Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 2561 Private (Pte) William Henry Pearce, 14th Battalion from Piercedale, Victoria. A 27 year old labourer prior to enlisting on 20 January 1915, he embarked for overseas with the 8th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 15 September 1915 aboard SS Makarini. After disembarking in Egypt, he joined the 14th Battalion at Gallipoli and served there until the withdrawal in December. Back in Egypt, he was promoted to Sergeant (Sgt) on 14 April 1916 and then proceeded to France with the battalion in June 1916. Sgt Pearce was wounded in action at Bois Grenier on 3 July 1916 and died from his wounds the next day. He is buried in the Erquinghem-Lys Churchyard Extension, 1.5 kilometres west of Armentieres, France. 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.