The Guild of One Name Studies 2024 Blog Challenge for December is “Celebrations”.
When researching Family History, the first thing that comes to mind regarding celebrations is weddings. When thinking of celebrations in December, one thinks of Christmas.
So, to me, the obvious December blog entitled celebrations was Christmas weddings.

It is on the Marriages UK 1838 – 1997 inc. page (which I have discovered is partially finished, although started nearly 10 years ago!) of  the analysis of Pullum marriages on the one-name site that Christmas Weddings are mentioned.

This covers only the UK as research on Pullums in the USA is in its infancy but one Christmas wedding has been identified. In Le Flore, Oklahoma, USA, William Arthur Pullum married Daisy Alice York on Christmas Day 1906.

In the UK, the marriages that I know happened on Christmas Day were in the years 1838 to 1952.
There could be more as for some couples, I have only the quarter in which they married rather than an actual date.
For marriages found after 1952, where dates were known, none were on Christmas day.
Also, for marriages before civil registration, although I know the dates for 10 marriages (1700 to 1835) none were on Christmas day.

Between 1838 and 1952,  there were at least 13 marriages on Christmas day. Which is about 6% of the total for those years. This is relatively high, as if wedings were distibuted equally over all days the percentage would be 0.274%
5 of the Pullums were male and 8 were female.
5 in the 19th century and 8 in the 20th century.

Tradition, Romance or Practicality

In the 18th & 19th century, there were practical reasons for a Christmas wedding. Working class people typically worked six days a week in those times, and these were two days that they and their relatives could probably count on having to themselves. Also, in years where Christmas was on a Friday, they would have had 3 days to celebrate as Boxing Day would be followed by a Sunday. Christmas Day weddings appear to have been even more common in inner-city areas, home to large industrial working-class communities.  Churches often offered their services free or at reduced rates on Christmas, and marriage registers often show a spike in the number of ceremonies performed. This was especially a tradition in a number of cities, particularly London.

For the Pullum weddings in 1886 to 1898, this may well have been the case.
The other Christmas weddings include a pre WWI group and 4 post 1920. The last in 1952 (the date of this, I believe was from their daughter).

19th Century

For the 19th centery Christmas Weddings, did their occupation, location or other reason play a part?
Those involved were fairly closely related – a brother and sister, one of their nephews and two children of a cousin. They were therefore all in London.

Christmas 1886
Frederick Lincoln Pullum, a 21 year old boot laster, married Mary Jane Hoskins aged 19, the daughter of a shoemaker (the same occupation as his father) at St Paul’s Church in Bethnal Green, London.
They had seven children, although three, including a set of twins, died in infancy. The cause of  death for one twin was given as debility from birth.
Frederick lived to age 81 and Mary Jane died aged 89.
Christmas 1889
Frederick’s sister, Sarah Ann Pullum, aged 19, married labourer William Tobias Herd, aged 23, at St John the Evangelist in Walworth, Southwark, London. His father was a tanner.
They had 11 children, but 3 died in infancy and one aged 10 years.
William was only 48 when he died and Sarah lived to 56 years.
Christmas 1890
The following year, the daughter of one of Frederick and Sarah’s cousins got married at St Mary Church in Haggerston, London. She was 20 year old Jane Pullum, daughter of a pugilist and her groom was Arthur James Mison, a 19 year old tinman, son of a cabinet maker.
They had only 3 children because Arthur died aged 24, only a year after the youngest was born. Jane remarried in 1919. 
Christmas 1897
Jane’s younger brother Frederick married, aged 21, in 1897 at St John the Baptist, Hoxton, London. He was a fancy leather worker and his bride, Ada Field, was a bag maker, likely in the same business. She was 20 years old and the daughter of a cabinet maker.
They also had 11 children. Two died in fancy and the youngest was killed aged 25 during WWII.
Ada died aged 46, when the youngest child was only 6 years old. In 1929 Frederick married widow Mary Ann Geers neé Glover (Frederick’s mother’s maiden name). Frederick died aged 62.
Christmas 1898
The following Christmas was the last Pullum wedding in the 19th century. Alfred George Pullum was the nephew of Frederick Lincoln Pullum and Sarah Ann Herd neé Pullum.
His wedding was in Hackney at St Michael and All Angels Church. His father was also a shoemaker, although Alfred had several occupations, but was a bottler at the time of his marriage and 23 years of age. He married 19 year old, dressmaker, and daughter of a carman, Mary Ann Hitchcock.
Their first born died of diptheria just before she was two. They went on to have 4 sons who lived into adulthood. Alfred lived to age 80 and Mary  lived to age 92.

The occupations and residences of these individuals married in the 19th century, does suggest that they married on Chritsmas day because the practical reasons given above.

Another Pullum marriage in the 19th century, not on Christmas Day but on Boxing Day, was of my great grandparents, Henry Alfred Pullum and Mary Ann Souch. They married in Hoxton at St Monica’s Chapel. Henry was aged 23, and a pianoforte back maker, son of an artifical florist. Mary Ann was aged 21 and her father was a stableman at the time of her marriage.

