When Pte Frederick Harold Wightman, 14761, 6th Bedfordshire Regiment, from Luton married his sweetheart Lily Draper in St Albans on October 18th, 1915, it may have been the last few moments they spent together.

Frederick wed Lily on the final day of an extended leave - she was brought from hospital in an ambulance following an operation and was married while lying on a stretcher on the floor. Then the couple had to go their separate ways.

The following weekend's Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph said the bridegroom - the son of Mrs Emma Wightman and the late Mr Clement Edward Wightman (died in early 1915), of 79 Wellington Street, Luton - came home on seven days' leave to be married to Miss Lily Draper, of Heber Cottage, London Colney. Upon arrival he was grieved to find his promised wife in St Albans Hospital, having just undergone a very serious operation.

He obtained a further seven days leave, and on the last day of that period the marriage ceremony was duly performed.

The bride, with commendable courage, allowed herself to be carried from the hospital on an ambulance stretcher to the office of the Superintendent Registrar in Chequer Street. The Royal Army Medical Corps at St Albans kindly provided a comfortable ambulance van, and men of the R.A.M.C. carried the patient with great skill and she seemed to suffer no inconvenience from her journey, although her condition was such that she had to remain quite prone.

The marriage ceremony took place in the office of the Superintendent Registrar, the stretcher being placed on the floor and the bridegroom having to kneel beside it in order to place the ring upon the bride's finger.

After the ceremony the bride returned in the ambulance van to the hospital, and the bridegroom took his departure to resume his military duties at the Front.

On the following day following the marriage enquiries were made at the hospital and it was stated that the bride had suffered no harm from the journey and was in a very happy frame of mind.

[Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: October 23rd, 1915]

Lily may not have recovered from her operation, however, as a Lily Wightman died in St Albans in the second quarter of 1916. Frederick, who was awarded the Military Medal, was killed in action in Flanders on April 23rd, 1917. His entry on the Commonwealth War Graves database indicates he was husband of the late Lilian Wightman. He is included on the Luton Roll of Honour.