SC32-1-8/SC32-1-8_252

106780 ALBERT DORAN MALE LARCENY 1864-06-01 HOBART TOWN SMITH DISCHARGED BY PROCLAMATION Link 1 and Link 2

The reason for Albert Doran's discharge by proclamation probably came down to a lack of evidence or witnesses. This episode in 1861 prompted the reporter to query discharge by proclamation:
DISCHARGED BY PROCLAMATION. Our readers know that when a prisoner has been "committed" to take his trial it not unfrequently happens, or rather it too frequently happens, that the grand jury of the colony, the Attorney-General, declines to file a bill of indictment. In that case when the court is in session the crier at the command of the judge begins, "0yez, 0yez, 0yer," and invites all and sundry who know of treason, felonies, &c., against the prisoner, to come forward and prosecute, and the functionary then informs all and sundry that if they will not or cannot do so, the prisoner will be discharged, and discharged he is. At the last sessions of the Supreme Court, this operation was performed in the case of two individuals charged with housebreaking, brought home to them by the clearest and most conclusive evidence. A witness saw part of the property identified, in the dwelling of the prisoners. Another witness saw them jointly planting property on the north side of the Cataract. The police were informed of this, and two detectives discovered the articles. They also found a counterpane belonging to the prosecutor on the bed of the prisoners. The male prisoner was seen in the plundered dwelling on the day of the robbery. Now why were not these persons left to the disposal of a jury ? Why were they discharged by proclamation ? We ask on public grounds and in the interests of justice to society -Can any satisfactory explanation be given ? We fear not.
Source: Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899), Tuesday 22 January 1861, page 2

1872: larceny
Larceny, tried Launceston, 4 yrs imprisonment
https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/ab693-1-1/ab693-1-1_101
He was charged with stealing a gun and spoons.

112579 ALBERT DORAN MALE LARCENY 1872 08-24 GUILTY4 YEARS Link 1

1874: absconding
Absconding 1874, served 6 months
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/AB693-1-1/AB693-1-1_101



Albert Doran, alias Archibald Dormian ship Blenheim (4), warrant for absconding, published in the police gazette, 6 February 1874:

TRANSCRIPT
ABSCONDED
On the 2nd instant, dressed in grey clothing, from the Gang employed at the Reservoir near the Cascade factory, whilst undergoing a sentence of four years passed on him at the General Sessions, Launceston, on 17th September 1872 for Larceny.
Albert Doran, alias Archibald Dormian, ship Blenheim (4), F.S., 45 years of age, 5 feet 4½ inches high, ruddy complexion, long head, greyish hair, whiskers shaved, round visage. high forehead, sandy eyebrows, blue eyes, medium nose, small mouth, an Irishman, a gardener, speck in left eye, scar centre of forehead, mole on centre of left cheek.
Warrant for Albert Dorian 6 Feb 1874; arrest on 20 Feb 1874.



Albert Doran was arrested on 20 February 1874 by the Oatlands Municipal Police. He absconded from this reservoir, photographed by Thomas Nevin's friend and business partner Samuel Clifford in the 1860s:

Cascades Reservoir 1860s

Description: Photograph - Mt Wellington from the Cascade Brewery Reservoir, photographer Samuel Clifford, Liverpool Street, Hobart
Item Number: LPIC147/5/159
Start Date: 01 Jan 1860 End Date: 31 Dec 1869
Source:Tasmanian Archives
Link:https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/LPIC147-5-159




Storage reservoir, H.T. waterworks Clifford photo.
Author/Creator: Clifford, Samuel, 1827-1890.
Publication Information: 1867.
Physical description: 1 photograph : sepia toned ; 8 x 8 cm.
Notes: Title printed on label and pasted below image.
Inscribed below image lower left in ink: Clifford photo. ; right: 1867.
For descriptive notes by Alfred Abbott see his notebook item 192.
In: Abbott album Item 112
Citation: Digitised item from: W L Crowther Library, State Library of Tasmania.
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Library/SD_ILS-136580

1877: discharged
Albert Doran, using the alias William Hales, was charged with stealing two silver spoons.



Albert Doran, 50 yrs old also known to police as Dorman or Dorman, per Blenheim 4 was discharged from the Hobart Gaol on 21 February 1877 from sentencing of 4 yrs in Sept 1872 and absconding for 6 months from a gang in 1874.

1878: assault and rape
Assault and rape 1878 - ignored together with John Hall
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/AB693-1-1/AB693-1-1_117
The charge was "ignored" - what was the meaning then? Was it was dropped by the complainant?

