MARRIAGE AT SEA

Evening Star, Issue 21510, 7 September 1933, Page 9

MARRIAGE AT SEA

" N9T VALID ” HONEYMOON COUPLE. RAMSGATE, August 21.On the second day of their honeymoon, young Mr Samuel Clark, of Ramsgate, and the bride he married at sea on Saturday, are faced with the disquieting official declaration that they “ are not married at all.’ Fate seems to have loaded the dice against them. On Saturday guests assembled at St. Lawrence Church, here,to see Mr Clark married to Miss Florence Brice. The bride-to : be was led in,the bridegroom was waiting to meet her at the altar. Learning at the last moment that the banns had not been published in the bridegroom’s parish, the vicar declined to perform the marriage ceremony. This dramatic cancellation of her wedding prostrated the bride. She was taken to her home and the guests followed. Then the best man—Mr A. Bruce—had a sudden idea. “ Why not get married at sea?” The idea was bailed with cheers. Taxicabs were called and the young couple, accompanied 1 by their parents and witnesses, raced down tothe seafront and sought out Mr George Neame, skipper of a motor boat. Ha agreed to take the party three miles out to sea and to fill the breach left vacant by the vicar. They hove-tn under the East Goodwin lightship, and there Mr Clark and Miss Brice were pronounced man and wife. Yesterday came the dramatic ]olt toi their new-found happiness. Mr S. P. Vivian, Registrar-General, said: ‘The master of a merchant ship has no power at all to marry a couple. The fallacy that he can do so is cherished by many, people. .1.1 “ Marriage by consent might be treated as valid in cases where it was impossible to secure the services of a' clergyman or approved official. An ecclesiastical lawyer ruled: No court would accept the marriage as valid. -