A date for family group would be appreciated

[twilight]

 Can anyone please help with a date for this cabinet photo?  I would also welcome any comments or guess as to age which may help to identify this family.
 I will post a scan of the back separately

[twilight]

Here is the other side

[chinakay]

About 1905 or so.

Cheers,
China

[jim1]

Agree with China.

jim

[twilight]

Thank you China & Jim for your thoughts. Now I just need to identify the family.

 I have several photographs by the same photographer of my G grandmother's family, but this is a different family.  I am thinking (or perhaps this is wishful thinking!) that it could be her younger sister who lived nearby;  Louisa b. 1866; Charles (a publican at Weymouth) b. 1867; Violet, b1892; Ivy,b 1894; Charles  b 1898; Harold b 1899, but then there was Ruby b. early 1902!   The ages  seem about right  & 2 girls then 2 boys.  If only they had labelled their photos!!  But that would have spoiled our fun!

 Do you think this could possibly have been taken as early as 1900-1?  We have a photo of G grandmother's family taken at about that time & given to my grandfather when he went to sea.  We think maybe he was given this one as well and that is how it ended up in my grandfather's home in Aus.

Thanks again China & Jim, I think I have just about convinced myself that I have the right family & 1901 is very close to "1905 or so".
 Twilight

[chinakay]

For it to be that family the oldest girl would be about 13 or so, and the oldest one in the photo can't be more than about 8. I think 1900 is too early for the woman's dress style.

Another problem is that it can be very difficult to tell if a child in a photo is male or female...they all look like girls in many photos of the era because they all wore  what we think of as girls' clothing and hairstyles. I have a photo of my father, born in 1922, in a dress with a ribbon in his hair.

Any other contenders?

Cheers,
China

[twilight]

Hi China,
 I don't have any other contenders at this stage. All the others are way too old or far too young.
Louisa & her sisters were dressmakers & kept fairly much up to the minute with fashion -- does that help? (She's really clutching at straws now, unless anyone dares to disagree with China!)

I have recently been given a photo of Ivy when she was in her sixties (i also met her many times when I was rather young) and she looks just like an older version of the woman in this photo, which makes me think they could be very closely related, like mother & daughter. I will crop out the relevant bit of the photo & post it when I get a few spare minutes, in a day or two. I will be interested in some unbiased opinions.

Thanks China for your interest and your comments which are very much appreciated.
Twilight.

[chinakay]

In olden days ( ) the vast majority of women were up-to-the-minute in fashion, especially when having their photo taken. It was a social "statement". Older women may not have been so concerned. But yes, a family of dressmakers would be cutting edge, so to speak

Keep in mind, though, that this photo may not be family at all. Social networks were even more important than they are now, as there was no formal support structure except the poorhouse. Friends as well as families kept closely in touch and often exchanged photos. So this photo may be from outside the family.

You can never have too much confusion

Cheers,
China

[twilight]

Thanks for your comments China.  Yes, it could perhaps be a close friend, but this family is a fair bit older than my grandparents, so I feel it has to belong to a previous generation. As my grandparents were the first of the family to arrive in Aus. I feel it is more likely to be of a close family member.   Most of the men were in the R.N. they usually wore their uniforms for formal portraits  ---  but there is always the exception!
I hopefully have now attached a photo of Ivy when she was about 66.  I think there is a strong resemblance to the 'mother" in the first photo, which made me wonder if the little one next to her mother might not be Ivy aged about 6.   But i am probably just seeing what i want to see.