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A Guide to American History in London

ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH
The Vestry, 2A Mill Street (near Hanover Square)
Where then-future-President Theodore Roosevelt was married

In November 1886, 30-year-old Theodore Roosevelt, who had recently run as the Republican candidate for Mayor of New York City and lost, sailed to England, from New York, aboard the liner Etruria. A London newspaper announced, "He will shortly marry Edith Carow in London." According to one source, the Carow sisters were living in London in an effort "to economize."

One of two daughters of Mr. Charles Carow of New York City, "Miss Carow," reported a Chicago paper, "is a most charming and accomplished girl about 26 years of age, pretty, witty, and rich."

Although Edith Kermit Carow was TR's second wife (his first had died two years earlier), she had known her soon-to-be husband for quite a long time, going back to their childhood.

St. George's Church
This photo courtesy Wikipedia.

The wedding took place on December 2, 1886 in St. George's, which was nearly empty except for fog, which blanketed both the inside and the outside of the church. According to one biographer, TR was wearing bright orange gloves when he and Edith exchanged vows! The service was performed, said another biographer, by "a canon of the English church, who was a cousin of the bride."

References: The Standard, November 8, 1886, p.5.; Chicago Tribune, November 11, 1886, p.4; Jean Fritz, Bully for You, Theodore Roosevelt (1997), p52; James Morgan, Theodore Roosevelt, the Boy and the Man (1907), p.80.


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