Burke Manuscript

Burke Manuscript: Page 162

Transcript

One of the first “quality” weddings was I think in 1856 when Mr Hilton (Dick) as he was called was mated to Miss Westenra daughter of Capt. Westenra. Oh, it was a grand affair. Hanover Square was not in it. Jonah Wheeler and Ned Nurse, stable keepers in the Terrace had the job. Ned Nurse, I think it was, drove the bridal couple in what was afterwards to be Tom Goodyer’s Hansom, and Billy Beechly went round with the imported Bus and gathered up the guests and with the cargo drove to St Michael’s old Church, where the Knot was tied. Necessity is a grand educator. Here they were shown how well, on a pinch, could be done without all the gaudy equipages and cockades of to day.

Talk about the wedding of Ballypooreen, that of Jack Depenheim, a Dutchman, in Port at the end of the “Fifties” was to the Port boys, a most enjoyable affair.