TARS RACE OFF WITH A BRIDE.

Northland Age, Volume 3, Issue 8, 25 September 1906, Page 8

TARS RACE OFF WITH A BRIDE.

r MIDDIES ACT AS USHERS, AND THE WHOLE AFFAIR IS A JOLLY NAVAL FUNCTION b The wedding of Lieutenant Evelyn Boothby, R.N., and Miss Esme Beauchamp, at St. George's, Hanover Square, greatly interested London and introduced a decided novelty in wedding arrangements. The affair was a naval function, with the bridegroom and his best man, Commander Berwick Curtis, in full uniform, while two smart little midshipmen acted as ushers. The centre isle of the church was lined by twenty 7 bluejackets under command of a. petty officer. As soon as the bride and groom adjourned to the vestry to sign the register, the “handy men” lined the aisle, trooped out, and, much to the astonishment of the family, coachman, proceeded to take the horses out of the bride’s carriage ; and in less than two minutes they had traces attached, and with twenty Jack Tars acting as horses the carriage was in waiting at the church door. By this time the crowd outside the church numbered some thousand persons, and the smart, business-like methods of the boys in blue met with their entire approval, which they expressed in a hearty cheer.

At this moment Lieutenant Boothby and his bride came down the aisle, and to the music of more cheers from the crowd, joined this time by the sailors, they entered the carriage and went away with the twenty tars at a good round trot. Through Hanover Square, up Oxford street, and so to Gloucester place, Portraan square, was the route taken. Bus drivers en route pulled to the near side and gave the carriage a clear passage and a passing cheer.

Such a sight in London has never been seen before, and nearly one half of the crowd outside the church followed, while heaps of people joined in en route, so by the time the bluejackets got their lieutenant and his bride to their destination an enormous cheering crowd surged round the brougham, and it was only with the help and the skill of the sturdy “Jacks” that the happy pair could carve their way into the house.