Unknown Milner wedding photo
Photo: Alan Sutton

This photo, used by kind permission of Kristina Reading, is believed by her to have been taken at a Milner Wigan wedding, though neither the date, the exact place, nor the people in it are known. It certainly looks Victorian; Thomas Milner the younger was married at All Saints in April 1873 and it is thought the photo could depict a clear spring Wigan day. The Milners had links to the Freemasons and I know there was a Masonic Hall in Wigan - could this be the place? Almost all the gentlemen are smoking cigars and have watch chains visible and I wonder how many of them purchased their watches from Thomas, or from his father, also Thomas. Comparing the photo I recently uploaded of Thomas the younger in his masonic regalia in 1881, I can't see an obvious likeness amongst these fine gentlemen. If anyone has any ideas regarding the time or place - or even any of the photo's subjects - then I will be eternally grateful. The photograph is remarkably sharp for its day and I'm sure the expert-eyed amongst you will glean much from the detail that I am simply unable to decipher.