LOCAL WEDDINGS.

ELPHINSTONE—RICHARDSON.

An exceedingly pretty wedding took place at St. John's Church, Upper St. Leonards, on Wednesday afternoon in the presence of a large congregation of relatives and friends. The contracting parties were Miss Katharine Elizabeth Elphinstone, only daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Howard J. Elphinstone, grand-daughter of the late Sir Howard Elphinistone, Bart., and of the late Mr. Herbert M. Curteis, J.P., of Windmill Hill Place, and niece of Miss E.A. Curteis, of 3, The Lawn, St. Leonards, and Captain William Wigham Richardson, M.B.E., eldest son of Lieut.-Colonel P.W. Richardson, of Aldenholm, Weybridge.

The chancel had been tastefully decorated with palms, white tulips, narcissi, and anemones, while arum lilies and other white flowers adorned the altar. The service was conducted by the Rev. M.C. Elphinstone (uncle of the bride), assisted by the Rev. G. Eden King (Rector of S. John's, Upper St. Leonards).

The bride wore a beautiful gown of white draped with georgette, finished at the waist with a large spray of orange blossom. From her shoulders fell a full court train of white satin lined with georgette, draped with an old Brussels lace veil, which was worn by her grandmother, Lady Elphinstone, at her wedding, and trimmed with sprays of orange blossom. Her tulle veil was held in place by a wreath of myrtle, and she carried a bouquet of lilies of the valley and white carnations.

Miss D. Curteis, Miss L.M. Henty (cousins of the bride), Miss Diana Minshall (cousin of the bridegroom) and Miss Elizabeth Garman (god-daughter of the bride) formed a charming group worthy of the lady whom they attended. They wore sky blue taffeta petal dresses trimmed with gold net and gold shoes and stockings. The elder bridesmaids wore black tulle hats trimmed with gold leaves and the children wore gold lace caps. Lovely bouquets of pale pink rosebuds tied with ribbon of the same shade, were carried and they wore long gold bar brooches set with a single pearl, the gift of the bridegroom.

The bride was given away by her uncle, Lieut.-Colonel Curteis, and the best man was Mr. George Wigham Richardson, brother of the bridegroom.

The service was fully choral, the well known hymns, "Lead us, Heavenly Father," "O Perfect Love" and "May the grace of Christ our Saviour" and Psalm LXVII, being sung. Mr. O. O'Connor was at the organ.

After the ceremony a very large number of guests were received at the Royal Victoria Hotel. The large dining hall had been converted into a beautiful reception room, charmingly arranged with palms, etc., while each table was adorned with a vase of lovely flowers. In these pleasing surroundings the bride and bridegroom received the good wishes of their numerous friends. Among those present were: [listed . . . ]

On leaving for the honeymoon, which is to be spent abroad, the bride wore a dress of beige satin trimmed with oriental embroidery, black lace hat and white fox furs.

NEW BARONET

Captain Sir William Wigham Richardson

Sir William Wigham Richardson, the Kent County Council and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Alderman, who last week succeeded his father as the second Baronet, has now decided to be known as Sir William and not as Sir Wigham, as he at first considered.

He will retain his second christian name of Wigham. His full title in future will be Capt. Sir William Wigham Richardson.

COUNCIL LOSES AN ALDERMAN

SIR William Wigham Richardson, whose retirement as a county alderman was announced at Wednesday's meeting of Kent County Council, was elected to the council in 1946 as councillor for Tunbridge Wells North. He was elected county alderman in 1950.

Sir William's great interest has been planning and he was a member of the town and country planning committee from 1946 to 1948, and its successor, the planning committee, on which he served, for a period as chairman, until his resignation from the county council.

He also served on the roads, water supplies and sewerage, selection and special purposes, and buildings committees.

Sir William has been prominent in the life of Tunbridge Wells and is a long-serving member of Tunbridge Wells Council, to which he was elected in 1939 and elected an alderman in 1952.

He has been a J.P. since 1948 and chairman of the juvenile court.

He was an officer in the Queens' Royal West Surrey Regiment from 1914 to 1919 and, in 1919, was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Sir William was A.D.C. to the Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Barbados, from 1918 to 1920.

Active as ever in his seventies

ALTHOUGH that remarkable Septuagenarian, Sir William Wigham Richardson, has retired from the Kent County Council, he has by no means withdrawn from active public life.

He concerned himself as a county councillor with planning—he was chairman of the committee from 1949-1965—and retains this interest on a local level as a member of the town's planning committee, of which he was chairman for several years.

Living, as he does, in one of the most desirable houses in Tunbridge Wells—4 Calverley Park—it would be easy for him to view town planning problems through rose-tinted glasses. Nevertheless, he still appreciates that the main object of the planning committee should be to provide good housing for all citizens.

This, he feels, should take precedence over other town planning problems, such as parking and shopping facilities. He feels Tunbridge Wells should not rush into any town development plans.

