1917 Wedding Sommerville Hunter at Blantyreferme. Shared by M Broadley
Thank you to Australian lady, Marg Broadley for sending me these photos back in June. Apologies, only getting round to uploading them now.
Pictured is a wedding in Blantyre in 1917. The wedding is that of Marg’s great aunt Helen Smail Sommerville, who married Thomas Campbell Hunter. The wedding party are pictures on the grass outside the large house at Blantyreferme. Witnesses to the wedding were William Siegel, Elizabeth Renwick and Rev C. Scrimgeour Turnbull.
Later that same day, the wedding party removed to Greenhall Park for more photos. The party are photographed at the east entrance, which remarkably still looks very similar today. They may not have entered, as the property was actually private belonging to the Moore family at the time, so this may simply have been a stopping point on a grand wedding day walk around Blantyre’s large houses. It’s clear they’re enjoying their happy day. The people in the Greenhall photo are known from left to right as:
1917 4th July Sommerville – Hunter wedding party at Greenhall
Marion Moffat (Mother of the bride), Helen Sommerville Hunter (the bride), Andrew Smail Sommerville (Father of the bride), Adam Sommerville in military uniform (brother of the bride), Agnes Sommerville (Sister of the bride) and Thomas Campbell Hunter (the groom)
A further studio photo is attached. Incredibly, we know the exact date, of 4th July 1917 and Helen at the time was working at Blantyre Lodge, the large house which once stood where the current playpark is at David Livingstone Centre. After the couple married, they moved to Greenock , where they lived out their days.
1917 4th July Sommerville Wedding party