The story of the couple in the 'Deaf and Dumb Wedding' of 1940

When British Pathé transferred its catalogue to YouTube earlier this year, a long-forgotten film of two deaf people getting married in 1940 was revealed. But who were they?

Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire is a picturesque market town, its skyline dominated by the gothic towers of Beverley Minster, where the remains of the town's St John are interred. Given its spectacular appearance, and that John had been adopted by the 19th Century Deaf church as the patron saint of deaf people, what better place could there be for two deaf people to marry?

In the summer of 1940, Pathé filmed a marriage between two "deaf and dumb show people" as they are described. After it went online, many deaf people shared it on social media and, curious about such a large wedding with so many signers, speculated as to who the couple were.

In the footage they are both smiling as their family and friends, many from Hull Deaf Club, surround them and fingerspell rapidly to each other. One guest carries a gas mask as the war had just started. It's a beautiful snapshot of a moment in time.

"Their tragic handicap seems quite forgotten in the excitement of the novel occasion," comments the clipped newsreel voice, using words that 75 years later sound more comical than offensive.

The couple were Duncan McKenzie and Nesta Holgate. McKenzie was 34 and came from a family of travelling entertainers - his grandmother, Susannah Mapplebeck was a sword swallower.

He was a widower, a labourer, and true to his roots a conjurer and sleight-of-hand performer.

According to the marriage certificate, Holgate was a 22-year-old spinster and the daughter of a shipyard worker. Both she and McKenzie were deaf.

Pathé films were played in cinemas all over the country, says deaf historian Norma McGilp. They mostly showed events and personal stories, and a deaf wedding would have been a curiosity for viewers at the time. "This was a family gathering where deaf people were getting married and where people signed, which was quite novel," McGilp says.

See Hear decided to investigate the couple further, and, as we delved into their lives, we found a story of happiness and tragedy in equal measure.

Starting with local archives and newspaper reports, we eventually managed to track down McKenzie's great niece Rachel McKenzie. She was already investigating her family tree and helped us find relatives from near and far. We also contacted long lost friends at the Hull Deaf Club, and arranged for them all to return to Beverley Minster.

The reunion event was in July this year and dozens of people turned up. We played the film of McKenzie and Holgate getting married, and projected it onto the altar where they stood in 1940. It was a little like watching the wedding itself.