Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers
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Wareham, Lady St. Mary: North Aisle 1.
Posted 29 May 2022.
For enthusiasts of Percy Bacon and Brothers work, Lady St. Mary, Wareham is a treat, with seven windows by Bacon in the north and south aisles. It also presents a puzzle. The south aisle windows have stylistic attributes which would be readily recognised as Bacon's work. However, the north aisle windows show a distinct departure, and may have been designed and executed by a different artist. Compounding the puzzling differences between the north and south aisle schemes, none of the windows is signed, and therefore attribution is through reports in contemporary periodicals..
The south aisle 1 window was installed in late 1903, as a memorial to the renovation of the church.1, 2 The adjacent window (SA2) is reported to have been installed in 1915,3 but the similarities with SA1 might suggest they were installed at the same time, and dedicated at different times. The dedication for SA1 is on a brass plate below the window, but the dedication panel for SA2 is in vitreo. However, this looks like a later insertion.
The north aisle windows have a consistent style, though seem to have been inserted over a number of years from 1905. The style is consistent throughout, suggesting all four were designed as a scheme from the outset, albeit inserted as donors came forward. The first of the north aisle windows (NA1) was installed in 1905,4 and NA2 in 1910.5 An unusual feature of the windows is that none of the figures is haloed.
For comparison the windows are presented here side-by-side in the order in which they are presented to the viewer standing in the church. Note: the other Bacon window in the south chancel is not included here.
North Aisle 4
North Aisle 3
North Aisle 2
North Aisle 1
The subjects in the North Aisle are as follows:
- North Aisle 1: Parables of; The Prodigal Son, The Lost Silver, The Lost Sheep, and The Good Samaritan; Dedicated 1904.
- North Aisle 2: Christ Healing; Feeding the Five Thousand. Dedicated 1910.
- North Aisle 3: Annunciation to the BVM, Visitation, Flight into Egypt, Holy Family; Dedicated 1923 (by Percy Bacon Limited).
- North Aisle 4: Christ with Children; Dedicated 1925 (by Percy Bacon Limited).
Click each window to enlarge and start slide show.
South Aisle 2 1915
South Aisle 1 1903
The two windows by Percy Bacon in the south aisle were, like those in the north, were probably designed at the same time, as a scheme, though installed at different dates. SA1 was installed in 1903,6 and SA2 in 1915.7 Only one, SA2, has a dedication and date in the window itself. A brass was placed below SA1 and inscribed, “ This window was placed here by the congregation in grateful recognition of the restoration of the roof by J. B. D., a parishioner, October, 1903".2 SA2 was dedicated in 1915.7 An entry in the Western Gazette of Friday 17th December 1915 reports that Canon Blakett dedicated "a new stained glass window, the bequest of Mrs Harry Boyt" [my emphasis]. These two windows show the characteristic fifteenth century style of many Bacon windows. Single figures stand in elaborate canopied niches with scrolls to identify them, each holding an emblem representative of their life's work.
The subject matter in the windows of the South Aisle are as follows:
- South Aisle 1: Anglo-Saxon Wessex kings and bishops: St Berin (600-c650), first Bishop of Dorchester; St Adhelm (c639-709), Bishop of Sherborne; King Alfred the Great, and King Edward the Martyr; c1915, no dedication. By representing these Saxon figures, the window was intended to record the existence of Chritianity in the region for over 1300 years. 1903
- South Aisle 2: St Cattwg the Wise; King Brihtric (King of Wessex); St Ethelfleda, Abbess of Ely; Benedictine Rector; 1915.
The Significant differences in the designs and execution of the north and south aisle windows is indicative of two different artists at work. Although it is sure that Percy Bacon himself designed and painted a great deal of the studio's output, but because there is little written of the history of the Bacon Brothers, it is unclear who the other artist or artists were. One might speculate that Archibald Arthur, the youngest of the brothers was also engaged in painting, and was responsible for the north aisle scheme at Wareham, though there are some stylistic resemblances to works of Henry Victor Milner (1866-1944). A similar style of figurative work as that in the north aisle windows of Lady St Mary can be found in the Percy Bacon window in St Mary Magdalene, Launceston, Cornwall. Like the figures in the north aisle of Lady St Mary, none of the figures apart from Christ at Launceston are haloed.
References: Use your browser's Back button to return to text.
- Report of the reopening of the church after renovation: Building and Engineering news 25th September 1903 p408. The article reports that during the removal of the ceiling broght to light a small east window, "which wil be filled with stained glass from the studios of Messrs Percy Bacon & Brothers."
- The Builder, 16 January 1904, p66.
- Western Gazette - Friday 17 December 1915, p4.
- The Builder, 28 January 1905, p81.
- Dorset County Chronicle - Thursday 13 October 1910, p6. Report of dedication ceremony. Randall window (NA2).
- The Builder, 16 Jan 1904.
- Western Gazette - Friday 17 December 1915.
- Bournemouth Guardian, Saturday 26th September 1903.
- Western Gazette of Friday 17th December 1915, p4.
- See Wikipedia entry for Lady St Mary.
- See also The Western Gazette, Friday 01 January 1904, p4.
Location Map:
Sat Nav Post Code: BH20 4NA