Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of Stock J R Lieut, possibly Lieutenant James Robert Stock, 5th Battalion from Eaglehawk, Victoria. A 23 year old accountant with prior service in the Militia, he was granted a commission in the 63rd Infantry on 12 December 1912 and promoted Lieutenant. After being appointed an officer in the AIF on 1 June 1916, he embarked for overseas with the 20th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 11 September 1916 aboard HMAT Euripides (A14). Following arrival in England, he proceeded to France where he joined the 5th Battalion on 23 January 1917. In July, he was seconded for duty as an Adjutant to the 1st Divisional Wing, 1st Anzac Corps Reinforcement Camp for two months before returning to his battalion on 2 September 1917. Lt Stock was killed in action on 20 September 1917 during an advance on Glencorse Wood, Belgium and was buried near where he fell. After the war, his grave could not be located and he is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium with others who have no known grave. [See also image DASEY 1814.] 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.