UNUSUAL MARRIAGE

Grey River Argus, 11 May 1943, Page 2

UNUSUAL MARRIAGE

NEW ZEALANDERS IN BRITAIN.

(Special to N.Z. Press Assn.) LONDON, May 8.

A special Act of Parliament has been passed to make legal the marriage of two New Zealanders. They are Sheila MacDonald, of Dunedin, and Flight Lieutenant Jonathan Neilson, of Haumoana, who were married on April 7, 1941 in the Chapel of Catton Hall, Croxall, Derbyshire. It was later discovered that the ceremony was not legal, as the chapel was not licensed for weddings and that though a licence had been granted for a marriage in the parish church, none was granted for a marriage in another place. The bride and bridegroom were told that the only Way to legalise the marriage was to secure a special Act of Parliament. Mr Morrison on May 7 issued a Bill confirming a Provisional Order to make the ceremony valid. Colonel Anson stated that the bride flew across the; Atlantic in the lasi stage of her journey t<j England. His nephew, now a Squadron Leader, spent his boyhood in Catton Hall, and as the “chapel of case” was in the garden, he naturally preferred to be married there. At least three “chapels of ease”, dating from the fourteenth century previously stood in the grounds. It is believed that the ceremony was perfectly in order.