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9680865

Title
Antoine Claudet portrait of Adelaide Beresford Oliver and photographs of Charles Heath Gray and Susannah Ashman
Call number
MIN 604
MIN 605
MIN 606
Level of description
fonds
Date

approximately 1848 to 1864
Type of material
Graphic Materials, Photographs
Reference code
9680865
Physical Description
4 photographic prints - daguerreotype - 10 x 19 cm or smaller
ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Charles Heath Gray was born on 6 January 1776 in London, England. In 1800, he was tried for stealing various items of clothing and sentenced to 7 years transportation. He arrived in New South Wales on 20 November 1800. His partner, Susannah Ashman, was born on 18 August 1780 in Bradford, England. In 1798, she had been tried and sentenced to 7 years transportation. She arrived in New South Wales on 12 June 1801. Together, the couple had twelve children, six of whom died in childhood. They were granted their certificates of freedom in March 1810. They married on 13 March 1810 in Church Hill, Sydney. Charles Gray died on 23 December 1848 in Sydney and Susannah Ashman died on 27 January 1857 in Woollahra, Sydney.

Adelaide Beresford Evans was born on 13 February 1832 in Dublin, Ireland. On 8 March 1849, she married Thomas Gabriel Leonard Carew Gwyn (1825-1860) in St John's Wood, London, England, with whom she had three children. On 3 September 1858, the couple filed for divorce, which was granted, making Adelaide one of the first women in Britain to be granted a divorce from her first husband on the grounds of cruelty. On 30 June 1862, she married Alexander Oliver (1833-1904) in Marylebone, England. In 1864, the couple emigrated to Sydney, New South Wales, where Alexander was one of the first twenty-four students admitted to the University of Sydney. Adelaide died on 8 June 1864 in Paddington. Alexander remarried on 30 January 1875 to Eliza Celia Gowlland (1851-1921) and died on 2 June 1904 in Sydney.

References:
Library acquisition file.

New South Wales Government Gazette. 3 February 1857. Accessed 21 June 2024. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/229955261

Ryerson Index. "Charles Heath Gray". Accessed 21 June 2024.

Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938. Accessed 21 June 2024. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.au/imageviewer/collections/1623/images/31280_198873-00007

https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.au/imageviewer/collections/1623/images/31280_194446-00090
Collection history
By familial descent to the donor.
Scope and Content
MIN 604 and MIN 605
2 daguerreotypes of Charles Heath Gray (1776-1848) [MIN 604] and his wife, Susannah Ashman (1780-1857) [MIN 605], who came to Australia in 1800 as convicts aboard the Royal Admiral and the Earl Cornwallis respectively. Their photographs were likely taken in Sydney, and included with the daguerreotype of Susannah Ashman is a handwritten note with an inscription, probably original, "Mother's likeness by Hart. Taken Saturday 19th Feb /53 in her 73rd year" and biographical information added at a later date in ballpoint pen.

MIN 606
1 stereoscopic daguerreotype of Adelaide Beresford Oliver (nee Gwyn, nee Evans) (1832-1864), dressed in Pre-Raphaelite costume, in a stereoscopic viewing case, photographed around 1858 in England by Antoine Claudet. 1 photographic print of the combined stereoscopic image mounted onto card.
Access Conditions

Access via appointment
Copying Conditions
Out of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Attributions / conjectures

The photograph of Susannah Ashman was probably taken by Elijah Hart, a leading Sydney daguerreotypist at the time, based on his period of activity in Sydney and on the handwritten note accompanying Ashman's daguerreotype.
Date note

Date range based on information in Library acquisition file and approximate ages of individuals in photographs.
Creator/Author/Artist
Claudet, A. (Antoine), 1797-1867
Hart, Elijah
Subject
Convicts--New South Wales--Photographs.
Women--Photographs.
Men--Photographs.
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IE21151208