Tragic Donegal bride-to-be is buried in her wedding dress
Irish News Sept 27 1938
LIEUTENANT William George McClintock (24), his fiancé, Miss Helen Macworth (22) of Sidmouth, Devon, who were to be married yesterday and Mrs McClintock, his mother, were buried in the parish churchyard at Carrigans, near Derry yesterday. Mother and son were interred in the McClintock family grave and Miss Macworth close by.
Miss Macworth was in her bridal gown and the bridal bouquet was placed on her coffin.
Mrs McClintock shot her son, who had been crippled in a hunting-field accident, and then herself.
Miss Macworth, finding her fiancé dead, shot herself.
Quietly and with only a few people as mourners, apart from the half dozen family members, the funeral took place from Dunmore House, Carrigans, Co Donegal yesterday. Mr McClintock and Miss Macworth were to have been married yesterday afternoon at Dunmore House.
The wedding cake, prepared for the celebration, was given back to the family cook who had made it and all signs of festivity had been removed.
The coffins, which were conveyed in Individual hearses to the parish church at Carrigans, were carried up the aisle by estate workers. In a seat close to the remains were Colonel McClintock, the 65-yearold veteran of the Boer War and Great War, with bowed head, and District Inspector Landale, Antrim. His wife's nephew.
Women present wept as the coffins were carried out of the church to the burial ground, the organist playing How Brightly Those Glorious Spirits Shine.
The colonel, who had kept up bravely during the last couple of days, broke down and wept as the coffins were being lowered into the graves.
No member of the family of Miss Macworth attended.
Other mourners included Mr Bertram Barton (cousin), Mr James Stevenson DL. Banagher (relative) and Lt Col Gledstanes DL.
The service was conducted by the Rev David Kelly BA, rector of Glendermott who was to have officiated at the wedding.
As the coffins were carried out by estate workers to the burial ground adjoining, the organist played The Sands of Time Are Sinking.
The graves had been lined with asters, sweetpea, laurels and ivy, a service voluntarily performed by tenants of Carrigans village which is on the Dunmore estate.
In a reference at the service, Rev Mr Kelly referred to Mrs McClintock's work for the Protestant Orphan Society and foreign missions, and added in reference to the triple deaths: "This was a tragedy. A triumph of love. The bond of love was stronger than the thread of life."
Submitted by Ted Rooney
27/09/2007