117738 ALBERT DORAN MALE ASSAULT AND RAPE 1878-06-21 IGNORED Link 1

1879: fraud



TRANSCRIPT
The Crimean shirts obtained from Mr. W. J. Jarvis have been recovered by D. C. McMurray, of the Hobart Territorial Police, and Albert Frederick Doran convicted of the offence.
Albert Doran was convicted of obtaining five Crimean shirts from Jarvis's drapery Murray by fraudulent means, sentenced to three months.

The CRIMEAN SHIRT
As told by Google AI:
The "Crimean shirt" is so named because it was a style of shirt commonly worn by soldiers during the Crimean War (1853-1856). It was typically a wide, collared, V-necked shirt, often made of flannel, and usually without buttons. It often came in solid colors like red or blue, and was frequently worn with a sash or belt around the waist. The design allowed for ease of movement, and the sleeves were often rolled up during work, making it a practical choice for soldiers and laborers. The shirt's popularity extended beyond the Crimean War, becoming a common piece of clothing for bushmen, stockmen, and miners in Australia, especially from the 1860s onward.The Crimean War also gave rise to other clothing items, including the cardigan and balaclava hood, reflecting the need for warm clothing during the conflict.
Commercial photographer John Bishop-Osborne was active in Tasmania in the years 1879-1894. The posed tableau (below) of rugged and relaxed masculinity may have been at the request of a local tobacconist wishing to advertise his stock and wares. The message: smoking pleasure awaits working-class men of the bush if they were to indulge in a certain brand of tobacco and pipe, a pleasure enhanced no doubt by wearing a Crimean shirt in a choice of styles.

Modelled here are four styles: two men wear the short sleeve collarless style with a V-neck - one standing centre, the other seated on left in a darker colour. The man seated at centre wears the long-sleeve collarless button-to-the neck style, and the man standing to the right wears a dark - possibly red - long-sleeve style open to the waist with a full collar. The man reclining, pointing to the future, wears a short sleeve button-to-the neck style. Bishop-Osborne was favoured for his portaits of actors and celebrities. His five models for this tableau may have been actors in a production at the Theatre Royal. Alfred Dampier’s stage adaptation of Boldrewood’s Robbery Under Arms played there on December 26, 1896, with Dampier in the lead as Captain Starlight. See Addendum below for another of his group photographs, this time of men in Crimean shirts actually working, taken at the Zeehan silvermines.



From © The Private Collection of John & Robyn McCullagh 2005-2007. ARR.
Link: https://johnmccullagh.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/bishop-osbornes-pipe-smokers/

1879: convicted and discharged



Frederick Albert Doran per Blenheim 3 [sic - 4], 50 yrs old, gardener, resident of Hobart, Free in Service (FS), two previous convictions, was convicted during the week ending 6 September 1879 of obtaining goods by false pretences.



Listed with Frederick - "Fredk" as first name, "A" for Albert as middle name, Albert Doran per Blenheim 4. tried Hobart 2 September 1879 for obtaining goods by false pretences was sentenced at Hobart for three months. Description: 51 yrs old, born Ireland, 5 ft 4 ins , light brown hair, speck left eye, scar centre forehead, mole left cheek, scar back of left arm. Discharged from H. M. Gaol week ending 3 December 1879.

Addenda
1. Supreme Court Records 1863-64



Discharged 1864 by proclamation
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/SC32-1-8/SC32-1-8_252

106780 ALBERT DORAN MALE LARCENY 1864-06-01 HOBART TOWN SMITH DISCHARGED BY PROCLAMATION Link 1 and Link 2



Larceny 1863 housebreaking with Bridget Doran
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/SC32-1-8/SC32-1-8_223

106576 ALBERT DORAN MALE HOUSEBREAKING AND STEALING 1863-07-29 HOBART TOWN SMITH NOT GUILTY Link 1 and Link 2

106780 ALBERT DORAN MALE LARCENY 1864-06-01 HOBART TOWN SMITH DISCHARGED BY PROCLAMATION Link 1 and Link 2

Source: The Prosecution Project, Griffith University from Archives Office of Tasmania records
Link: https://app.prosecutionproject.griffith.edu.au/web/public-search/search


2. Miners in Crimean work shirts



Source: https://findlotsonline.com/auction-lot-details/769346/

BISHOP-OSBORNE, John [1851-1934] - Silver Miners near Zeehan, northwest Tasmania, circa 1891-94
Silver albumen print photograph, cabinet card format, 110 x 160mm; verso with photographer’s wet stamp.
Notes:A Hobart photographer, Bishop-Osborne was based at Zeehan between 1891 and 1894. Large deposits of silver-lead ore had been discovered in the area in 1882 and by 1893, 14,000 tonnes were being mined each year.

RELATED POSTS main weblog

T. J. NEVIN's cdv's of Wm PRICE and Wm YEOMANS; A.H. BOYD's testimony 1875

Mugshots of Tasmanian "convicts" taken by Thomas J. NEVIN 1870s
National collections and exhibitions of Tasmanian mugshots in the 20th & 21st centuries.
A. H. BOYD's dismal career in public office; his misattribution by the NLA.

