After attending the wedding of two of her sisters it was Nellie who now became the bride. On Tuesday 26th September 1911, at the Wesleyan Chapel in Front Street, Billesdon, Miss NELLIE SHELLAKER was married to Mr. JOHN WILLIAM BROWN. Nellie was thirty two, the bridegroom John was twenty-five.
Insofar as I can establish no complete photograph exists of the Wesleyan Chapel in Front Street, Billesdon. However the photograph of Front Street, on the right, taken circa 1910, just a year prior to Nellie’s wedding, shows parts of this chapel. The chapel is the second building on the left, obscured by a tree or hedge and half covered with ivy, the one immediately after the first house on the left – the white building. The frontage of the Wesleyan Chapel, faces the street and has a small wall with a gate and railings separating it from the pavement. The Wesleyan chapel was established in 1854, was part of the Oakham Methodist circuit. The chapel was said to have been formed out of an old building. It was re-fronted and enlarged in 1859 at a cost of £110. It is also recorded that the chapel was restored in 1892. This chapel went out of use around 1925 and was converted into a fire station in 1940. It since became a hardware shop and it is now a private resident.
As can be seen on the Certificate of Marriage below the wedding was conducted by Mr Newman James, a Methodist Minister. The witnesses being brothers of the bride and groom; John Shellaker and Albert Brown respectively.
Nellie Shellaker & John Brown – Certificate of Marriage
Below is a copy of an invitation, (which was in the possession of Nellie’s daughter, Olive), for the Wedding of Nellie & John issued by John’s parents, Mr & Mrs. John William Brown of Shepshed. The invitation card opens out to reveal the details of the wedding (image below right).
A CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNT OF NELLIE’S WEDDING
A report exists of the wedding of Nellie and John, (image on the right with the words reprinted below – author unknown), which I feel really captures the happy atmosphere of the occasion.
With only a little imagination one can easily visualize the newly married Nellie & John, together with their family and friends outside the chapel in Front Street, Billesdon, before they all made their way, in several pony & traps, to the Lodge Farm for the reception.
Billesdon 1911
“On Tuesday Sept 26th a very pretty wedding was celebrated at the little Wesleyan Chapel when Miss Helena Shellaker was married to Mr. John Brown of Shepshed. The bride wore a very pretty gown made of cream voile and a crinoline hat to match, and the Bridesmaid (Miss Brown, sister of the Bridegroom wore a dress of heliotrope cashmere and a black hat with lace trimmings.
Mr. Bert Brown (brother of the groom) acted as best man, and the ceremony was conducted by the Revd. W. Newman James of Leicester and Miss Johnson presided at the organ. The bride has been a most useful and genial member of the Church to which she belonged for many years, and the esteem and love in which she was held was shown by the large congregation present.
A reception was held at the home of the Bride after the ceremony. Mr. & Mrs. Brown started for Newcastle on their honeymoon amid hearty good wishes of all friends and neighbours”.
The reception, as mentioned above , was held at Billesdon Lodge Farm, following which the happy couple left for honeymoon in a horse drawn vehicle which took them to the local rail station at Ingarsby from where they went by train to Newcastle to stay for a few days with a Mr. & Mrs. Beal.
NELLIE & JOHN’S WEDDING PRESENT LIST
In February 2013 I was sent a copy of Nellie and John’s wedding present list which was in the possession of one of their Great-grandsons, James Stimpson. The list, which is below, was written in January 1912 a few months after the wedding. It not only gives us an interesting pictures as to the type of presents given at this wedding which occurred over one hundred years ago but provides a extensive list of Nellie & John’s friends & family.
The name includes ‘Sam & Emma’ – this is Nellie’s sister Emma and her husband Sam Abell Geary, ‘John & Aggie’ – Nellie’s brother John Shellaker and his wife Agnes, (my Grandparents) ‘Mr. Kupper’ – the man for whom John Brown worked at the Nursery in Back Street, the ‘Band of Hope Workers’ and members of the ‘Sunday School’, ‘Miss S. Shellaker’ – Nellie’s sister Sarah, ‘Mother’ – this relates to Nellie’s mother Mary as we know both John’s parents had died the year prior to the wedding, ‘Mr. C. Naylor’ – John’s childhood friend Charlie Naylor, ‘Mrs Polly Brown’ – Nellie’s sister Mary Jane, who was known as ‘Polly’, with two of her daughters; ‘Miss May Brown’ (who was recorded at living at Billesdon Lodge as a 17 year old in the Census in April of 1911) and ‘Miss Lizzie Brown’. Some members of the ‘Curtis family’ are also mentioned, Nellie’s mother’s sisters family.
A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPH?
I was told the photograph below right of Nellie & John was taken shortly before their wedding but I believe I can see a ring, a plain band, on the third finger of Nellie left hand. This may have been an engagement ring but it could be a wedding ring.
It is not known where the photograph was taken. The couple had been courting for around seven years before their marriage.
LIVING IN SHEPSHED
Upon their return from the honeymoon Nellie & John returned to Shepshed to live at The Crest, a semi-detached house next to the railway. After a few months John Brown’s grandfather, the Reverend Field, who at that time was around eighty-nine years old, came to live with them.
Although the Reverend Field had other sons, they did not want to look after him. In those days, the only alternative remaining for the Reverend Field was the ‘Workhouse’, so John invited his grandfather to move in with Nellie & himself.
BACK TO BILLESDON
While Nellie was living at Shepshed she and John received a letter from her sister, Sarah Shellaker, informing them the Nursery in Back Street, Billesdon, where John Brown had previously worked, had been put up for sale by the owner, Mr Kupper. Nellie & John could not turn away from away from this opportunity and consequently purchased the Nursery business. They returning to Billesdon, having lived at Shepshed for about sixteen months. On New Years Day, Wednesday 1st January 1913, Nellie and her husband John, together with John’s Grandfather the Reverend Field, journeyed from Shepshed by pony & trap back to the village of Billesdon to take over the Nursery in Back Street. Nellie’s ‘grandfather-in-law’, the Reverend Field was around ninety-two years old, at this time.
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