Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 6458 Private (Pte) William Allan Aldrich. A farm hand from Daylesford, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Aldrich embarked with the 21st Reinforcements, 6th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Nestor on 2 October 1916. Later suffering from trench fever, he was evacuated to England. Following his recovery he rejoined his battalion and, on 4 July 1918, aged 22, he was killed in action and was buried in the Borre British Cemetery, Hazebrouck, France. His brother 3190 Pte John Thomas Aldrich died of wounds on 27 January 1917. 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.