Thomas J. Nevin's original photographs of Tasmanian prisoners (or "Port Arthur convicts" when used in tourism discourse) which he provided on government contract for police in Hobart from 1872 to the 1886 included these two mounted carte-de-visite mugshots of prisoners William Price and William Yeomans. Both cdvs held at the National Library of Australia were spared numbering on the recto when accessioned in the 1960s from government estrays donated by Dr Neil Gunson and correctly attributed as the work of commercial photographer T. J. Nevin (1842-1923). A collection of 84 Tasmanian prisoner mugshots is currently held at the NLA. Two hundred and more of Nevin's 1870s mugshots were removed from police criminal registers ca. 1900-1916 by convictarian John Watt Beattie for sale and exhibition. Those mugshots were not spared the archivists' now-obsolete numbering and historically inaccurate information when they were acquired by the QVMAG on Beattie's death in 1930.

Fresh sets of numbers and names by museum workers subsequently appeared on all these cdvs held at the QVMAG when they were removed from Beattie's original collection in Launceston and deposited elsewhere for local, national and travelling exhibitions in the late 20th century. With digitisation of these photographic records in the first decades of the 21st century, some public institutions have omitted older, important archival information, and in the case of Thomas J. Nevin's historically correct attribution as the original photographer, the NLA in particular has compromised their records with speculations about the corrupt commandant A. H. Boyd who did not personally photograph any prisoner during his service at the Port Arthur site 1871-1873. A non-photographer, A. H. Boyd's name appeared on NLA records against their collection of Nevin's mugshots for no other reason than to support  the Port Arthur Historic Site's claim for World Heritage status in 2007, and principally at the behest of a former employee with a personal agenda seeking affirmation through derogation of Nevin's work, family and descendants (see section below In His Own Words).

Prisoner William PRICE: The TMAG copy



Prisoner PRICE, William
TMAG Ref: Q15590
Numbered on recto: "100"
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin



Verso: Prisoner PRICE, William
TMAG Ref: Q15590. Inscribed recto with number "100"
Inscribed verso with number "265" and "William Price per 'Triton' Taken at port Arthur 1874"
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin 1879

The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery constructed four wooden-framed collages under glass from their collection of Thomas Nevin's prisoner mugshots for an exhibition titled Mirror with a Memory at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, in 2000. Nevin's cdv of William Price was placed bottom row, centre in this frame (below). However, for reasons best described as blind-sided, the TMAG staff who chose these mugshots sent the four frames to Canberra, five cdvs in the first, six per frame in the other three, with labels on the back of each wooden frame stating that the photographs were attributed to A. H. Boyd, the corrupt Commandant of the Port Arthur prison who was not a photographer by any definition of the term, nor an engineer despite any pretension on his part and especially despite the social pretensions of his descendants who began circulating the photographer attribution as a rumour in the 1980s to compensate no doubt for Boyd's vile reputation (see section In His Own Words below).

The QVMAG had correctly attributed the mugshots of convicts to police and commercial photographer Thomas J. Nevin in 1976. But by 1987 and subsequently, exhibitions were mounted at venues such as the National Portrait Gallery by "curators" who had simply collated the ONE Woolley photograph of A. H. Boyd - acquired by the TMAG in 1978 - with Nevin's convict photographs which had been physically removed from the QVMAG collection in 1983 by Elspeth Wishart for a display and exhibition at the Port Arthur Heritage Site. The majority of the prisoner photographs in these four picture frames bear a pencilled number on the front. Those numbers appear as missing prisoner photographs on the QVMAG lists of 1-300 convict cdvs which were originally archived at the QVMAG in Beattie's collection. For example, William Price is numbered "100" on recto, and is noted as missing from the QVMAG inventory when it was prepared and received here (to this researcher) in 2005.



Names as they appear on the back of the wooden frame:
Top, from left to right: James Rogers, Henry Clabley [sic], George Leathley
Bottom, from left to right: Ephraim Booth, William Price, Robert West

Photos recto and verso copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2014-2015
Taken at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 10 November 2014

Prisoner William PRICE: the NLA copy
This copy was spared any numbering on the recto when it was acquired in the 1960s from government estrays and accessioned at the National Library of Australia as one of several from the Gunson collection.



