My little brother (born 1970, baby no 4) was breast fed up to 6 weeks (and wore long nightdresses day and night 
) every three hours because he was born 1 month early.
Then he had bottles and at some stage he was given Farex. I don't know how old he was, but he used to suck it off the spoon, leaving a big hole in the middle - so not very old. Must have been about 12 weeks, but you have to factor in that he was early.
I got the impression, from my mother, that weaning before 12 weeks was A Bad Thing and not something she would have done (like putting brandy in the bottles to make them sleep and only done amongst people who did not know how to do it properly).
When he had the hang of the Farex, he had egg yolk mashed into it (cooked - not the white as you could not have this until you were 6 months). Protein and iron were important. There were a few things you could not have until six months, but I can't remember what. He had mashed banana sometimes, with Farex. He had loads of rusks too. Farleys and another sort you cannot get now. And crusts with butter on. He could have chocolate buttons then too.
Then he had Heinz tinned stuff. We did not have pureeing equipment, so it was this or mashable stuff. He went through a lot of Ready Brek. Babies could have delrosa rose hip syrup for vit C.
During the 1970s, there was a lot of campaigning for Breast is Best, because rates had gone down a long way by then.
This is the viewpoint from a 6yr old big sister, so not official