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There were 41,709 marriages registered in 1949. Images of these entries are now available to search and download on our website. This forms part of the new year record release which also provides online access to births from 1924 and deaths from 1974.

The majority of marriages that year were those solemnised by a minister of religion (34,327), however 6,681 (17.3%) were civil marriages . The remaining were either classed as irregular marriages or authorised by a Sheriff’s license. Compared to the previous year, there were 2,038 fewer marriages. Couples who chose to get married preferred the months of March, June, July and September. [Source: 95th Annual Report of the Registrar General for Scotland, 1949, page 12]

One of the marriages in 1949 was that of the Earl of Selkirk, George Nigel Douglas Hamilton, the second son of the 13th Duke of Hamilton and 10th Duke of Brandon, to Miss Audrey Durrell Drummond Sale-Barker. The couple’s engagement had been announced on 28th June of that year with 4,000 invitations issued for the wedding at St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, on 6th August. 1,000 guests were invited to the reception in the nearby Signet Library.

The bride was the only daughter of the late Mr Maurice Drummond-Sale-Barker, a doctor of medicine, and Mrs Florence Dyer Brooks. She wore a gold lamé gown with a petal shaped bodice, square neck and long, tight sleeves . The Duchess of Northumberland had loaned her a lace veil mounted on cream tulle which was held in place by a diamond tiara loaned to her by the Duchess of Hamilton. She carried a sheaf of Madonna lilies and apricot roses.

The groom, a representative Peer for Scotland who served as Group Captain in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, wore full Highland dress with a kilt of the Royal Stewart tartan. His best man was his brother, the 14th Duke of Hamilton and 11th Duke of Brandon .

As the bride’s father had died in 1914, she was given away by Malcolm Leslie, the 20th Earl of Rothes.

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The marriage entry of George Nigel Douglas-Hamilton, Earl of Selkirk and Audrey Durrell Drummond Sale-Barker, 6th August 1949. NRS, Crown copyright, Statutory Register of Marriages, 1949, 685/4 587 page 294
The marriage entry of George Nigel Douglas-Hamilton, Earl of Selkirk and Audrey Durrell Drummond Sale-Barker, 6th August 1949. The bride’s age is given as 34 years old in this entry, however she was 46 years old at the time of her marriage. 
NRS, Crown copyright, Statutory Register of Marriages, 1949, 685/4 587 page 294

Audrey Sale-Barker was born in 1903 in Chelsea, London. She learned to fly as a young woman after winning flying lessons in a competition. It quickly became apparent that she was talented. Awarded her Royal Aero Club Certificate 8731 on 13th August 1929, she purchased her own plane and, together with her friend Miss Joan Page (daughter of Sir Arthur Page, Chief Justice of Burma), she explored the skies over South Africa in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth .

On 17th January 1933, the Birmingham Daily Gazette reported that ‘two London girls [were] stranded in the South African bush among lions, elephants and buffalo.’ Their plane had crashed 40 miles from Nairobi, on their way back to the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town, after leaving Moshi, the capital of the Kilimanjaro region.

When they didn’t arrive at camp as expected, a search plane was sent out manned by Captain Tanner of the Rhodesian Aviation Company. From the air, Captain Tanner located a crashed plane with a woman standing beside it and waving to him. It was later reported that Sale-Barker had used her lipstick to write a message for help on a piece of paper and handed it to a Masai tribesman who was asked to look for her. The note read ‘Please come and fetch us. We have had an air crash AND ARE HURT .’ [Source]

The Captain returned with three relief planes equipped with a doctor, first aid and food. The two women had suffered broken bones, but were otherwise well. Due to her love for flying, Sale-Barker became affectionately known by her friends as ‘Wendy’ after the character in the play and novel ‘Peter and Wendy’ by Scottish author JM Barrie.

When war broke out, Sale-Barker joined the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). As a ‘Spitfire Girl’ (as they were known), she flew planes from factories to airfields, enabling the aircraft to be in the right place for attacks on Nazi Germany.

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"ATA girls" in front of a Hawker Hurricane. First Officer Audrey Sale-Barker is at the far right of the image. Credit: Mary Evans Picture Library
"ATA girls". American and British women members of the Air Transport Auxiliary in front of a Hawker Hurricane. First Officer Audrey Sale-Barker can be seen at the far right of the image. 
Credit: Mary Evans Picture Library

At the time of her wedding, she was flying with the Women’s Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve at Reading.

Sale-Barker was also a renowned and world-class skier. She was an inaugural member of The Ladies’ Ski Club, established in 1923 by Mrs Mabel Lunn, a leading skier of the day and promoted by her husband Arnold Lunn, the alpine skiing pioneer who set up the first slalom course in 1922 in Murren, Switzerland.

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Audrey Sale-Barker is seen in the centre of the photograph in Murren, Switzerland, 1928. Credit: With kind permission of The Ladies’ Ski Club
Audrey Sale-Barker is seen in the centre of the photograph in Murren, Switzerland, 1928.
Credit: With kind permission of The Ladies’ Ski Club 

The Ladies’ Ski Club Bulletin, no.4, reported that Sale-Barker and Doreen Elliott, both members of the Club, had been chosen to represent Great Britain in the downhill race in the European Ski Championships at Zakopane, Poland, in 1929. All other competitors were men. Despite facing initial resistance to their taking part from their male rivals, the women finished a highly respectable 13th and 14th in a field of 60, later resulting in a standing ovation from the male competitors in the town’s café.

Sale-Barker was the first female skier to win the diamond badge for the Arlberg-Kandahar race, an annual alpine skiing event. She was also the captain of the British women’s team at the 1936 Winter Olympics, held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, which was the first Olympics to include alpine skiing.

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Audrey Sale-Barker photographed in 1935. Credit: The Ladies’ Ski Club bulletin no.10, 1935
Audrey Sale-Barker photographed in 1935
Credit: The Ladies’ Ski Club bulletin no.10, 1935

Sale-Barker also helped to promote skiing to the public when she opened the indoor ski centre in the Criterion Building, Piccadilly Circus, London in 1931.

By the late 1930s, she was a ski instructress for the Corviglia Club, a private recreational snow sports club in Switzerland for the aristocracy.

Following their wedding, the earl and countess had no children but were active in the lives of their nieces and nephews. The Countess of Selkirk played an important role in supporting her husband throughout his career in various positions, including as 1st Lord of the Admiralty 1957-1959 and Commissioner-General to Singapore (at a time when Singapore was transitioning towards independence in 1965) and South East Asia 1960-1963.

The Earl of Selkirk died at Poole Hospital, Dorset, on 24th November 1994 and was buried in the churchyard at Berwick St John, Wiltshire, England, on 1st December. His nephew, James Alexander Douglas-Hamilton (1942-2023), briefly succeeded him as the eleventh earl of Selkirk for four and a half days before disclaiming the hereditary title to remain in the House of Commons.

The Countess died one month after her husband, on 21st December. A funeral service was held in the same church as the Earl’s, on Thursday 29th December. This was followed by a joint memorial service for the couple at St Columba’s Church of Scotland, London, on 22 February 1995.

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