Wedding Wednesday – John Stuart Tomkins and Ruth Margaret Bentley

Ruth Margaret Bentley is my 2nd cousin. Her parents are Albert Bentley and Ruth Halstead. Our common ancestors are Thomas Musgrove and Ellen Stowell – my great grandparents.

Ruth was born on 13 July 1934 in Clitheroe, Lancashire. Very sadly Ruth’s father, Albert, died at the age of 28 on 6 June 1937, when Ruth was one month away from her third birthday.

On 15 September 1956 Ruth married John Stuart Tomkins at Moor Lane Methodist Church, Clitheroe. The Clitheroe Advertiser and Times reported the wedding on Friday 21 September 1956 (image from http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).

TOMKINS – BENTLEY

The wedding took place at Moor Lane Methodist Church, Clitheroe, on Saturday, of Mr. John Stuart Tomkins, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Tomkins, of ‘Quarry Bank,” Lower Abbott’s Brow, Mellor, near Blackburn, and formerly of Waddington, and Miss Ruth Margaret Bentley, daughter of Mrs. and the late Mr. A. Bentley, of 1 Curzon Street, Clitheroe.
Given away by her uncle, Mr. Gordon Bentley, the bride wore a gown of ivory satin brocade with a short circular veil of embroidered net surmounted by a pearl and floral headdress. Her bouquet was of red roses.
Miss Christine Bentley, cousin of the bride, and Miss Marie Jackson, a friend, were the bridesmaids. They wore full-length dresses of pale blue brocade and wreaths of pink roses on their heads and carried matching bouquets.
Mr. Luke Porter, a friend of the bridegroom, was best man, and the duties of groomsman were shared by Messrs. Tom Hunt, H. T. Proctor, and John Howard.
During the ceremony which was performed by the Rev. G. H. Fenton, the hymns “The Lord’s My Shepherd” and “O Perfect Love” were sung. Mr. Donald Hartley was at the organ.
After a reception at the Starkie Arms Hotel, Clitheroe, the couple left for a honeymoon in London, the bride travelling in a tweed coat with red dress, handbag and shoes.
Among the gifts were a cheque from the bridegroom’s colleagues at Brockhall Hospital and a hand-embroidered tablecloth from the bride’s workfriends at the Brockhall staff school.
Mr. and Mrs. Tomkins will make their home at “Quarry Bank,” Lower Abbott’s Brow, Mellor.

Like her father, Ruth also died at a young age. She passed away on 28 December 1969 at only 35 years old. I posted a photograph of her tombstone here.

Tombstone Tuesday – Ruth Margaret Tomkins (1934-1969)

This is the gravestone of my 2nd cousin, Ruth Margaret Bentley.

Ruth was born on 13th July 1934 to parents Albert Bentley and Ruth Halstead.

Sometime in the third quarter of 1956 Ruth married John Stuart Tomkins.  The marriage is recorded in the Clitheroe registration district.

You can see from the inscription that Ruth was only 35 years of age when she died in 1969.  Her husband John survived for almost a further 33 years until December 2002.

I took the photograph on a recent visit to Clitheroe cemetery in Lancashire.