Dress worn at Isle of Wight post master's wedding auctioned

It was worn by Emily Gertrude Haynes on June 16, 1897, at her wedding to Henry Hawson Jago, who was a former Island postmaster.

Known as Harry, he was based in Shanklin along with his family, as well as in Liverpool, Yorkshire and Scotland,

Before they moved here, the pair tied the knot in Liverpool and went on to have four sons. It was their Derbyshire-based grand daughter who was behind today's sale.

Henry Harry Hawson Jago and Emily Gertrude Haynes. (Image: Richard Winterton Auctioneers)

She said: “My grandmother, who was known to us by her middle name Gertrude, came from a typical middle-class Victorian family,” she said.

She and her three sisters led “apparently quite genteel lives, largely spent sewing lace and crocheting."

The size 6/8 dress has covered buttons on the back of a tightly-fitted silk bodice, as well as long ribbon-edged layered gauze sleeves and a ruched silk and layered embroidered gauze full skirt, as well as a secret pocket.

Lichfield Auction Centre and Richard Winterton Auctioneers jointly sold it this morning (Monday) alongside white leather boots and silk slippers, at Fradley Park, near Birmingham.

Gertrude's beautiful wedding dress. (Image: Richard Winterton Auctioneers.)

The slippers appear to be unworn and the lot also featured a collection of handmade lace collars and cuffs which, it is believed, were made by Gertrude and her sisters.

The couple's love story ended in tragedy. In 1921, Harry developed appendicitis and later died of an infection, aged 52. Although Gertrude died aged in her mid-80s, her life changed after Harry's death.

“This was a tragedy for my grandmother, both emotionally and financially – there were no social services and she had no husband bringing in an income," said their grand daughter.

“She appears to have moved in with her sisters who by then were living in Kingston upon Thames and she went out to work as a cleaner, scrubbing floors."

Gertrude's beautiful dress fetched £320.