The newly built Highbury Station where Emily arrived before her wedding in 1905

Emily Burke arrived in London in April 1905. She made the journey alone as her only remaining sister lived in Australia at the other side of the world. Emily perhaps at this stage was used of being alone and the journey to London to become the second Mrs. Weddall would not have fazed the “intrepid” Emily too much. This ‘fly by the seat of her pants’ approach shows up in Emily’s life on many occasions.

Emily knew the sea captain for about ten years before they walked down the Isle together in St. Mary’s church in Islington. They met at least once in France in 1896, when Emily made a collection for the families of the Kingstown Lifeboat Disaster of 1895. Edward Weddall made an ostentatious contribution to the fund. Maybe it was the sea captain’s way of impressing young Emily. It took it’s time but it worked and a decade after first meeting the couple married.

Old map of Islington