John Frost (1784-1877), political convict, became a radical agitator while working as a draper and tailor in his native Newport, Monmouthshire. He had already been gaoled for libel when he became Mayor of Newport in 1836. In late 1839 he led a band of Chartist miners in an armed attack in Newport; arrested, he was sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered, but was sent to Hobart Town instead. Arriving in 1840, he was treated as a political prisoner, with special privileges including clerical employment. Later, he became a schoolmaster, and was commended for doing well in the role. After working in various locations, he received a conditional pardon in 1854 and duly sailed for America. Returning to England two years later, he lectured and published on the Horrors of Convict Life (1856) and penned A Letter to the People of Great Britain and Ireland on Transportation (1857). He lived for another twenty years, becoming less political and more spiritual as time wore on.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2009
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Death masks, post-mortem drawings and other spooky and disquieting portraits... Come and see how portraits of infamous Australians were used in the 19th century.
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