National Library of Australia catalogue notes:
Part of collection: Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874. No numbering on recto.
Title from inscription on reverse. "William Price, per Triton, taken at Port Arthur, 1874"
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-142918514
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)

TRANSPORTATION RECORDS
Name: Price, William
Record Type: Convicts
Property: Port Arthur Penal Station
Tasman Peninsula Probation Stations
Departure date: 17 Aug 1842
Departure port: London
Ship: Triton
Place of origin: Bath, Somerset
Voyage number: 207
Police number: 8081
Index number: 57501
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1427135
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1427135

Name: Yeomans, William
Record Type: Convicts
Employer: Bush, William: 1855
Property: Port Arthur Penal Station
Departure date: 6 Oct 1829
Departure port: Downs
Ship: Bussorah Merchant
Place of origin: Plymouth, Devon
Voyage number: 71
Police number: 66
Index number: 79123
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1449339
Link:https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1449339

POLICE RECORDS
William Price per Triton (arrived Hobart 1842) and William Yeomans per Bussorah Merchant (arrived Hobart 1829) were granted TICKETS-OF-LEAVE on 4th July 1879. Both were photographed by T. J. Nevin on discharge on the same day in the week ending 9 July 1879. Both were sentenced to life - Wm Yeomans in 1857 for stabbing with intent, and Wm Price in 1862 for burglary. Yeomans was 63 yrs old on discharge and Price was 55 yrs old. Born in 1824, William Price died at the Hobart Hospital in May 1897, 73 years old, of a malignant disease of the rectum. William Yeomans died of senilis at the New Town Charitable Institute in September 1899. He was 91 years old.



William Price per Triton and William Yeomans per Bussorah Merchant were granted TICKETS-OF-LEAVE on 4th July 1879. Both were photographed by T. J. Nevin on discharge at Hobart in the week ending 9 July 1879.



Source: Tasmanian Reports of Crime for Police Information Only, J. Barnard Gov't printer.

Prisoner William YEOMANS: three copies



National Library of Australia catalogue notes:
Part of collection: Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874.
Gunson Collection file 203/7/54.
Title from inscription on reverse.; Inscription: "No 57"--On reverse.
Verso inscription: "William Yeomans, per Basorah [i.e. Bussorah] Merchant, taken at Port Arthur, 1874"
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-142914713
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)



William Yeomans, cdv top right.
NLA Collection



Recto and verso of the NLA collection housed in plastic sleeves:
NLA copy of T. J. Nevin's cdv of prisoner William Yeomans, 1879 Hobart Gaol Campbell St.
Photographed at the NLA on 16th December 2016
Photo © KLW NFC 2016 ARR

Compare the versos: the NLA copy has the phrase "Taken at Port Arthur" added in the same orthographic style of the early 1900s as it appears on the majority of these prisoners cdv's. That phrase and the number "57" are missing on the verso of the QVMAG copy, suggesting the NLA copy was a reprint from Nevin's negative and numbered for exhibition, with the name of the prison "Port Arthur" added to suggest authenticity for prospective tourists to the site.

In all, there are three extant copies of the photograph taken once and once only in the 1870s by government contractor Thomas Nevin of prisoner William Yeomans: one at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery; one - the name misspelt as "Stormans" - at the Archives Office of Tasmania, the latter two both numbered "2" on the front, and a third which is held at the National Library of Australia with no numbering on the front, rather, it is numbered "57" on the verso, testifying to further copying from a single original glass negative by later archivists again. The NLA copy of the Yeomans carte is an archival estray donated there by Dr Neil Gunson in 1962 and accessioned correctly with T. J. Nevin's attribution. The QVMAG copy was exhibited at the Port Arthur Conservation Project in 1983 along with the cdv of William Price, now held at the TMAG.



Prisoner William Yeomans 1870s
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery black and white copy made in 1985 from the sepia original
Numbering: 1958:78:22, QVM 1985: P:69
Photographer: T. J. Nevin (1842-1923)

William Yeoman's cdv at the QVMAG is the second in a series numbered recto 1, 2, and 3. Number 1 was written on George Nutt's cdv; number 2 on Yeoman's cdv, and number 3 on Bewley Tuck's cdv. As the recto on Yeomans' carte is numbered "2", its verso was most likely placed on top of the front of George Nutt's carte when the QVMAG archivist was in the process of copying them in 1958. The catalogue number for the job in 1958 was 1958:78:22, accompanied by the QVM stamp with more numbers. George Nutt's cdv shows the ink impress left by the square QVM stamp across his left cheek and collar from the verso of the second carte in the series in 1958 which was placed on top of it, that of convict carte No.2, Wm Yeomans.

For this reason, the square stamp ink is visible in the AOT image, but not in the QVMAG image, although identical in all other respects, which points to multiple copies made by the QVMAG archivist (in Launceston) for circulation to the AOT office in 1977 and in some cases, to the TMAG in 1983 (in Hobart). The original print from which 20th century copies were made may be the one held at the QVMAG but not necessarily the only duplicate which was first made by Thomas Nevin from his glass negative and used in prison and court criminal registers.

