Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3788 Private (Pte) Henry William Dowton, 5th Battalion, of Yarragon, Vic. A carrier prior to enlistment, Pte Dowton embarked with the 12th Reinforcements from Melbourne on HMAT Ceramic on 23 November 1915. After initially being reported missing in action, it was later confirmed that he was killed in action on 25 July 1916. He is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had the 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.