I've just checked online, and even today, marriage announcements often follow a standard format:
I found the marriage announcement for Ena, Isabella's sister, first. A fortnight after Isabella's wedding, this notice appeared in the Scotsman for Ena's marriage to Tom.
Yes, first there's the date, then the location: granite built St. Giles, quiet in the midst of central Edinburgh.
Imagine Isabella and Hubert coming down the aisle on that October day....
But back to the announcement; they've kept the details of the reverend conducting the ceremony and putting Hubert first, but he is identified by his army title and regiment rather than by his parentage.
And as I looked further down the list of announcements for that day, I saw that there were lots of men choosing to identify themselves by their military positions. After all, it was 1919, and the War was very fresh.
And then comes Isabella, and this is the big difference; she is identified by her status as a doctor rather than as the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stenhouse. Yay, I thought, I see a glimpse, an indication of her feminist leanings - she wants to be regarded on her own merits rather than simply as the child of her parents.
But then I found other distinctive announcements, and thought, "Oh, she's just following a different convention." But it did matter after all, these announcements were by male doctors, who placed their medical degree instead of their parentage. I think Isabella was saying, "I have done what they did, I am as good as they are, and I will tell the world about it." Not many women would have been able to tell the papers to put that little 'M.B., Ch.B (Edin)' in their marriage announcements that year. I can't find where the figure is but I think there were only about 1300 women doctors on the Medical Register in 1919.
Mr. and Mrs. Bride's Parents
are proud to announce the marriage of their daughter
Her Name
to
Mr. Groom's Name
on Saturday, June 4th, 2011
Mind you, I guess it is a bit different. First: Location, date, then the reverend conducting the ceremony, the groom, identified by his parentage, then the bride, also identified by her parents.
When I eventually found the announcement of Isabella's wedding, I was excited. Hers was different, and choosing to do something differently, to go against the flow of tradition gives a clue to your motivation and personality, doesn't it?
Yes, first there's the date, then the location: granite built St. Giles, quiet in the midst of central Edinburgh.
Imagine Isabella and Hubert coming down the aisle on that October day....
But back to the announcement; they've kept the details of the reverend conducting the ceremony and putting Hubert first, but he is identified by his army title and regiment rather than by his parentage.
And as I looked further down the list of announcements for that day, I saw that there were lots of men choosing to identify themselves by their military positions. After all, it was 1919, and the War was very fresh.
And then comes Isabella, and this is the big difference; she is identified by her status as a doctor rather than as the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stenhouse. Yay, I thought, I see a glimpse, an indication of her feminist leanings - she wants to be regarded on her own merits rather than simply as the child of her parents.
It certainly seems she was proud of her title and achievement of having become a doctor. I don't remember if you've told me or not but what happened after the war? Where did she live? Where did she work? Or did that all stop following her marriage?
ReplyDeleteAhha, wait and see.......there's years before her wedding to cover first.
ReplyDelete