FACTS
NAME : Patricia I Darnell
YEAR BIRTH REGISTERED: 1933
QUARTER REGISTERED: January/February/March
(note that birth may have been 1932 given registration quarter)
DISTRICT OF BIRTH: Edmonton
MOTHER'S MAIDEN NAME: Briggs
SPOUSE: Derrick T Richardson
ORIGINAL PHOTO:
The scan of the photo I purchased is below.
ANCESTRY TREE LINK:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/116781656/family
You must have an account to view this.
FAMILY SEARCH: Not uploaded at this time
STORY BEHIND THIS:
I saw this photo for sale on Ebay. I purchased it to both reunite the photo with family members and to build up my family tree investigation experience. The family may already have a copy of this wedding photo but if they don't then they do now!
Note that the 9cm by 14cm photo has been removed from an album. On the reverse are a few photos of Loch Leven and the Mountains of Glencoe. The date written is 1952 and there aren't any people in these photos.
In the photo above, from left to right, Esme Smith, Keith Judge, Derrick, Pat, Maureen Darnell, Mr. Darnell, Page Paul Darnell.
INFORMATION GATHERING FOR DARNELL:
I started by building up a tree on Ancestry for the bride and her family.
The Ancestry birth record for Patricia stated her mother's maiden name, Briggs. From this I was able to verify that the bridesmaid, Maureen E Darnell, was Patricia's younger sister and the page boy, Paul D Darnell, her younger brother; both their birth records also stated that Briggs was the mother's maiden name.
Note that although this relationship was highly likely it was not a given as they may have been related in another way such as cousins.
The photo states Mr. Darnell is stood on the far right and I presume that this is the Patricia's father, Lenard Frederick Jack Darnell.
I think it is possible that the person who recorded the names of those in the photo was a friend of the family rather than a relation given they have not stated his full name. He is the only one to be given the title Mr. and the only one without any forenames.
Note that the bride's mother Doris Edna Darnell nee Briggs is not present in the photo and according to Ancestry records Doris did not pass away until 1993. This may not be an official photograph and so it is possible that she was the person taking the photo.
INFORMATION GATHERING - RICHARDSON:
I then looked more closely at the information I could find for the groom, Derrick Richardson.
I presumed that he was born around the same time as his bride and in roughly the same area. I only located one birth record on Ancestry and will go with this for now. Note that I am unable to verify that this is the correct person without purchasing birth certificates etc. and at the present time I will not be doing this.
If the birth information is correct then Derrick was 20/21 when he got married and he would have been required to do National Service. Note that he is wearing a military uniform in this photo and so I also checked Ancestry for military records. Unfortunately I couldn't locate any records and, at this point, I am not going to undertake further research on other sites.
INFORMATION GATHERING - OTHER:
The other bridesmaid, Esme Smith, and the best man, Keith Judge, are likely to be friends. They may be connected to the family by marriage however I am not looking in to this at the moment.
The photo states that the wedding took place at Barton Church and the Ancestry record confirms that the marriage took place in Bedfordshire.
The wedding group are stood in from of a door surrounded by two arches and this appears to be St. Nicholas's Church, Barton-le-Clay, Bedfordshire. This photo downloaded from Wikipedia shows the arches clearly.
INFORMATION GATHERING - DESCENDANTS:
Patricia and Derrick appear to have had at least three children. The Ancestry birth records state that these children were born to a mother with the maiden name as Darnell. I will not be purchasing birth certificates to verify the parents.
1. A daughter born in Bedfordshire in 1956
2. A daughter born in Bedfordshire in 1958
3. A son born in Cambridgeshire in 1960
There is also a fourth possible son born in Lincolnshire in 1951. This record also states the mother's maiden name is Darnell. Again, without purchasing a birth certificate I can not verify the parents.
CONCLUSION:
Overall this was a good short project that was interesting plus I gained some more experience of researching family records. I got to know the basic Darnell/Richardson/Briggs/Swan family tree quite well and so I hope that one day the relatives find this photo.
Note that this is the main post about the wedding photo and all other related posts will just contain the facts about the person featured, the photo and a link to this post.
Please do leave a comment if you are related or know one or more of those featured. Also if you take a copy of this photo.
Thanks Sue
