Mrs Jane Smith, aged 100

A carte-de-visite portrait of an elderly woman seated beside a birdcage, seemingly outside on a terrace. An inked inscription verso in a period hand identifies has ‘Mrs Jane Smith, aged 100.’

The ‘Mrs’ is honorific — a mark of respect, no doubt, for her great age. She was in fact unmarried.

She appears on the 1861 census living at 2 Salutary Place in the St Sidwell district of Exeter. She described herself as a ‘Fundholder’ and was the head of her own household, with two female servants to look after her.

According to an article in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette (22 June 1866), she was born in 1766 ‘in the parish of St Ann’s, Middlesex’ and her father died ‘at the good old age of 93.’ The reporter found her ‘a marvel of venerable spinsterhood’ and thought that ‘Time has dealt gently and kindly with her, for the face is as calm, and peaceful, and radiant as a Summer evening. A placid and sweet temper she has, which may partly account for her longevity, and which will probably serve as a hint to the fretful and repining. Her mental faculties are good, and her memory surprising. […] Her health is good; and, with the exception of deafness, her physical condition is as good and sound as her mental faculties.’

Jane Smith died on 24 July 1867 at 2 Salutary Place in Exeter. She was 101 and 33 days old. She left an estate valued at £7000.

The following year her nephew Thomas Smith went to court to try to overturn ‘two codicils of her will on the ground that thereby the testatrix had revoked a legacy of £300 which she had left the defendant. The will was drawn by Mr Roberts, solicitor of this city. The reason for the lady revoking her legacy was that the defendant had annoyed her. […] The jury found in favour of the codicils’ (Western Times, 28 July 1868).

Photographed by John Fey of Exeter.

Born at Spreyton in Devon in or about 1824, John Fey was a ‘Carver and Guilder’ in Exeter when the census was taken in 1861 but by 1871 had become a ‘Photographer.’ He died in Exeter on 10 February 1877, aged 53, leaving an estate valued at ‘under £100.’ According to an announcement in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette (13 February 1877), his death came ‘after a short illness.’