Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3005 Private (Pte) Walter William Archbell. Originally from Leeds, England, Pte Archbell was a wood machinist from Collingwood, Victoria prior to enlistment and embarked with the 7th Reinforcements, 24th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Commonwealth on 26 November 1915. He later transferred to the 8th Battalion and was allotted the service number 3005A and was subsequently invalided to England suffering from scabies. Following his recovery he re-joined his battalion and on 3 November 1917, aged 33, he was killed in action. Having no known grave he 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 permit 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 DA12646.