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Introduction

This article is about the wedding of my uncle and aunt, Private Ronald Ritson RAMC and Leading Aircraftwoman Marie Florence Cranfield in February 1945. It is based primarily on contemporary newspaper articles about their wedding, in ‘Norwood News’ and ‘The Whitehaven News’, which I have recently read while researching events that happened during the Second World War. The reason that the wedding was reported in two different local newspapers is because Marie came from South Norwood, London and Ronald from Scilly Banks, near Whitehaven, Cumberland (now Cumbria).

I have already written an article about Ronald and Marie’s wedding (Article Reference ID A3660086). Consequently, this article supplements the previous article, which also shows their wedding photograph. Marie and Ronald’s wedding was on the front page of the ‘Norwood News’, an article I read some years ago when Ronald first told me about his wedding day.

On the other hand, I have only recently read for the first time the account about Marie and Ronald’s wedding on page 5 of ‘The Whitehaven News’ edition of Thursday 15 February 1945. I came across the article while researching another World War Two story in the Cumbria County Archives Office in Whitehaven.

Wedding delay

The ‘Norwood News’ article of Friday 16 February 1945 gives a very detailed account of Marie and Ronald’s wedding, which had to be postponed for two days from its original date. The reason for this was that Ronald, then based in the Netherlands with the B.E.F., had obtained leave to get married, but was delayed in Calais due to stormy weather in the English Channel. So the wedding took place on 8 February 1945 at St Chad’s R.C. Church, South Norwood, with the Best Man being Ronald’s eldest brother Tom. Marie’s bridesmaid was her sister Joyce. As I have dealt with the wedding in detail my previous article, I will not repeat many of the details in this one.

When I read the article in ‘The Whitehaven News’ I realised there were a few discrepancies from what actually happened. According to ‘The Whitehaven News’, the clergyman who officiated at the wedding ceremony was a Father Corcaran, the organist was a Mrs Smith and the reception had been held at the Baptist Church Hall. Yet, according to the ‘Norwood News’ article, and from what my uncle Ronald later told me, the clergyman was called Father Corrocan and the organist was a Miss Brown.

Additionally, because the wedding had been unavoidably delayed by two days due to Ronald being stranded in France, the Baptist Church Hall had already been booked for another function on the actual day he married Marie. This meant the wedding reception for the guests had to be held at the home of Marie’s parents, Frederick and Florence Cranfield, rather than the Baptist Church Hall as had been planned. This is the version of events other relatives have also heard as well as it being in the ‘Norwood News’ article.

Newspaper reports

Evidently, the information in ‘The Whitehaven News’ article is incorrect. Although I cannot be exactly sure as to why the slight inaccuracies occur in this report, I can suggest what I believe to be the probable course of events that would explain the reasons. An item about Ronald and Marie’s wedding has been inserted in the ‘Announcements’ section of ‘The Whitehaven News’ (i.e. ‘Births, Marriages and Deaths’). It can only have been Ronald’s parents, Agnes and Thomas Ritson, who paid for this item to go in a West Cumberland newspaper.

Because of the war, it was not possible for all of Ronald’s relatives to travel the 300 miles or so to London for the wedding. Consequently, although my Grandmother Agnes and Ronald’s two brothers, Tom and Joe did travel to London for the wedding, my Grandfather Tom Ritson (Senior) did not. After the wedding, one of Ronald’s relatives must have written out the item to go into the ‘Births, Marriages and Deaths’ section and taken it into ‘The Whitehaven News’ office.

Most likely, it was at this point that a reporter at the ‘News’ office would have asked for some additional information about the wedding to write a separate article. As my Grandmother Agnes Ritson had attended the wedding, she would have known the correct version of events. On the other hand, as my Grandfather Tom Ritson had not been at the wedding he would have heard from Grandmother about what had happened.

Given that Ronald arrived two days late for the wedding and all the arrangements were turned topsy-turvy, it would have been very easy for my Grandfather to get some of the details incorrect when speaking to a newspaper reporter. Hence, while my Grandmother knew the exact course of events, I would imagine my Grandfather being unsure at this time exactly what did happen, especially those things not written down to hand over for the ‘Announcement’ item.

Additionally, I cannot imagine my Grandmother, or any other women in my family for that matter, getting details about a wedding incorrect when describing it to someone. Whereas, given the circumstances of this wartime wedding, and the fact he was not able to go to the wedding, I could envisage my Grandfather being unsure about one or two of the finer details of what had happened if he had explained it to someone else.