The original transcription of the convict's name and ship and the date 1874 was added much earlier, sometime between the late 1890s and 1930s when this collection of prisoner mugshots taken by Nevin for police in the 1870s was removed by John Watt Beattie from police photo books. He displayed them in his "Port Arthur Museum" of convictaria located in Hobart in the early 1900s and in travelling exhibitions associated with the fake convict hulk "Success". The collection was donated on his death in 1930 to the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston.

The most recent inscriptions on these three cdvs 1, 2 and 3 by archivists date from 1985; e.g. QVM1985:P69, and are in a childish hand. The QVMAG copy was exhibited at the Port Arthur Conservation Project in 1983, when several dozen copies were removed from Beattie's collection at the QVMAG, Launceston, and post-exhibition, deposited at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart. Further numbering was applied to the recto of those cdvs exhibited for that exhibition (Wishart, 1983).



This copy was catalogued at the Archives Office Tasmania from the copy at the QVMAG in the 1970s with Yeomans' name misspelt as "Stormans".

A. H. BOYD: in his own words, 1875
There is NO statement on the verso of the QVMAG's cdv of William Yeoman or on the other two in the series 1, 2, and 3 that these three photographs were taken at Port Arthur, nor any indication that the commandant of the prison there, A. H. Boyd personally photographed this prisoner or any other prisoner during the 1870s. The third prisoner carte in the series, that of Bewley Tuck, with the number "3" on recto, similarly lacks the inscription "Taken at Port Arthur" - the phase applied purely for exhibition purposes during the 20th century from Beattie's time.



Photographic portrait of A. H. Boyd, donated to the TMAG in 1978
Photographer: Charles A. Woolley ca. 1866
TMAG Ref:Q7661

Adolarius Humphrey Boyd was dismissed from the position of Superintendent of the Orphan School in 1864 for mistreatment of male teachers and accusations levelled at several senior women on staff. Public outrage in the press at his appointment to the position of Commandant of the Port Arthur prison in 1871 urged his unfitness to hold another government office. Less than two years later he was cited in a report as co-conspirator with Inspector of Public Works Mr. Cheverton to defraud the government over fabricated costs for maintenance and embezzlement of timber from the Port Arthur prison site. He was duly forced to resign in December 1873 with calls from both the public and members of Parliament to close the Port Arthur prison within the next year. Even so, this disgraced official A. H. Boyd was subsequently appointed Superintendent of the Cascades Establishment (Women's Prison), the position he held when called before the Commission into Penal Discipline in 1875.

Appearing in front of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Commission into Penal Discipline on 18th January 1875, A. H. Boyd, Superintendent of the Cascades Establishment (Women's Prison), gave this outline (below) of duties performed during his career. He made no mention of photographing prisoners because he neither photographed them personally, nor did he oversee their production at any time. He may have received a request sent from the Colonial Secretary's office in January 1874 for photographic copies of prisoners who had absconded - from work gangs on Hobart's Domain, not from Port Arthur - but Boyd was already absent from his Port Arthur position by December 1873, forced to resign. In any event, nothing in the Colonial Secretary's memo suggests Boyd was the actual photographer of any prisoner (though cited by his apologists for a photographer attribution), even though cameras and photographic equipment belonging to professional photographers Samuel Clifford and Thomas Nevin were readily available on site from July 1873 to May 1874 when they were requested to provide the Parliament with visual evidence of Boyd's neglect of the prison buildings and illegal deforestation of the site. Boyd also failed to mention that he was dismissed from the position of Superintendent at the Orphan School, New Town in 1864 because of his misogynistic bullying of women employees; the complaint was lodged by "the board of ladies" presided over by Mrs. C. Meredith and upheld with Boyd's subsequent dismissal.

Here is A. H. Boyd's account of his official duties in his own words, Tasmanian House of Assembly Report of Commission into Penal Discipline, August 1875, pp 2-3:

Page 2:



TRANSCRIPT
Page 2:
Questions answered by MR A.H. BOYD, Superintendent of Cascades Establishment.

23. What office do you fill in connection with this establishment, and what is your previous experience? I hold the offices of Gaoler, House of Correction, and Superintendent of the Reformatory for Juvenile Offenders. As to my previous experience I beg to say I first entered the Convict Department in the month of March, 1847, as junior clerk at the prisoners' barracks: this appointment I held until April, 1848.
Page 3:
From August, 1848, to 31st March, 1860, I occupied the position first of storekeeper at Salt Water River, then of medical clerk at Impression Bay, then storekeeper at Port Arthur, and afterwards of accountant and storekeeper for Tasman's Peninsula. In March, 1861, I obtained the appointment of Superintendent of Police for the city of Hobart, which I held for nearly two years. [Boyd deliberately omits information here - his dismissal from the Orphan School in 1864 -ed.]. In May, 1871, I was appointed Civil Commandant and Superintendent of Tasman's Peninsula, which offices I held until the 31st March last*, when I was transferred to this establishment as Superintendent.
Source: 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
Link: https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/PPWeb/1875/HA1875pp49.pdf

*A. H. Boyd was forced to resign in December 1873 as "Civil Commandant and Superintendent of Tasman's Peninsula" - i.e. the prison at Port Arthur - well before his transfer to the position of Superintendent of the Cascades Establishment, South Hobart. His accomplice in the theft of timber from Port Arthur was the public works overseer Mr. William Cheverton whom we shall call "Shingle-short Cheverton"... see this report in the Hobart Mercury, Friday 20 June, 1873 page 2.

