Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives Accession Number: DA13228

Description

Studio portrait of 4225 Private (Pte) Francis Moore Irving. A baker and horse breaker from Koroit, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Irving had previously been rejected as being too short. After successfully enlisting he embarked with the 13th Reinforcements, 14th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Demosthenes on 29 December 1915. He later transferred to the 4th Pioneer Battalion and then to the 45th Battalion and allotted the service number 4225A. He was diagnosed as suffering from shell shock and admitted to hospital. After recovering he was detached to the 17th Anzac Light Railway where he served as a fettler. Subsequently re-joining his battalion he was admitted to hospital in Rouen suffering from an undiagnosed illness. Following the Armistice he was admitted to hospital in England suffering from influenza. He returned to Australia on 5 April 1919. While on board the transport returning him to Australia he was admitted to the ship’s hospital suffering from tonsillitis. As the condition was deemed as chronic he was medically discharged. 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.

Details

Conflicts

• First World War, 1914-1918