Marlborough Museum Collection of Textiles
Gown, Wedding

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Record 43/334
Copyright Marlborough Museum - Marlborough Historical Society Inc
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Collection MHS (unaccessioned) Textiles
Date 1901
Description Cream silk 2 piece woman's gown manufactured about 1901 in New Zealand by J. Ballantyne & Co. Christchurch & Timaru. The original owner/wearer was Mrs. Janet Gordon Toms (nee McNeish), wife of Henry Albert Toms. They married 19 December 1901 [soure New Zealand Society of Genealogists CD Rom, New Zealand Marriages 1836-1956, version 2, 2006] at Christchurch, New Zealand (see image 12).

The garment is a pure silk two piece gown with pintucks on the bodice and skirt. The yoke is cotton net with lace appliquéd and finished with two rows of gathered lace trim. There is also lace trimming the cuffs and the frills on the skirt.
The silk body of the bodice is machine pintucked every 1 cm. The blouson front is fastened with a series of hooks and cotton eyes, which don't show how it was fastened when worn. The large plain silk oversleeve is heavily gathered at the shoulder and cuff - the fullness is accented as the straight undersleeve lining holds the material in place. The sleeve is finished with a simple cuff that has lace trim.
The gown has a stand-up collar of appliqué lace finished with net tape folded in four and caught every 5 cm with a ribbon rose. The armholes are hand-overcast. The bodice is lined with white cotton material.

The skirt has a linen tape waistband 3 cm deep which has been folded in half and topstitched over the skirt material. There are two hooks to fasten the waistband together. The front left placket is fastened by 5 mother of pearl buttons. The skirt is unlined and the seams are either machine trimmed or hand-overcast.
The skirt is finished with three rows of gathers/ruffles - two rows at the hem and one 38 cm from the waist. There is inserted material which forms the fullness of the skirt centreback - pintucking was done before the centre back seam was sewn.

Fiona Rowlands wore it in the 1985 gown parade at the Centennial Hall, Blenheim.

Part of Ethel Collins collection. Some of the clothing collection attributed to Mrs. Ethel Collins was gathered before she became a member of MHS. Later, as volunteer in charge of the Textile Department, garments were donated to her for the Society [see MHS minute book 5, page 211]. These garments joined her own donated collection and all became part of the MHS Textile Collection.
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Label from Textile manager, Pam Saunders, as put with garment when it went on display 17th December 2009:
Cream Silk Two-Piece Wedding Gown. Miss Janet Gordon McNeish married Mr Henry Albert Toms in Christchurch, on 19 December 1901. They lived in Wairau Valley.

The veil on display is from a different collection.
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Object ID 0000.600.0044
Object Name Gown, Wedding
Other # T4014
People McNeish, Janet Gordon (later Toms)
Toms, Janet Gordon (nee McNeish)
Toms, Henry Albert (Albie)
Toms, Jessie (later Gerard)
Gerard, Jessie (nee Toms)
Wilson, Margaret (nee Gerard)
Gerard, Margaret (later Wilson)
Wilson, Cheryl
Rowlands, Fiona
When using this image please quote "Image courtesy of Marlborough Museum - Marlborough Historical Society Inc"

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Last modified on: December 19, 2014