Allegations such as alderman candidate and public works contractor James Spence's of gross misconduct in 1872 on the part of public officials came as no surprise a few years later to his supporter Thomas Nevin who had to contend with the notoriously corrupt Mr. W. H. Cheverton, the figure at the centre of James Spence's allegations, when Nevin with his close friend and colleague Samuel Clifford were requested by Parliament in July 1873 to pay a visit to the Port Arthur prison site to photograph the ruinous state of the buildings and surrounds. William Cheverton used his dual roles of Inspector of Public Works and private contractor to please himself. He had the publicly reviled prison Commandant A. H. Boyd in his pocket, and by December 1873, when each was found to have shared the spoils of embezzlement of public funds after they provided Parliament with false reports on the need for massive expenditure at Port Arthur, they were summarily dismissed from public office. A. H. Boyd's term at the Cascades Establishment was short-lived. By 1877 he was begging the government in the press to compensate him for dispensing with his services (Mercury, 9 May 1877).

RELATED POSTS main weblog

The Trial of Joshua ANSON 1877

Joshua ANSON, criminal offence 1877
Photographers H. H. BAILY, T. J. NEVIN, ANSON Bros. 1870s-1880s
James CRONIN, prisoner ex Aboukir 1851



Detail of Joshua Anson's Hobart Gaol record with photos taken 1877 (Nevin) & 1897 (unknown)
Source: Archives Office State Library of Tasmania
Mugshots 1891 GD67-1-10, 1895 GD128-1-2, 1901 GD128-1-1


The Anson brothers photographers, and there were only two - Joshua, who called himself John once paroled from prison on January 12, 1879, and his brother Henry who died in 1890 (the third brother Richard, b. 1851 died in infancy) - bought Samuel Clifford's studio and stock in 1878. Included in that purchase were photographs, negatives, cartes and stereographs by Clifford & Nevin taken and printed during their partnership which began in the 1860s and lasted beyond 1876 when Nevin transferred the "interest" in his commercial negatives to Clifford (Mercury, January 17th, 1876). John Watt Beattie joined the Anson brothers in 1890, buying them out in 1892, and reprinting many of the stock of Clifford and Nevin he had acquired through the purchase and without due attribution.

Joshua Anson 1877 and 1897
Joshua Anson was indicted for feloniously stealing a quantity of photographic goods from his employer, H. H. Baily, photographer, of Hobart Town on May 31st, 1877. The charge was larceny as a servant. The prisoner pleaded not guilty. Despite the depositions of good character from photographer Samuel Clifford, Charles Walch the stationer, and W.R. Giblin, lawyer and Attorney-General, Joshua Anson (b. 1854, Hobart), was found guilty of stealing goods valued at £88, though the real value of the goods, which included camera equipment, negatives, paper, mounts, chemicals, tripods etc exceeded £140. He was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, with parole. On July 12, 1877, the Mercury reported that Joshua Anson’s appeal was ” to seek to retrieve his character by an honest career in another colony; and asked that during his incarceration he might be kept from the company of other prisoners as much as possible, though not, he said, on account of feeling himself above them, as the verdict of the jury removed that possibility.” The seriousness of the crime warranted a 14 year sentence, but the jury strongly recommended him to mercy “on account of his youth“.

Henry Hall Baily, the victim of Joshua Anson's theft in 1877, was a colleague and close friend of Thomas Nevin. Their respective studios in the 1860s were located opposite each other in Elizabeth St. Hobart Town. Baily and his wife were in Nevin's company that fateful night in December 1880 when Nevin was detained by Detective Connor on suspicion of acting in concert with the "ghost". The Chief Justice in Joshua Anson's case was Sir Francis Villeneuve Smith, who was photographed about this same time holding a carte-de-visite. The photograph was later reprinted by Beattie, and although the original is unattributed, it can safely be assumed from the Justice's ascerbic comments on Anson's character in the course of hearing the case on July 11, 1877, that Joshua Anson was certainly NOT the photographer.

