Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3083 Private (Pte) Arthur Coffin. Originally from Coppenhall, England, Pte Coffin had previously served with the 2nd Cheshire Regiment during the Boer War. Prior to enlistment he was a painter from South Melbourne, Victoria and embarked with the 7th Reinforcements, 2nd Pioneer Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Hororata on 23 November 1916. On 24 September 1917, aged 35, he was killed in action at polygon Wood and, having no known grave, is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium. 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. See also DA16523 and DA16524.