They are very similar, but when you put the 2 images side by side, there do seem to be differences. Gill's pic seems to have a chevron (possibly rank) on his cuffs. no matter how I play with Alex's pic, I can't make the chevron tapes appear... The belt buckles seem a little different - Gill's seems to have a smaller S (on its back) than Alex's and Alex's guy has one button showing below the buckle... Finally, I think that the shapes of the 2 faces are different.

Flipping through Google pictures, those caps seem to be fairly common in shape among some of the regiments who went to the Boer War, which agrees with the other apparent dates. Wikipedia's report on the Curragh Camp mentions that the Lancashire Fusiliers were stationed there in 1894, and I did find a picture of someone from the Lancs Fus in a similar tunic and cap, but I lost the argument with the computer about copying it...

I agree that it's the same studio backdrop and 2 scenarios come to mind - either 2 lads wandered into town and got photos made or the photographer came to the barracks. I have a photo of my gUncle in full best uniform taken just before his regiment left for South Africa - the whole regiment was photographed against the same background! The copy I have came from a book in the regimental museum.