Outdoor portrait of two Prisoners of War (POW) at Schneidemuhl POW camp, Germany. Identified ...

Accession Number P05901.024
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Print silver gelatin
Maker Unknown
Place made Germany: Schneidemuhl
Date made c 1918
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Outdoor portrait of two Prisoners of War (POW) at Schneidemuhl POW camp, Germany. Identified standing on the right is 2940 Lance Corporal (L/Cpl) William Edward Ferguson, 46th Battalion, from Toongabbie, Victoria who enlisted at the age of 20 on 7 July 1915 and embarked for overseas on 27 September 1915 aboard HMAT Hororata. He was captured at Riencourt, France, on 11 April 1917 and held as a POW until repatriated to England on 1 December 1918. L/Cpl Ferguson arrived back in Australia on 25 April 1919. Sitting on the left is Sergeant (Sgt) Jack Norgate, probably British. No further information is available on Sgt Norgate. One of a series of over 80 photographs of Allied POWs in the camp at Schneidemuhl, given to 3235 Corporal (Cpl) James Skelly, 55th Battalion, from Rockdale, NSW, by fellow POWs as a souvenir of their time together. Cpl Skelly was a self-described "special correspondent" for the Australian Red Cross while at Schneidemuhl and originally donated these photographs to the Ramsgate R.S.L. The original is stored in the AWM archive store.