Marriage of Sir F. G. Milner (Bart) and Miss Adeline Denison
All Saints’, Bolton Percy, on Tuesday October 19th 1880
Miss Denison being the daughter of William Beckett-Denison MP and the Hon Helen Beckett-Denison (formerly Duncombe) of Nun Appleton. Frederick George Milner (7th Baronet) being the eldest surviving son of Sir William Milner (former MP for York) and Lady Georgiana Anne Milner sister of the Earl of Scarborough.
The wedding was the coming together of two families with a rich history and was one of the society weddings of the year. A distinguished guest list of 120 sat down to a wedding breakfast at Nun Appleton and it was reported that the presents for the bride and groom numbered 300. The tenants also presented to the bride and groom a handsome silver punch bowl such was their esteem and affection for the groom.
At intervals on the route from the bride’s home to the church, arches of evergreen, relieved with flowers, spanned the road and these had been erected by the tenants.
In addition to the large muster of relatives and intimate friends of the two families, the tenantry and others in the district mustered numerously and the church was wholly inadequate to accommodate all who came. As though to crown the proceedings, and present everything in the best light, the weather was exceptionally fine for the time of year.
Batch by batch the house party arrived at the village, and being set down by the churchyard gate passed along the covered path, lined on each side with spectators into the sacred building.
Sir Frederick Milner was attended by his best man The Earl of Lowes, and a few minutes after the arrival of the bridegroom the bride arrived leaning on the arm of her father and attended by 12 bridesmaids.
The marriage ceremony was performed by the Archbishop of York. In addition there were within the communion rails Archdeacon Creyke, Canons Paget and Mapleton, Rev J Roy and Rev F Lawrence. Rev F W Jackson, Curate of All Saints, was also in attendance.
“It must be many a long day, if ever before, since the little village of Bolton Percy witnessed such an assemblage of rank, fashion, and beauty or had within it such a gathering of the people of the district as were there on the day; or since it’s Church – where the second Duke of Buckingham took unto wife Mary daughter of Thomas Lord Fairfax – was so thronged.”
Reproduced from ‘The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer’ Wednesday October 20th, 1880.