Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 2827 Private (Pte) James Henry Watts, 22nd Battalion. A barman from Sorrento, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Watts embarked with the 6th Reinforcements from Melbourne on HMAT Ulysses on 27 October 1915. Later transferring to the 58th Battalion, he was wounded in action. Following his recovery, he transferred to the 59th Battalion and, on 26 April 1918, aged 24, he was killed in action. Having no known grave, he is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. 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.