Fred Arthur Burch, Suffolk Regiment

[Doug Johnson]

Can anyone solve this problem for me. I have two photographs taken in Gustrow PoW camp. The first is as follows;

This has Fred Arthur Burch Cpl 2/Suffolk Regiment 24/09/1917, written on the back. Everything looks OK there.

The second photograph is the problem as follows;

This photograph says F A Burch, Cpl 17/07/1917 on the back in the same handwriting as the first photograph.

Clearly in this photograph he is not wearing a Suffolk Regiment uniform. The uniform is of the London Scottish. There are only two possibilities that I can think of. The first is that on arriving at the camp in July he was wearing rags and borrowed the uniform for the photograph from one of the London Scottish Corporals who had been resident in the camp for three years. The second possibility is that he signed the wrong photograph and the two are not the same person. The problem I have with the second possibility is that I only know of two corporals of the London Scottish who were in the camp and this photograph is not of either of them.

I can't make my mind up whether they actually look the same or not. Anybody got any opinions?

Doug