WALSOKEN CHURCH. A WEDDING, A BAZAAR & A FUNERAL – 19TH CENTURY EVENTS

The speaker this month was Peter Wadlow, who has been the Church Warden at Walsoken Church for the past 30 years, as well as being a teacher for 40 years.
Peter was born in Walsoken, and through his work as a Church Warden has become fascinated by registers, and what they tell us about the lives of people in earlier centuries.
As there are registers dating back from 1558 to 2011 in the Church, he has plenty of scope to keep his interest alive.
The three topics which Peter chose to illustrate his talk were a local Bazaar in Wisbech, a Wedding at Walsoken Church, and the Funeral of a local dignitary, also at Walsoken Church.
The Bazaar was to raise funds for the restoration of Walsoken Church, and was held over three days [ Friday 31st December 1858 to Sunday 2nd January 1859 ] in the new Corn Exchange in Wisbech.
Items for sale were collected by the townsfolk, and a band was to provide entertainment during the weekend of the sale. The centre-piece was a wedding cake with a gold ring hidden inside for the lucky winner. The Mayor donated a quantity of coal, which was purchased by the Vicar and distributed amongst the poor. There was also a private donation of £500 from the Vicar and a local Ship owner.
It would appear that the Vicar had dug deeply into his own pocket to swell the funds.
The wedding of Miss Fanny Jackson of Walsoken House, to Rev. John Charles Molineaux took place in April 1878 . Miss Jackson was a Sunday School Teacher at the Church, and on the day before her wedding was presented with an inscribed Teapot from the children of the Sunday School. The Wedding on the Tuesday saw the bride, attired in her white wedding dress, walk to the Church through an archway of evergreen at the gate. The only floral decorations in the church were the Alter flowers, and hymn 212, ‘The voice that breathed o’er Eden, was sung.
As the happy couple left on their wedding tour they were ‘showered with shoes’, a tradition of those times.
The funeral was that of Richard Youngs of Wisbech, a ship owner, farmer and M.P. for Cambridgeshire, a real rags to riches personality, who died aged 63 years.
As the Victorians had a great fascination with death the funeral of a local dignitary was a big event in Wisbech.
The funeral procession from Osborn House, the home of the deceased, to the Church included Mutes for the funeral dressed in black with faces painted white, Police , Oddfellows, Clergy, Ministers of the town, the Mayor and Corporation, then 6 mourning coaches. This was an all male occasion as women were not expected to attend such affairs in those days. The route was lined with 10,000 people.
Peter mentioned that members of Richard Youngs family are still in active contact with the Church to the present day.
[Judy Green]