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Mystery of the June Bride
ANNIE BROMILOW (1842-1911), pictured left, in 1857 was married at the age of 16
to 19-year-old Edward McLaughlin, then a first lieutenant.

The June wedding is puzzling, at least to the pure, to whom all things are impure.
Subalterns were discouraged from marrying for fear that it could ruin them financially
and because it removed them from the comradeship of the mess.
The officiating minister was Edward's father, the Reverend Hubert McLaughlin.
So why was the ceremony not held in his church at Boraston?
Or in St. Helens?
Or in a town garrisoned by the groom and his fellow officers?
Instead the wedding was in Bournemouth, a seaside resort visited by only a select few.
I shall be grateful to anyone who can identify what Annie is holding in her carte de visite.
Annie was the daughter of James and Ellen Bromilow of Green End House, St. Helens, Lancashire.
James's father William was a founder of Bromilow, Foster & Co. Ltd. which owned coalmines in and around St. Helens.
James established the St. Helens Crown Glass Company in 1826, along with members of another
prominent local family, the Pilkingtons.
He was supposed to keep the company's books, but after three years James was forced out and had to sell his shares to young
William Pilkington. This recently appointed manager had discovered that James had made extremely costly accounting errors.
James then went into partnership with William West running another glass factory, but that went bankrupt after West's own brother
correctly informed customers that West was guilty of a huge excise tax fraud.
Meanwhile the St. Helens Glass Company went on to become one of the world's largest glass manufacturers, Pilkington.
On the left is a portrait of Ellen (1807-1891) painted in her youth.
After James died, Ellen married John Rose Hall (1790-1858) in 1845.
Below Mrs. Rose Hall is pictured in old age, a detail from a carte de visite made by Samuel Oglesby
of Llandudno, "Photographer to the Queen and the Emperor of the French."
© 2006 G. Harry McLaughlin. Reproduction or transmission, in whole or in part, for other than personal use
is prohibited without advance permission from
Dr. G. H. McLaughlin.
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