In column "A", each cell is a string like "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 01/01/13 xxxxxxxxx"

The date is always nth character from the left so MID accesses it nicely

in testing I solved using column "B" & "C";

"B1" = DATEVALUE(MID(A1,nth,8))
"C1" = COUNTIF(B1:B10,"<=" & B1)

looking to join the two above, like:
"D1" = COUNTIF(DATEVALUE(MID(A1:A10,nth,8)),<= DATEVALUE(MID(A1,nth,8)))

"D1" should = 3 'because its the 3rd oldest of the dates in "A"