Sir William's foremost interest now is the Air Training Corps, especially with the 129 Squadron, based in Tunbridge Wells. He is the welfare committee chairman, and also represents the eight Kent squadrons nationally as chairman of the Kent Wing.

Art has also been one of Sir William's main hobbies. He had to master the brush as well as the pen with the left hand when he lost the use of the right hand in the 1914-18 war. He still paints and is president of the town's Art Club.

Sir William will be greatly missed at County Hall, where he had a long and distinguished career after his election in 1946. Planning apart, he was a member of several other committees, including roads and water supplies and sewerage.

The height of his career was at the beginning of the 1950's, when he was elected both a county alderman and an alderman for Tunbridge Wells.

Sir William Wigham Richardson (Tunbridge Wells)

Sir William Wigham Richardson, second baronet, MBE, of 4 Calverley Park, Tunbridge Wells, died on Thursday in the Kent and Sussex Hospital, aged 80. He was the elder son of the late Sir Philip Richardson, Baronet, of Weybridge, and of the late Mrs. Rosa Thol.

He had been a widower for 25 years and leaves no children. The title passes to his brother, ship-owner Mr. George Wigham Richardson, 78, of Benenden.

Sir William, who was born at Dulwich, had lived in Tunbridge Wells for about 50 years. He was badly wounded while serving in the Army in the first world war, losing his right hand, and after the war he served as ADC to the Governor of Barbados, Sir Charles O'Brien. He was later a Lloyds underwriter for a short period.

He was made a Freeman of the Borough of Royal Tunbridge Wells in 1970, and served for many years on both the Kent County Council and the Borough Council. He was at various times chairman of the County Planning Committee and of the Borough Planning Committee and was later an Alderman of both these authorities.

Sir William was also a magistrate, sitting at the Tunbridge Wells Court, for a number of years.

Cremation took place on Tuesday at Tunbridge Wells. The family asked that no flowers or letters should be sent.

Mr George Wigham Richardson, a director of Messrs Wigham Richardson and Co., Ltd., shipowners and insurance brokers, London, and son of Sir Philip Richardson, M.P. for Chertsey, was married at St James Church, Weybridge, on Saturday to Miss Adela Nancy Davies, daughter of Mr and Mrs A.O. Davies, of Heatherfield, Weybridge.

. . . Mr George Wigham-Richardson, a director of Airspeed (1934) Ltd, told a reporter, last night: "There is no doubt the allotment letters were forgeries. The only mystery is how the forger obtained six blank allotment letters. These letters bore the Federated Trust and Finance Corporation Ltd.'s rubber stamp.

"A man took the six allotment letters to a stockbroker and foolishly asked for banknotes. The stockbroker was uneasy when this request was made to him and he asked the man to go with him to the Federated Trust and Finance Corporation. This the man did.

When the letters were shown to the Corporation officials it was quickly discovered by consulting the register that the names were fictitious. The police were at once informed.

Mr Wigham Richardson said that the six allotment letters were for 15,000 shares—£5,000.

"The first letter was not a clumsy forgery but one of them certainly was." The word "Lancaster" had been spelt "Lanceaster."

Mr Wigham Richardson expressed the view that the police would not have a hopeless task in solving the mystery of how the blank allotment letters came into possession of the man whom they afterwards interviewed, and who had now been found dead.

Mr. George Wigham Richardson, younger son of Sir Philip Wigham Richardson, the shipbuilder and shipowner, is to marry Miss Barbara Ansell, younger daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Harry Clements Ansell, of Sutton Coldfield, it is announced today.

SIR GEORGE RICHARDSON

Sir George Wigham Richardson, Bt, died on April 15 at the age of 86. He was an underwriting member of Lloyd's, president of Wigham Poland Ltd and a director of other companies.

The second son of Sir Philip Wigham Richardson, first baronet, he succeeded his brother in 1973. Educated at Rugby, he served in the First World War in France and Flanders and with the Army of Occupation in Germany. He was mentioned in despatches. He was a former Prime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights.

He was twice married.

The engagement is announced of Mr. Jean Remi Martin, ward of Sir Philip Wigham-Richardson, M.P., of Aldenholme, Weybridge, and Miss Joan Constance Vale Tidd, of The Hermitage, Weybridge. The marriage will take place on November 23 in Nairobi Cathedral.

Car Stolen.

A Morris Minor Tourer, No. T. 1129, the property of Mr. Remy Martin, grey in colour with a khaki hood, was removed from outside Nairobi Club between midnight and 8 a.m., on Tuesday morning.

An ex-Army officer, who was specially selected by Admiral Lord Mountbatten and did brilliant work behind the Japanese lines in the Far East campaign, pleaded guilty at Taunton, on Wednesday, to driving a car while under the influence of drink.

Defendant, Donald Jack Ferguson (42), farmer, of Elsworthy Farm, Greenham, Wellington, was fined £25, with £6 7s 6d costs and five guineas advocate's fee. He was disqualified from driving for a year.

A charge of driving in a dangerous manner was withdrawn.