Wedding dress

This is an example of a colonial wedding dress worn in New Zealand in the 1850s. Made from a silk brocade, its wearer was 18-year-old Sarah King (1833-1862), the daughter of solicitor John King, who married William Rhodes (1807-1878), a businessman in his mid-forties and, at the time, one of the wealthiest men in the colony (Rhodes was known in the 1850s as the 'millionaire of Wellington').

The pair were married at the Anglican church, St Pauls, Thorndon, in Wellington on 7 May 1852. The bridegroom wore a waistcoat sewn from the same fabric as this dress.

White or cream wedding dresses like this one had been popularised by royalty, especially Queen Victoria when she married Prince Albert in 1840. They signalled that the wearer came from an elite and/or wealthy family that could afford a dress that could only be worn once, as white was impractical for everyday wear. Many women opted for more practical coloured dresses that could be worn subsequently on other occasions.

Sarah Rhodes endured ten miscarriages; the couple were childless when Sarah died on 8 August 1862 aged 28.