Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of Lee G, believed to be Second Lieutenant George Lee, 4th Light Horse Regiment (LHR) from Melbourne, Victoria. A 32 year old journalist when appointed a Second Lieutenant in the AIF on 12 July 1915, he embarked for overseas with the 11th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 29 October 1915 aboard HMAT Palermo (A56). After arriving in Egypt, he joined the 4th LHR and went with them to France in June 1916. He was promoted to Lieutenant in August 1916 and served with the 11th Field Artillery Brigade (FAB) and the 12th FAB. Following several periods of illness, he was returned to Australia at the end of 1917 and his appointment was terminated due to ill health on 19 March 1918. [See also image DASEY1874.] 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.