Ages of the Ladies in Photo

[Aussie Shep]

This is a photo of Alice Deakin my GT GT Grandmother Alice Deakin and her mother Mary Snape.
I know that Alice was born in 1864 and her mother around 1832-1835.
Can someone tell me the age of them in this photo?


I wanted to know about the jewellery or medals they are wearing. I thought they might of been nurses; my great aunt mentioned that in alice's later years she did help with delivering babies.

[barbara lee]

My immediate reaction was "20 and 40".

Barbara

[Thomasin]

I would have thought the younger woman was about 30, but the older woman doesn't look as old as 60, so perhaps 25 and 55? Is there anything on the back of the photo, a photographer's name and address etc? This could be useful for dating the photo.

[cristol]

My guess would be about 20ish and 50ish given the age gap you mention.
i think the older lady is not much more and the younger one looks quite poised
so i don't think she is much younger than 20.
Lesley

[daleaway]

I'd place the younger one in her early thirties - the clothing looks more 1890s than 1880s.For the younger one to have a couple of nursing medals she would have had to have completed her training and worked for a couple of years, at least, which also leads me to come up with a later figure for her age.
I have a medal exactly like the one the mother is wearing - in my case a school dux medal in silver with a round engraved gold centre. I think the medal blanks were sold by jewellers (in Australasia) and individually inscribed for many different types of achievement or service.
Dale in New Zealand

[bibliojunkie]

I'd go for the 20/25 and 40/50 range. As for medals, I recall someone posted a close up of nursing awards/medals late last year but I cannot find the thread. I'm no expert but didn't nurses also have distinctive belts to indicate their status and/or where they had trained?

Headgear carried similar indications years ago, I think. Was anyone else frightened by a nurse with a huge, starched within an inch of its life hat peering into your cot as you recovered groggily from a general anaesthetic?

Ali

[Mutley]

I would have said 20s and 40s. They always seem to look older then than now.
The Queen Alexandra's nurses were awarded medals as were the Red Cross Nurses.
Might be worth a google to see if you can find what the medals looked like.

[AnnB]

The belt worn by the younger lady is almost certainly a nurse's belt - two interlocking silver buckles on a fabric band.

Best wishes
Ann

[jeeb]

Hi,
I think I would be quite precise here and say the young woman is 22 & the older one 53

Jeremy

[Desperate Dan]

I do not see wrinkles on the older lady, so I would go for 45 - 50 max.....As for the younger one? well, if you took away the posed po faced expression and put her in modern chic clothes...she could be quite a looker ...25 max....
But, hey ..what do I know ? I am the guy who thought my last boss was 10 years younger than she really was..