Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 20019 Sapper (Spr) William Rawlins Bennetts Delbridge. A plumber from Melbourne, Victoria prior to enlistment, Spr Delbridge had originally enlisted in December 1915 but had been discharged when it was discovered that he had forged his parent’s consent on his enlistment documents. Subsequently re-enlisting he embarked with the August 1917 Reinforcements, Field Companies Engineers from Melbourne on HMAT Nestor on 21 November 1917. Later transferring to the 2nd Field Company Engineers he was accidently injured when run over by a motor lorry and was evacuated to hospital suffering from a fractured pelvis and thigh. On 29 November 1918, aged 20, he succumbed to his injuries and was buried in the Military Cemetery, Bohain, France. He was later re-interred in the Premont British Cemetery, Picardie, 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.