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On This Day in Wembury — 1 October 1904

A Society Wedding at St Werburgh’s

On this day in 1904, The Ladies’ Field carried a wonderfully detailed account of a wedding which had taken place at St Werburgh’s Church, Wembury, on 15 September.

The bride was Bessie Florence Cory, daughter of the late Richard Cory of Langdon Court and Mrs Cory of South Wembury House. Her bridegroom was Captain Owen Hassall of the 2nd Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

This was very much one of Wembury’s grand Edwardian occasions. The church was decorated with palms and white flowers, the service was choral, and the bride arrived with her cousin, Mr W. Cory. She wore a gown of taffetas mousseline, embroidered with fine Brussels net and chiffon, with a long Court train of ivory satin duchesse. Her veil was old Limerick lace and she carried white lilies tied with tulle.

There were three bridesmaids, including her sister Miss Diana Bultel, dressed in pale mauve and carrying bouquets of pale mauve straw and ruched tulle. Captain Hassall was attended by his brother, E. Hassall, and several of his fellow officers formed a guard of honour outside the church.

Afterwards there was a reception for relatives and close friends at South Wembury House, followed by a larger gathering for local people. The newlyweds then left for their honeymoon in Germany.

There is a particularly nice connection with Wembury's history here. Bessie had grown up at Langdon Court, where her father Richard Cory had become one of the parish's most influential Victorian landowners. He had made his fortune through the family's coal-shipping business and purchased Langdon Court in the 1870s. The household lived on a distinctly grand scale: the 1891 census records numerous domestic servants, and visitors to Langdon included members of the royal family.

Richard Cory was also closely associated with St Werburgh's. He paid for the major restoration of the church in 1886, and following his death in January 1904 a memorial window was installed there later that same year.

So the wedding that September took place in a church which the bride's own father had helped restore, only eight months after his death. What reads at first like a rather splendid Edwardian society wedding announcement therefore also captures a moment of transition for one of the families that had played a prominent part in Wembury life.

Source: The Ladies’ Field, 1 October 1904, reporting the marriage of 15 September 1904.

On This Day in Wembury — 1 October 1994

The Herald Village column recorded a busy autumn for Wembury’s community groups. The Wembury Camera Club announced a print exhibition at Plymouth Central Library (10–22 October), showing members’ work. The Garden Society had resumed its monthly meetings in the Village Hall, and new members were encouraged to join.

Local fitness also featured: ladies’ body-tone classes were running on Mondays at the Primary School Hall, with gentler exercise sessions on Tuesday afternoons in the Village Hall. Meanwhile, the Wembury Peninsula Branch of the RNLI reported raising £204 at a barbecue hosted at the Wembury Club, with thanks given to Dick and Irene Booth for their support.

Reflection:
It is a reminder of how village life in the 1990s carried a rhythm of shared spaces and voluntary effort. Camera clubs, garden societies, fitness groups, and the RNLI all drew on overlapping networks of the same people. These small notices show the continuity of a community sustained by both tradition and adaptation, just as earlier generations had done with fetes, regattas, and parish meetings.

Source: Western Evening Herald (Village Wembury column), 1 October 1994.