Thank you for your replies. Thanks Howse Wowse, for your input. It is a nice piece of furniture! Thanks also, Jim, that Lancashire one does look somewhat like one of the badges. Gertrude's father was also in the Griqualand West Light Infantry as a captain (and I just read that this was a voluntary force provided to keep law and order in the Kimberleys in the 1870's), so one of the medals may be related to this (see attached) as in this document he was recommended for a medal.
Gertrude was born in 1861. If this was taken in 1914, she would have been 53 which is probably about right.
No, Carol this is not the same lady. I will be soon putting up another photo of that grand lady taken with her first grandchild, in need of restoration, a beautiful photo for its time I think. We would have had more photos of that family (Aikens) but when my mother's aunt died (photos had been left to her), someone disposed of all the beautiful photos that they had including many studio photos, a crying shame. I will attach 2 photos of Gertrude Aldred (the lady in this post) one at the beach taken about 5 years later and one taken about the same time at her daughter Dora's wedding. She is the older woman in the photo.
On the back of this (subject of the query) photo it is written Mrs Aldred and I assumed that it is my great grandmother (Gertrude Smart) not Henry Aldred's mother as she would have been a older woman when this was taken. Thanks for helping date it everyone!
