When Tasmanian photographer Thomas Nevin (1842-1923) married Elizabeth Rachel Day (1847-1914) on July 12th, 1871 at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley, Hobart, his father-in-law Captain James Day gifted a medallion issued to commemorate the end of the Crimean War: the Fall of Sebastopol 1855 and the ensuing Treaty of Paris 1856.
Captain James Day (1804-1882), Guard Captain of the 3rd detachment of 99th Regiment of Foot in the 1840s, and master mariner 1854-1880, arrived in Hobart on board the convict transport Candahar in 1842 with 60 troops under his command, and 250 male convicts.
Detachments of the 99th Regiment were sent from Hobart to Norfolk Island and New Zealand. In 1845 members were sent to New Zealand to quell the Maori rebellion. A detachment took part in the assault on Ohaeawai Pah on 1 July 1845 and on Ruapekapeka on 10th January 1846. The campaign lasted for two years. The regiment returned to Hobart, Tasmania in 1847, stationed there until 1854 when a contigent was sent to Victoria.
Captain Day served in one of those detachments, again as guard captain of a convict transport hulk soon after the birth of his daughter Elizabeth Rachel in 1847. The Archives Office of Tasmania Arrivals index records that he returned to Hobart on 4th October, 1852 from the penal settlement on Norfolk Island on board the female convict transport hulk, the Sir Robert Seppings. He remained in Hobart, taking up residence with his family at Bathurst Street, Hobart [Source: The General Directory for Hobart, 1854,"DAY, James, mariner, Bathurst Street" NLA Ref: MCN 872]. His eldest daughter Elizabeth Rachel was born in Hobart, 1847, and her younger sister Mary Sophia was born in Hobart in 1852. Mary Sophia was a witness at the wedding of Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin.
Their marriage notice appeared in The Mercury of 14 July 1871.
NEVIN-DAY – On Wednesday, 12th July, at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley, by the Rev. J. Hutchison [Hutchinson], Thomas, eldest son of Mr. J. Nevin, of Kangaroo Valley, to Elizabeth Rachael [Rachel], eldest daughter of Captain Day, of Hobart Town.
Captain Day was witness at the marriage of his second daughter Mary Sophia Day (1852-1941) to Hector Axup at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley on May 1st, 1878. Thomas Nevin’s father John Nevin, was also a witness.
The provenance of the 1856 Treaty of Paris medallion prior to its acquisition by the Nevin family is not known. Captain Day may have been involved with a detachment of the British Navy at the Crimean War, or he may have simply bought the medallion as a gift and souvenir.
This is the medallion, still held in the Nevin family, which was passed on to Thomas Nevin and Elizabeth Rachel’s youngest son Albert (1888-1857), thence to living descendants.
Photos © KLW NFC 2009 ARR.
Medallion and photos © The Nevin Family Collection 2009 ARR.
Click on images to view album at Picasa
REFERENCE
British Historical Medals 1837-1901 Vol 2: The Reign of Q.Victoria, by Laurence Brown 1987.
Gifted to Thomas Nevin by his father-in-law Captain James Day as a wedding gift, July 1871. Dated 1855 and 1856, this is a relatively rare medallion issued to commemorate the Fall of Sebastopol (Turkey) 1855, and the Treaty of Paris 1856 which formalised cessation of the Crimean War.
From © The Nevin Family Collection 2009 ARR.
Photos copyright © KLW NFC 2009 ARR.
RSS - Posts