The ‘Norwood News’ article about Marie and Ronald’s wedding incorporates a photograph of each of them in the story. These particular photographs are ones I understand that Marie and Ronald had taken and exchanged with each other about a year earlier when they became engaged. The photographs must have been loaned to ‘Norwood News’ to go with their item of the wedding. As the wedding took place in Norwood, Marie's parents, Fred and Florence Cranfield knew in great detail what actually happened and it is likely the 'Norwood News' reporter got most of the information for their article, and the loan of Marie and Ronald's photos, from either Fred or Florence.

Unfortunately, I do not have an original print copy of Ronald’s photograph that appears in the ‘Norwood News’ edition of 16 February 1945. However, I do have an original print copy of the photograph ‘Norwood News’ used of Marie to go with their story. This is the same photograph I have chosen to go with this article. ‘The Whitehaven News’ article doesn’t have a photograph of either Marie or Ronald to go with their story.

Exchanging gifts

When I read ‘The Whitehaven News’ article of Marie and Ronald’s wedding in the Cumbria County Archives, I discovered that they as well as exchanging wedding vows, they also exchanged personal gifts. I had never heard of this previously. It is not mentioned in the ‘Norwood News’ article about their wedding. According to the newspaper article, Ronald’s gift to Marie was a silver bracelet that he had purchased in Holland, where his unit was based during the first months of 1945. Marie’s return gift to Ronald was a pair of kid leather gloves.

At the time, I feel these personal gifts of Marie and Ronald were most appropriate and well chosen, given that, due to the circumstances of war, they would be separated again after a few days. When Ronald returned to his unit, he was batman to his C.O., who was by then a Major B. Mann. Leather gloves must have been very useful for riding a motorcycle or driving a car. During this period, Marie would be able to wear the bracelet on her wrist, at least part of the time, and have a constant reminder of her new husband Ronald while he was still serving in the Army in Continental Europe.

After the wedding Marie and Ronald spent their honeymoon at Ronald’s home village of Scilly Banks, Cumberland (now Cumbria). This would have been the first time most of Ronald’s relatives and friends had met Marie. As this was immediately after their wedding, undoubtedly Marie and Ronald will have shown relatives the gifts they had received. If my guess is correct, that it was my Grandfather who the newspaper reporter spoke to about the wedding, then he would have had no problem in knowing what gifts Marie and Ronald had bought each other.

Before writing this article, I asked my cousin Brenda, the daughter of Marie and Ronald, about this silver bracelet. In fact, Brenda could not remember her mother ever having this bracelet, or even mentioning it to her. The truth is that none of the family now knows what happened to the Dutch bracelet.

Really speaking, more than 60 years after Ronald gave this gift to Marie, it is not really important what happened to the bracelet. Obviously, it meant a lot to Marie and Ronald when they were married, and especially during the time they were separated because of the war. Later on, other things, such as home and family life became far more important.

What I do know is that, before they passed away, Marie and Ronald decided to place their wartime letters to each other in a casket and bury it somewhere. One possibility is that the silver bracelet from Holland was placed in the casket with these letters. The leather gloves Marie gave to Ronald on their wedding day will have been long past their useful life long ago. Whatever happened to the gifts in the end, I have found it a very touching gesture that Marie and Ronald exchanged personal gifts on the day they exchanged their marriage vows.

Conclusion

Marie and Ronald were happily married for 45 years, and had four children: Brenda, Ronald (Junior), Fred and Gordon. Sadly, Marie passed away on 31 October 1990 and Ronald on 14 July 2000. In recent years, I have often regretted never having asked Marie more about her time in the WAAF, and particularly about her wedding day. Fortunately, I was privileged to hear Ronald’s personal account of their wartime wedding. Although I have done a little guess work in writing this article, most of the facts are accurate and have been cross checked as far as is possible.

During the war people were forced to endure many things that seem unbelievable in a time of relative peace. Yet, even in the dark days of a World War there were happy events that people could hold on to. Very often it was these things that helped see them through to the end of the war, and indeed beyond. I am certain that in Marie and Ronald’s case, getting married to each other was the best thing that came out of the war for each of them.

These positive things of the war years should also be remembered as well as the awful things that people had to endure. Hopefully, this article helps convey something positive that came from the war: a happy marriage and a happy family home.

I would like to thank two of my cousins, Mrs Brenda Henry and Mr Ronald Ritson, for their assistance in providing background information enabling me to write this article. Finally, I would like to dedicate this article to the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Marie and Ronald so that they may know and remember a small but important part of their family history, set in the overall context of World War Two.

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