Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Portrait of Lieutenant (Lt) Thompson, 22nd Battalion, probably Lt Carl John Thomsen. A draftsman from St Kilda prior to enlistment, Lt Thomsen embarked with C Company from Melbourne aboard HMAT Ulysses (A38) on 10 May 1915. He was promoted to the rank of Captain and, following service at Gallipoli, joined the Royal Flying Corps, remaining with them until 11 November 1918. In April 1918 he had been wounded and taken prisoner of war at Feltre, Italy. Thomsen was repatriated to Australia on 10 October 1919. After the war he worked with the Expropriation Board in New Guinea. He died at the Repatriation Hospital at Caulfield, Victoria, in 1927, aged 33. When he served with the AIF his next of kin was his sister, Doris Thomsen. His death notice in the Argus newspaper was submitted by Doris and included the words "darling only brother of Doris (Mrs Elmiger). In 1924 Doris had married Leslie Elmiger (see DAOF016) who had served with Carl Thomsen in the 22nd Battalion. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a concession to take photographs at the Broadmeadows and Seymour army camps during the First World War. In the 1930s the Australian War Memorial purchased the original glass negatives from Algernon Darge, along with the photographers' notebooks. The notebooks contain brief details, usually a surname or a unit name, for each negative. The names are transcribed as they appear in the notebooks.