Can someone date and clean this pic please?

[debh]

An idea of when this might have been taken along with an approximate age for the subject would help us try to identify who this fearsome looking lady might be.

Thanks x

[Niksmum]

Hi there
Can't help with a date but have done a clean up for you

Irene

[PaulaToo]

I'd pop a guess at the late 1890s.
Its a beautiful dress, and if her hair wasn't so severe, I'm sure she would look quite beautiful, and not at all grim.
The lady in the top right photo seems to have very much the same style
http://homepages.tesco.net/~roger.vaughan/1890.htm

[Angela Petyt]

Hello

The lady looks quite young - in her 20s or early 30s. The dress she is wearing has very distinctive 'leg of mutton' puffed sleeves. These first came into fashion about 1895. It all depends if she is wearing a dress of the newest fashion, then the photo could be confidently dated to the mid-1890s. Or is it perhaps a 'hand me down' dress and therefore the photo could be about 1900?

Hope this helps.
Best wishes
Angela

[debh]

The date fits with the person we believe it to be.  If we're right, this lady would have been born in app 1874 so if this is taken in the late 1890's to 1905 or so she would have been 20 to 30 years old.

Thanks so much for your input

Deb 

[old rowley]

Deb,

You can shorten the time period down even more as the Leg of Mutton , or to give it it's proper name, the gigot sleeve, was introduced for the second time into ladies fashion in 1893 and reached its peak in size in 1895. By 1897 however it was on the decline and it was in that year that the leg of mutton was replaced by a tighter sleeve (tighter in so much as that there was no "puff" to the upper portion).

old rowley

[debh]

Hi Old rowley

you mention that it was in fashion for the second time, when would the first time have been?

Deb

[old rowley]

The first time was between 1820 and 1830 and was then known as leg of elephant or ham shaped so would be too early for this photograph and person.

old rowley

[debh]

Thanks for clearing that up - looks very much like this is a lady named Mary O'Neill (nee Ward). 

Deb x