Wesley Tobitt at the wedding at Marshall's farm. Given to me from Margaret Majors From New Zealand
Harriet (Hartie) married Kirdford farmer Charles John (Jack) Rowe, son of Charles James Nicholls
Rowe, on 14 Sep. 1904 at Kirdford. The witnesses were Mary Mitchener, George Downer, G & N Rowe
and John Thompson. Hartie’s father had died before the wedding; but Great grandfather Wesley
Tobitt was there and so were many young relatives, including Una, Bernard and Len Joyes. Young
Cyril Tobitt was also a guest and years later recounted how
impressed he was, at the departure of the happy couple, in a smart carriage, driven by the
bridegroom. Hartie and Jack lived with their two daughters Dorothy and Ferelyth at Langhurst Farm in
an interesting 16th century house, which even in the late 1990s, remains largely unaltered. Aunt
Hartie kept in touch with the family in New Zealand and Australia, for many years. In later life, she and
her husband retired to Littlehampton, where they lived at Horsham Road in ‘The Bungalow’. Dorothy
died unmarried. Ferlyth married H.W.G.R. (Toby) Marriot and had a son Charles.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Wedding group photograph taken at Marshalls Farm on the occasion of the marriage of Harriet
(Hartie) Downer to Jack Rowe.
Suggested identification of some of those in the group are: 1 Thomas Downer 2 Ralph Downer
3 Oswald 9 Martin Mitchener 12 Robert Varty(senior) 21 & 22 parents of the bridegroom?
Those who can be identified with certainty are: 4 Cyril Tobitt 5 Albert Tobitt 7 Laura Tobitt 8 Mary
(Downer ) Mitchener.
6 Margaret Downer 10 Kitty (Downer) Varty
11 Katherine Varty 13 Bernard Joyes 14 Una Joyes 15 Leonard Joyes
16 Wesley Tobitt(senior) 17 Hartie (Downer) Rowe 18 Jack Rowe 19 Jane [Tobitt] Downer, mother of
the bride 20 Millicent Downer.
