Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 6876 Private (Pte) Frederick Thomas Pether. Originally from Camden Town, England, Pte Pether was a labourer from Wangoom, Victoria prior to enlistment and embarked with the 19th Reinforcements, 22nd Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Ascanius on 11 May 1917. Initially reported as missing in action it was later determined that on 12 May 1918, aged 20, he was killed in action. His remains were subsequently recovered and re-interred in the Dive Copse British Cemetery, Sailly-le-Sec, France. 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 unit name, for each negative.