Object Number: TC3328

Collection: Social History

Object Name: wedding dress

Description: Wedding dress worn by Mrs May Evelyn Whitcombe (nee Roach) at her wedding in 1916. It is a cream silk dress with lace inserts, long sleeves and a false orange blossom [lily of the valley, sue giles] corsage at the waist. May Roach was born 03/06/1892 and died 24/02/1984. When she was young, she lived at Oslands farms, Codrington, Gloucestershire. She married Edgar George Whitcombe of Barley Close Farm, Codrington, Glos, in February 1916, at Wapley near Westerley, Glos. Edgar was a road surveyor at Winchcombe. There was a blizzard that day, and no wedding photographs were taken. Edgar was then sent to fight at the French front, and was killed in the Battle of the Somme. Only his wallet was recovered. He was posted missing on 01/09/1916, and all hope was lost by October. May wrapped her wedding dress in sheets of the Bristol Times and Mirror newspaper dated 21/10/1916 and stored it in the box in which it had come from the dressmakers, F.K. Lewis & Co. of Bristol. It was still there when she died, aged 91. May died in Redland, Bristol. Related items: TB3329 box and newspaper in which dress was stored; TC3330 photograph of Edgar Whitcombe c.1916; TC3331 photograph of May Whitcombe c.1916; TC3332 photograph of May Whitcombe c.1916.