Joshua Anson's trial stirred interest. The Mercury, July 11th, 1877 reported:
Second Court
Before His Honor the Chief Justice
LARCENY AS A SERVANT
Joshua Anson was indicted for feloniously stealing a quantity of photographic goods from his employer, H. H. Baily, photographer, of Hobart Town on May 31st, 1877. The prisoner pleaded not guilty.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL prosecuted, and Mr. J. S. DODDS defended the prisoner."
Despite the depositions of good character from photographer Samuel Clifford, Charles Walch the stationer, and W.R. Giblin, lawyer and Attorney-General, Joshua Anson (b. 1854, Hobart), was found guilty of stealing goods valued at 88 pounds, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment, with parole. This was no small misdemeanour. Joshua Anson had also racked up a large bill at Walch's Stationers with promissaries for goods which included expensive imported equipment.

The Mercury, July 11, 1877 further reported:
"H.H. Baily's evidence was in substance the same as that given at the preliminary examination in the Police Court. He believed all the articles produced in Court, embracing views, portraits, mounts, albums etc were his property, and specially identified some particular albums and other goods as his.
By Mr. DODDS: Two albums produced are not mine, but they contain views that have been taken from negatives that belong to me. The mounts produced I claim, as I have similar mounts in my shop. Other photographers in the town have not got mounts of the same quality. I cannot possibly say that the cards are mine. The albumenized paper I cannot swear as to my property. The glass produced I cannot identify as my property, but I have missed some glass of a similar description, marked with a diamond in the corner. I cannot swear to the brushes produced ..... The stereoscopic views (produced) were printed by the prisoner from negatives belonging to me .... I have treated the prisoner as my brother.... About 12 months ago, I increased his salary from 2 to 3 pounds a week, but I did not then offer to give him an interest in the business .... I have assisted him in printing from negatives belonging to him in order to see the effect of the printing. Some of these negatives were upon glass belonging to me. I did not then suspect him of taking my property. I had lent the prisoner a camera and lens, a tripod stand, and a glass but nothing else. I gave the prisoner on one occasion permission to take two bottles of chemicals home, so as to take quantities out for his own use ....." " .... W.R. Giblin said he had known the prisoner for about seven years, and his reputation for honesty was good. Witness had personally a very high opinion of the prisoner and had offered to find him 50 to 100 pounds to set him up in business but the prisoner declined the offer....."



Attorney-General W.R. Giblin by Thomas J. Nevin ca. 1874
Archives Office of Tasmania Ref: NS 1013/1971

"The Jury, after a retirement of about 20 minutes, found the prisoner guilty, and strongly recommended him to mercy on account of his youth...."

The charges warranted a sentence of 14 years, but was shown mercy on account of his youth.



Source: Criminal: re Anson, June 29, 77 (1.189)

On July 12, 1877, The Mercury reported that Joshua Anson's appeal was -
" to seek to retrieve his character by an honest career in another colony; and asked that during his incarceration he might be kept from the company of other prisoners as much as possible, though not, he said, on account of feeling himself above them, as the verdict of the jury removed that possibility."




Joshua Anson, 22 years old, arraigned at the Supreme Court, Hobart on 10th July 1877 for the offence of larceny as a servant, was sentenced to two years.



Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police, Gov's printer J. Barnard

Joshua Anson was discharged from H. M. Gaol on 15 January 1879, the residue of sentence remitted.



Joshua Anson's Hobart Gaol record
Source: Archives Office State Library of Tasmania
Mugshots 1891 GD67-1-10, 1895 GD128-1-2, 1901 GD128-1-1

Joshua Anson did not take the two photographs of himself that were pasted to his criminal sheet, the first (on left) in 1877 when he was 23 yrs old, and the second (on right) in 1897 when he was 43 yrs old, nor did he photograph any of the other prisoners for gaol records while serving time at the Hobart Gaol. His abhorrence of the company of convicts was extreme, as his statement testifies. His 1877 prisoner mugshot was taken by Constable John Nevin in situ, and unmounted. Thomas Nevin may have printed another for the Municipal Police Office Registry at the Town Hall, Macquaries St. Hobart where he was the Hall and Office Keeper, but it is yet to be identified among the Tasmanian prisoner cdvs held in public collections. Joshua Anson was certainly the beneficiary of Thomas Nevin’s stock and commercial negatives when Samuel Clifford acquired them in 1876 and then sold them on to Joshua Anson and his brother Henry Anson in 1878. The Anson brothers reprinted Clifford & Nevin’s Port Arthur stereoscopes for their highly commercial album, published in 1890 as Port Arthur Past and Present without due acknowledgement to either Nevin or Clifford.

The Launceston Examiner reported another theft by Joshua Anson on 30 May, 1896.



