Four Weston Weddings, 1930-1946: Wedding Wednesday

My father John Percy Weston  (he hated the Percy) was the middle son of Albert Ernest Weston and Mary Barbara Matthews, with his eldest brother Frederick Henry, younger brother Charles and sister Madge.

Fred Weston married Frances Green in 1930 in Leicester. This photograph only recently came to my attention through a distance relative of my cousin.

My father is the rather stern looking man on the far left, carrying the trilby (or panama?) hat, with,  I think,  his brother Charles behind him.  My grandmother is in the cloche hat next to the bridegroom and unfortunately I have been unable  to identify my grandfather - he could be the man hidden at the back. Fred's sister could well be one of the bridesmaids and I have no idea who the young boy is.  I presume the older couple on the left of the photograph are the bride's parents.

Sister Madge married Wilf Adams in 1937 in Leicester.  In the 1911 census her name is recorded as (the attractive sounding) Madelaine.

My own parents wedding took place in 1938 when John Weston married Kathleen Danson at Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. Witnesses on the right were Charles Weston and Edith Danson. Dad's mother is between my maternal grandparents on the left of the picture - but yet again Dad's father is missing from the photograph - is it his arm that is cut off on the left?

Below is the only photograph I have of my paternal grandfather - taken in the garden of my mother's home,  after the wedding, with Mum's  parents on the left and my father's parents on the right - unfortunately again not a particularly good image with grandfather Weston in the sun. 

Youngest brother Charles married Vera  in December 1946 and I am the shivering little bridesmaid. The dresses were apparently a dusky pink colour and my mother used to relate what a difficult time she had hunting for matching shoes in post- war austerity Britain.

My mother is the elegant lady standing behind me and in between my father and Grandmother Weston.  My grandfather Weston was by this time too ill to attend and died in 1947 aged 70. 

For my uncle (right) it was a happy day, as only a year earlier he had returned from time as a Japanese prisoner of war, labouring on the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai.

Another child was born to Albert Weston and Mary Barbara Matthews - Ethel, who sadly did not survive infancy.

Copyright © 2012 · Susan Donaldson.  All Rights Reserved