Photo Question - All the same man ?

[winslowsmom]

Hello
In putting up Veterans Day photos of our Uncle John, I was trying to ID his regiment, and came across a photo on the internet that looked like him. This is more about facial ID than any thing military, so I though to post it here. But alright if you need to move it.

In the photo here, the top two photos are from our family collection, and therefore we know are him. The last photo, on the bottom is from a group photo that was posted on Scotlands People as an experiment to see if any of the men could be identified. Uncle John was a Gordon Highlander, but I don't know from what regiment.
Am exploring and trying to find out. But in the mean time, what do you think. Does this look like the same fellow to you ? All opinions welcome.
And thank you Uncle John for your service

[arthurk]

My initial feeling with these is that the third photo is probably not the same person. I agree there is some resemblance, but:
1. The man in the third photo has a very prominent right ear, which I think might be big enough to show in the other photos, if it was there.
2. The line of the mouth (a slight slope left to right) appears to be the opposite way in the third photo compared to the first one in particular. It's not very pronounced, but it's the kind of feature that stays with you for life (barring injury, stroke etc), and it's quite hard to deliberately make your mouth slope the opposite way without looking a bit of an idiot - which none of these do.

However, much as I enjoy playing detective with old photos, I've found that I'm not always right when it comes to faces, so other opinions would be useful here.

Arthur

[AndrewP]

Hi Winslowsmom,

My thoughts are similar to Arthur's. In my opinion, the subject of photo #3 has more protrusive ears, and a broader nose than the fellow shown in photos #1 and #2.

I am not claiming absolute proof, only giving a layman's opinion.

All the best,

AndrewP

[WilmaM]

I'm afraid I must agree with the above opinions too, ears aren't similar enough, and your man's eyebrows are inclined to be peaked rather than arched.

[SarahND]

I agree with the others. There does seem to be a family resemblance, however. Do you know of any other close relatives who might have been in that group photo?

Best,
Sarah

[Andrew C.]

I'm not so sure I agree I think the bottom two are very similar with top one looking like it was taken a few years after the middle one. The middle picture he has his head slightly turned so you can not quite tell how protruding the ears are compared to the bottom photo which is front on. Yes he seems to have a rounder face in the bottom one but the his posture seems very similar also the middle one looks like it is posed in a studio where as the bottom one isn't. If it is not the same person I think there is a good chance they are related.

[winslowsmom]

Thank you all so much for your thoughtful opinions. I have carefully read them all and enjoy your viewpoints. Later this spring I may visit Boston where John lived and I think his grandkids may have his war records. I will let you know his regiment then, and that could tell us if this photo was more likely to be him, or definitely not.
Thanks again for your consideration of this small puzzle.
Cathy Hatfield
California