Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of J E Reilly, believed to be 3234 (later 3923) Private (Pte) James Edward Reilly, 24th Battalion from Lancefield, Victoria. A 24 year old labourer prior to enlisting on 9 July 1915, he embarked for overseas with the 7th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 26 November 1915 aboard HMAT Commonwealth (A73). After taking ill aboard the ship, he was landed in Fremantle, Western Australia for medical treatment. On recovering, he joined the 9th Reinforcements of the 28th Battalion, given service number 3923 and re-embarked from Fremantle on 12 February 1916 aboard HMAT Miltiades (A28). On arrival in Egypt, he transferred to the 51st Battalion and went with them to France in June 1916. Pte Reilly was killed in action on 3 September 1916 and buried near where he fell between Thiepval and Courcelette, France. After the war, his grave could not be located and he is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, France with others who have no known grave. 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.