Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 1029 Private (Pte) John Spence, 31st Battalion. Originally from Chester, England, Pte Spence was a coal shoveler from Port Melbourne, Victoria prior to enlistment, and embarked with D Company from Melbourne on HMAT Wandilla on 9 November 1915. Subsequently wounded in action, he was evacuated to England. Following his recovery he rejoined his unit and, on 29 September 1918, he was killed in action in France. Having no known grave, 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.