WAR ROMANCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 August 1938, Page 9

WAR ROMANCE

ENGLISH WOMAN MARRIES DEAD MAN. CELEBRATES WEDDING CEREMONY WITH DUMMY. An English woman who married a dead man by proxy 21 years ago has celebrated the wedding ceremony each year ever since, with a dummy figure of the .man she loved as her only companion. For twenty-one years she has attended these celebrations alone in her luxurious mansion in Paris. Her only attendant is her "Husband’s" former batman, who has been in her service since he left the army. Central figure in this romance of lost, but unforgotten love in Miss Cynthia Harding, a Briton who was on the Canadian Records staff in London during the war. She met and became betrothed to Captain Edouard Thesiger, attached to the staff of a French-Canadian Brigade —one of the first to reach Europe. But before they could be married Captain Thesiger was sent to France and was killed. His twin brother brought news of his death to Miss Harding. At her entreaty he agreed to go to France with her and there marry her in the name of his brother, then pass out of her life. The ceremony was performed and in French law, the to the dead became legal. Soon afterwards, the “bride” had a wax image of her “husband” made, and on each anniversary, this image is placed opposite her at table for the feast. The dummy is served with food and wine which are removed as each course ends. Then, after the feast the “bride” solemnly toasts the man she loved.