20th Century

In the 20th Century, the Pullum Christmas weddings included a two sisters, a brother and sister and a cousin of theirs. The others were more distantly related.

24 year old Henry Pullum, was a birdcage maker in his father’s business.
Christmas Day 1912 at St Bartholomew’s Church in Bethnal Green, London, he married 22 year old, bag maker, Elizabeth Webb. She was the daughter of a brush maker.
They had 6 sons and 2 daughters. Elizabeth was only 56 when she died in Bethnal Green Hospital. Henry lived to 64.

Seven years later on Christmas Day 1919, Henry’s sister Mary Ann Pullum, got married at the same church. She was 21 and working as a packer at the time. She married Alfred Ladlow, who was only 6 months older than her, and was a dealer like his father. He later worked as a market porter, possibly at Billingsgate as his father had previously been a fishmonger.
They had 3 daughters and then 3 sons. However, their eldest died aged just 21 years, from bleeding during an operation for a brain tumour. Alfred died aged 63 and Mary Ann died aged 76 in Mile End Hospital.

There were two Pullum weddings on Christmas Day 1913. The Pullums involved were second cousins.
Florence Lilian Pullum married in St Barnabas Church, Homerton, London, aged 23. She had no occupation and her father was a fruiterer. She married a chauffeur, named  Robert Samuel Hogg, who was the same age as her. His father was a publican.
They had 6 children, although one died in infancy. Robert died aged 86 and Florence aged 88.
Emily Charlotte Pullum was 26 when she got married at St Augustine Church in Haggerston, London. She had no occupation at that time, her father (deceased) was a cabinet maker. Her groom was 25 year old George William Fieldwick, a barman and his father was a builder.
They did not have any children and Emily died aged 79 in Claybury Psychiatric Hospital (as had her father). It seems she had probably  been there nearly 40 years. George died in St Bartholomew’s Hospital when he was 85.

At the same church on Christmas Day 1924 Frances Louisa Pullum, daughter of cage maker Thomas,  got married, aged 28 years old. She married Joseph Samuel Abrahams, who was a 29 year old chairmaker, as was his father.
They had a daughter 5 years later. Joseph died aged 81 but I am unsure when Frances died.

Nine years later (1935) Frances sister, Eleanor Violet Pullum, who was 24 and had an occupation in printing, married Hubert Frank Tate at the same church. Hubert was 28 years old and an upholsterer, like his father.
They did not have children. Eleanor died aged 85 and Hubert died a year later aged 90.

Prior to this on Christmas Day 1923, Louisa Mary Eleanor Pullum married  Henry William Harris at St John, Hoxton, London. She was a 29 year old daughter of a carman. He was a 28 year old book-binder, the son of a butcher.
They had 2 daughters and a son. Louisa lived to 90 years of age and Henry to aged 72 years. 

The other  Pullum wedding on Christmas Day, was in 1952. This information came from I believe one of their two daughters. Charles Albert Pullum married Gwendoline Florence Connett in Romford, London (although still in Essex at the time). He was 28 years old and she was 31.
They both lived to 74 years of age.

It seems in the 20th century, that neither occuaption nor location were likely to have influenced getting married on Christmas Day. For two families it may have been a family tradition, but for the rest, the family conections are too distant to suggest this.
Perhaps they just loved Christmas!

There was also another Boxing Day wedding. In 1931 George Henry Pullum, 28, married Amelia Louisa Van Coevorden, 31. He was a maufacturing stationer, his father was a cardboard box cutter (perhaps the same thing?). Amelia didn’t have an occupation, her father was cabinet maker.

I do have some other Christmas Day marriages in my study. They were three women who had married on Christmas day but then were widowed or divorced and later married a Pullum.
Mary Ann Glover married Willliam Geers on Christmas Day 1905. Willliam died in 1928 and Mary Ann married Frederick Pullum the following year. Mary Ann Geers nee Glover was Frederick Pullum’s mother’s niece. She had previously married the brother of her sister’s husband. 
Christmas Day 1926 Winifred Elsie Stiles married Horace Henry Hume. They had 2 sons but Horace died when the youngest was 5 years old. Eight years later in 1946 Winnie married Frederick James Pullum (my great uncle) in a small non-conformist church in Walthamstow.
Emily Palmer also married on Christmas Day 1895 to Henry Albert Ilston. They had 5 children and Henry died in 1906, when the youngest was just a year old. In 1915 Emily married James Pullum, who had been widowed a year earlier and had 5 children.

Summary

Amongst the Pullums in the UK, marriages on Christmas Day occured in a 114 year period. During this time, there were more weddings on Christmas day than other days.
The weddings during the 19th century were possibly held on that day for practical reasons as the people involved were working class and would have had few days off a year. The marriages also took place in London and the couples may have taken advantage of the tradition of churchs offerring their services for a reduced price.
For the later marriages, this was probably not the case. For some couples a double celebration at Christmas may have been the incentive. Certainly the husband would be unlikely to forget the wedding anniversary!

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