1941 wedding – Kenneth Ellison & Peggy Butler

On 10th May 1941, 20-year-old Kenneth Austin Ellison (1920-2002), known as Ken, married 19-year-old Thelma Lorraine (Peggy) Butler (1922-2004) at St James’ Church, Badsey.  The reception was held at Badsey Manor House (present-day 4 & 6 High Street).  Peggy’s younger sister, Sheila, who was a bridesmaid at the wedding (pictured next to the bride), was living there at the time, which was presumably the reason why Peggy was able to have her reception there.

Sheila’s connection with Badsey Manor House had begun about four years earlier when she was 12.  She had become very friendly with the two sisters who lived there and helped to look after their young children.  In the part which is now No 4 lived Betty (née Liversidge) & Jack Knight and in the part which is now No 6 lived Winnie (née Liversidge) & John Jones.  The Manor House in those days was still one house (it was not made into two until 1946) and there was a connecting passageway between the two halves.

The photo was taken in the garden of what is now No 4, with the wedding group standing in front of the stone stable building in poor repair, now demolished and replaced by a new building.  They would have been facing south, and the window detail in the wedding photo seems to match the window in a photo of the stable taken about 1912.  By 1941, the hayloft door above this window had gone and has been filled with stone. The interior of the stables is brightly lit suggesting it had lost its roof by this time.  In 2013, at the invitation of Richard Phillips & Lizzie Noyes, Sheila paid a return visit to No 4 and was able to confirm the spot where the photo was taken.

We are grateful to Sheila Knight (née Butler) for allowing this photo to be copied.