Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Accession Number DA13633
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Glass original half plate negative
Maker Darge Photographic Company
Place made Australia: Victoria, Melbourne, Broadmeadows
Date made c 24 January 1916
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Studio portrait of C F Church, 15th Reinforcements, 8th Battalion, probably 4752 Private (Pte) Charles Frank Church. A labourer and clerk from Adelaide, SA, Pte Church had joined a cadets unit in Adelaide in January 1914. He transferred to the Naval Cadets in Port Melbourne in October 1915 and enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne on 16 November 1915. On his enlistment papers he claimed his age was 18 years and two months, that he was born in Dorking, England, and that his next of kin was an uncle in Dorking. It was recorded that his parents were deceased and that he had no guardian in Australia. He omitted his previous service in the cadets which had a record of his date and place of birth. His name was Charles William Edward Frank Church, he was born in Adelaide on 15 September 1900 (making him 15 years and two months old on enlistment), and both parents were living in Adelaide. Pte Church embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Wiltshire (A18) on 7 Mar 1916. He was killed in action at Pozieres, France on 18 August 1916, a month before his 16th birthday. In September 1918 the Defence Department published a list of names of deceased soldiers in The Register (Adelaide) newspaper, seeking next of kin for the purpose of claiming personal effects. Pte Church’s name was on the list. His mother, Dora, read the article and wrote to the Defence Department, claiming Charles’ effects, and informing them that she was his next of kin and confirming his identity, and date and place of birth. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a permit 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. The names are transcribed as they appear in the notebooks. (See also DAOD1497 and DA13550)