Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

The Great West Window: 1912. Use the mouse wheel to zoom and click/drag to explore.

Great West Window 1912 which illustrates the virtues of Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice, with portraits of real people, (l-r) Florence Nightingale, [St Luke], Sister Dora, Charles Kingsley, [St James the Great], and Lord Shaftesbury. St Luke and St James the Great are figures representing Mercy and Justice. It is also possible that they were included due to their association as patron saints of Physicians and Pharmacists respectively.

The texts are drawn from Luke 4, Matthew 25 and James 1 paying homage to acts of corporal mercy, self sacrifice for the common good.

Great west window, 1911. Florence Nightingale and St Luke.

Great west window, 1911. Sister Dora and Charles Kingsley.

Sister Dora (real name Dorothy Wyndlow Pattison) joined the Christ Church Sisterhood (AKA "The Good Smaritans") in 1864. She devoted her life to nursing, living and working for many years in Wallsall, Staffordshire.

Great west window, 1911. St James the Great as pilgrim and Lord Shaftesbury, the 7th Earl Shaftesbury.

Lord Shaftesbury was a preeminent politician who oversaw many of the social reform laws of the late 19th century including, The Lunacy Acts (1845), The Ten Hour Act 1833 (finally passed in 1847), and the Chimney Sweepers Act (1864). The likeness may have been derived from the statue by Joseph Edgar Boehm erected in 1888 in Westminster Abbey.

The statue of Anthony Ashley-Copper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury in Westminster Abbey by Joseph Edgar Boehm (1888).

Photo © Donald Tung. licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Great west window, 1911. Predella: A lantern symbolising the works of Florence Nightingale.

Great west window, 1911. Predella: The Virtue of Mercy, illustrated by a woman holding a child.

Great west window, 1911. Predella: The Good Samaritan illustrating the works of Sister Dora.

Great west window, 1911. Predella: A golden chalice representing the priestly ministry of Charles Kingsley. Kinglsey is remembered as a social reformer and his association with Christian Socialism.

Great west window, 1911. Predella: Beneath James, the Virtue of Justice.

Great west window, 1911. Predella: Our Lord on the cross representing the supreme sacrifice of giving up one's life in the service of others.

Great west window, 1911. Tracery (left): A burning heart, and beneath the Virtues of Prudence and Temperance exemplified.

Great west window, 1911. Tracery (top): Unidentified coats of arms.

Posted 04 February 2023.

By far the largest window in St Andrew's, and originally only viewable from a distance, this magnificent window high in the west wall can now be viewed close at hand from the first floor of the "boxed in" west end of the nave. This window is an especially good example of the way Percy Bacon melded the secular world with that of the spiritual, incorporating real-life historical figures, painted from photographic likenesses, with those of the gospels.

The window illustrates the virtues of Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude and Justice as typified by Florence Nightingale, Sister Dora, Charles Kingsley and Lord Shaftesbury, paying homage to acts of corporal mercy and self sacrifice for the good of others. Two saintly figures are also represented; St Luke and St James the Great, the patron saints of physicians, and pharmacists respectively. Luke holds an open book with the words, "They brought unto Him all sick people" (Luke 4:40). Above him his symbol of the Ox. James is depicted as pilgrim, holding a pilgrim's staff with gourd, and his symbol of a scallop shell above him.

The scrolls above the figures bear texts drawn from Matthew 25:40 and James 1:27; "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me", and "Pure religion undefiled before God and the father is this; to visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions and to keep oneself unspotted from the world". Demi-angels with scarlet wings above each of the four likenesses hold a scroll with words from Michah 6:8; "what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God". In the tracery, set amongst vines and announcing the theme of the window; "Prudence", "Temperance", "Fortitude", and "Justice". In the upper tracery, on the far left a flaming heart and right the scales of justice, and at the very head two (as yet unidentified) coats of arms. In the predella beneath the figures, set within wreaths; (left to right). a lantern to represent Florence Nightingale bring light to the afflicted, a seated woman holding a child representing the virtue of Mercy, a scene from the parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate compassion and the institution (Christ Church sisterhood - AKA "The Good Samaritans") which Sister Dora joined in 1864², a golden chalice, the seated figure of Justice, and Our Lord on the cross representing the supreme sacrifice.

The window is in memory of Mrs Walter Child Clark. It is unsigned.

1. Report of the installation of the west window: The Builder, 22 December 1912.
2. A S Carlos: The Story of St Andrew's Boscombe, 1908-1958.
3. Wikipedia entry for Sister Dora.