A British family has been found to have six generations alive at the same time - all of them female.

The incredible achievement was reached with the birth of youngest family member Meiche Hume, who is the great-great-great-granddaughter of 100-year-old Ruby Snowling.

Earlier this year the Hanson family from Bradford, West Yorkshire, were reportedly believed to be the only one in Britain with six living generations.

But relatives of centenarian Ruby Snowling have now come forward to reveal that they have also reached the same family tree milestone.

They must have good genes! From left: Porsche Smith, 22, Sandra Smith, 60, Meiche, 11 months, Ruby Snowling, 100, Dorothy Matthews, 79, and Samantha Smith, 40

All six generations came together for their first group photograph yesterday.

Ruby, who had eight children with husband Russell before he died aged 72 in 1979, now lives with her son Albert, 81, in Attleborough, Norfolk.

Her daughter, mother-of-two Dorothy Matthews, 79, and husband Donald who have been married for 61 years live in nearby Harleston.

Dorothy is the mother of Sandra Smith, 60, who lives with her husband Derek in Worlingworth, Suffolk.

Mother-of-two Sandra's daughter, teaching assistant and mother-of-two Samantha Smith, 40 lives with her daughter Porche, 22, in Norwich.

Porche Smith and her partner Dione Hume produced the sixth generation of the family when she gave birth to her first child, 11-month-old Meiche last February.

Youngest family member Meiche, centre, is the great-great-great-granddaughter of 100-year-old Ruby Snowling - with the ladies revealing that old age 'runs in the family'

Customer services manager Sandra said: 'We never thought our family was anything special.

'But then we read about this other family thinking they were the only one in the country with six generations and we realised we had the same number.

'It is marvellous for my nan Ruby to be a great-great-great-grandma. She is fantastic for her age and still has all her faculties.

'The last time we all got together was when we had just five generations and it was my parents' 50th wedding anniversary just over ten-years-ago.

'Luckily for us, we have old age running in our family. Being honest and straight with everyone and hard working is the key to a long life.

'We never thought our family was anything special': The ladies didn't realise their incredible achievement spanning six generations was unique until they read about a story in the press

'We have all been brought up with good morals and that is what makes a difference.

'My nan was a hard worker and so was my mum - and my children have also always worked hard.'

Sandra revealed that her great granddaughter Meiche had a tricky start to life after having to be born by emergency caesarean, weighing just 5lbs.

She said: 'She had problems swallowing around two weeks after she returned home from hospital and turned blue.

Centenarian Ruby, pictured with great-great-great granddaughter Meiche, has been praised for being a hard worker with the family revealing their 'good morals' has helped too

'My daughter Samantha saved her life by doing first aid on her to get her breathing again and she had to stay in hospital for another week.

'But she is doing fine now and she is walking already. She is a bonny little thing.'

Last week it was revealed that Hilda Hanson, aged 103, was celebrating the birth of her great great great grandson Finley who was born on Christmas Day.

The Guinness World Records entry for the highest number of living generations in the same family is seven, achieved in 1989 by a family in the US.