TRANSCRIPT
HOBART, Friday
At the City Court to-day Joshua Anson, photographer, was charged with having robbed Charles Perkins of £32 12s5d. Accused, who was not represented by counsel, stated he had had two epileptic fits since he was arrested, and his head was not now clear. He asked for a remand. After the evidence of the prosecution had been taken, the accused was remanded till Tuesday.
Beautiful spring-like weather is prevailing.
Both of the Anson brothers were incarcerated at different times at the Hobart Gaol. In July 1889, Henry Anson, aged 39, was sentenced to one month for being drunk. Soon after Joshua Anson's parole, the two Anson Brothers set up business at various addresses:

132 Liverpool St. Hobart 1878-80
129 Collins St. Hobart 1880-87
36 Elizabeth St. Hobart 1880-87
52 Elizabeth St. Hobart 1887-91



Ansons' studio, 36 Elizabeth St 1880 (TAHO)

The photograph of ex-convict James Cronin



Studio portrait of ex-convict James Cronin ca. 1880
Anson Brothers 1880s, TMAG Collection

This is the only extant image of former convict James Cronin (1824-1885). It was taken by the Anson brothers, commercial photographers, as an Album portrait in their Hobart studio in the 1880s, i.e. it was therefore a privately commissioned portrait, and this is evident from both the street clothes and the pose of the sitter. It is not a police photograph, ie. a mugshot pasted to a criminal record sheet, unlike those taken by Thomas J. Nevin for the express use of police authorities, because James Cronin was not an habitual offender, at least, he was never convicted and sentenced under his own name in the decades 1860s-1880s or up to his death in 1885 at the Cascades Hospital for the Insane, Hobart. The Tasmanian Police Gazettes of those decades registered no offence for James Cronin, nor even an inquest when he died of pulmonary apoplexy on July 16, 1885.

Criminal and Transportation History: James Cronin (1824-1885)
James Cronin may have offended at Limerick for theft prior to his major felony of shooting at Jas. Hogan with intent to kill in 1847. He was transported to Bermuda on HMS Medway in the same year to serve eight years.  It was at Bermuda that he attempted to murder Mrs Elleanor Howes, wife of James Howes, mate in charge of the prison hulk, the Coromandel. Despatches from Charles Elliot, governor of Bermuda (CO 37/135) requested James Cronin be returned to England on HMS Wellesley to be convicted and transported to Tasmania (VDL) in correspondence dated January and April 1851. James Cronin arrived at Norfolk Island on board the Aboukir in March 1852, and thence to the Port Arthur prison Tasmania in December where he was "detained" until 1857 and assigned on probation to Major Lloyd at New Norfolk, Hobart on 27th November.



The National Archives UK has two entries for James Cronin detailing his attempt to murder Mrs Howes in Bermuda:
1. Reference:CO 37/135/4 Description:
Reports that a convict named James Cronin had attempted to murder Mrs Elleanor Howes, the wife of James Howes, mate in charge of the Coromandel hulk. Considers the existing laws inadequate to punish such cases. Recommends that a law should be passed to bring such cases to Courts Martial. Adds that in Cronin's case a convict named Edwin Smith intervened and saved Mrs Howes. Recommends Smith for a free pardon. Encloses a memorandum and correspondence concerning the matter.

Convict Establishment No. 4, folios 15-38
Date: 1851 Jan 18 Held by: The National Archives, Kew

2. Reference:CO 37/135/35 Description:
Reports that the convict James Cronin would be returned to England in HMS Wellesley. Encloses the requisite documents.

Convict Establishment No. 29, folios 224-230
Date: 1851 Apr 17 Held by: The National Archives, Kew



Source: Tasmanian Archives
Cronin, James
Convict No: 16007
Extra Identifier:
Voyage Ship: Aboukir
Voyage No: 347
Arrival Date: 20 Mar 1852
Departure Date: 07 Dec 1851
Departure Port: London
Conduct Record: CON33/1/106
Muster Roll:
Appropriation List:
Other Records:
Indent: CON14/1/31
Description List: CON18/1/56



Indent: CON14/1/31 

Title: James Cronin, one of 280 convicts transported on the Aboukir, 24 December 1851.
Details: Sentence details: Convicted at Ireland, Limerick for a term of life on 08 March 1847.
Vessel: Aboukir.
Date of Departure: 24 December 1851.
Place of Arrival: Van Diemen's Land and Norfolk Island. [These convicts appear to have all landed in Van Diemen's Land].

The death of James Cronin, labourer, was registered at the Cascades Hospital for the Insane on 16 July 1885. His cause of death was pulmonary apoplexy, unlike several other deaths of asylum inmates which were registered in the same month, e.g. "brain softening".



Death of James Cronin, male, 63 yrs old, 16 July 1885, Hobart, Tasmania
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1232085
Resource: RGD35/1/10 no 2506
https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD35-1-10p314j2k
Archives Office Tasmania