1900 Victoria Cochrane Wedding reception at Calderglen

When the staff at Calderglen House showed me this excellent photo, it presented a little bit of a mystery. I knew that it featured the Cochrane family and clearly a wedding, and I could also see that it was taken in front of Calderglen House, but who was getting married, when was it taken?

Thanks to Gordon Cook for a higher resolution copy.

J.R Cochrane, the head of the household is pictured to the left in a black suit with white beard and I knew that he had six daughters, most likely some of the girls at the front of the picture.

Using Marriage Certificates and a process of elimination, I found that just two of his daughters actually married at Calderglen (or at least at churches close to Blantyre). Louisa Helen Gordon Cochrane, aged 26 married Harry Otho Devereaux Hickman on 18th March 1890. Harry was a military man who would eventually make the rank of Brigadier General. I had a few problems relating this wedding photo to those facts. In particular the date. Leaves are fully shown on the trees in the background and this wouldn’t have been the case in March. The young men are clean shaven, but in the 1890’s the trend was for men to have beards and whiskers. The picture just simply felt a different time.

1900 Marriage of Victoria Cochrane

Another younger daughter who married at Calderglen was Victoria Maitland Cochrane. At 32 years old she married Humphrey Peare Lindsay on 11th July 1900. A summer wedding (leaves on the trees!) and pictured outside made more sense for this photo. Humphrey was a clergyman and the couple married nearby in Saint Mary’s Church in Hamilton. This would make a wedding reception most likely at the Calderglen House, their family home. It is very likely that we now have the location, venue, people and date for this photo