Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 10314 Gunner (Gnr) Frank Atkinson Ansell. A labourer from Swan Hill, Victoria prior to enlistment, Gnr Ansell had previously enlisted on 2 January 1915 but had been discharged for refusing inoculations. Later re-enlisting he embarked with the 13th Reinforcements, 2nd Field Artillery Brigade (FAB) from Melbourne on HMAT Afric on 5 January 1916. Following his arrival in the Middle East he transferred to the 1st Divisional Ammunition Column and then the 15th FAB. Later transferring to the 3rd FAB he was promoted to Temporary Bombardier. On 8 August 1918, aged 25, he was killed in action and was buried in the Vaire Communal Cemetery. His remains were subsequently exhumed and re-interred in the Adelaide British Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux, France. His brother, 2825 Private Alfred William Fitch Ansell who served as Alfred William Fitch was killed in action on 23 July 1916. 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.