Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives Accession Number: DA13846

Description

Studio portrait of 4950 Private (Pte) Vincent Henry Reuben Ward who enlisted and served as Vincent Ward. Originally from Waipu, New Zealand, Pte Ward was a blacksmith from Windsor, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte enlistment and embarked with the 15th Reinforcements, 5th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Wiltshire on 7 March 1916. He later served with the 58th Battalion and was hospitalised suffering from trench feet and was invalided to England. Following his recovery he transferred to the 17th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery and was again invalided to England suffering from tracheitis. He then transferred back to the 5th Machine Gun Battalion and was hospitalised suffering from influenza and, after recovering, he was once more invalided to England suffering from myalgia and trench fever. After re-joining his battalion he returned to Australia on 15 May 1919 and briefly served on the Home Front during the Second World War using his full name. 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