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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: tigerquoll on Monday 02 September 24 03:43 BST (UK)
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Hi,
I recently found a distant relatives post who says they have the wedding dress of our ancestor Sarah Smith who married in 1822. The attached photos are of the dress in question. I just wanted to confirm that the dress looks like it was from the 1820's. cheers Janine.
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It looks likely to me
https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2022/05/09/summer-fashions-of-1822/
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Thanks for your quick reply! How exciting, I was hoping that it was but I didn't want to get carried away with wishful thinking. It also had this cape attachment. cheers Janine
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I agree with 1820s.
My book by Willett and Cunnington, English Costume in the 19th century has similar illustrations of mid-1820s 'special occasions' dresses.
Gadget
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See also 'The 1820s in Fashionable gowns...'
https://www.mimimatthews.com/2015/11/23/the-1820s-in-fashionable-gowns-a-visual-guide-to-the-decade/
Gadget
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Hi Gadget,
Thanks for the links to the great resources.
I was a bit surprised at how nice dress the dress was. She married a Private in the 52nd Regiment and I wouldn't have thought they had much money. cheers Janine
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It might be worth contacting the distant relative and asking how she got the photo of the dress. It's definitely an 1820s style but there's no way of knowing if Sarah wore that dress - she could have made it herself or borrowed it or.....
where were they married?
Gadget
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Was she in service? It was quite common for the employer to give maids their cast offs. I have read wills where a maid has been left clothes in a will. The same with male staff being left clothes worn by the master.
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Hi,
The person who has the dress inherited from his mother when she passed away two years ago, it had been passed down in his family as Sarah is his direct ancestor, so he took the photo's of the dress.
Sarah Purton (nee Smith), signed an affadavit saying that she married Shadrach Purton in “St John’s Church 1822”, and her older children were born in "St Johns, New Brunswick, Canada. As a couple they moved around a lot, as Shadrach was a private in the army and was stationed in Belgium, Waterloo, France, Canada and Ireland. I don't know if Sarah had a job or if she was in service, but she could have made the dress herself. cheers Janine.
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You seem to have a good provenance for it then.
It's a lovely dress :)
Gadget