Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

Sir Arthur Blomfield's Plan for St Peter's Upton Cross 1891. This original plan included two western bays and a west
porch which were not built in the initial phase due to lack of funds.

Sir Arthur Blomfield's original plan of 1891. The two western-most bays of the nave and the west porch were not built in the initial phase due to lack of funds.

Posted 11 July 2023.

Like many churches built to serve the growing population of London in the 19th century, St Peter’s is a story of rise and fall. The church originated as a mission chapel in Pelly Road in connection with St Mary’s. Services were held in a barn, and then an iron church licenced in 1877, but it was not long before this proved entirely inadequate for the needs of the district.¹ Plans were put in place to construct a new church, and in 1885 the Bishop of St Albans fund purchased Upton House,² the birthplace of Joseph Lister, the eminent surgeon, and a location for the church was allocated in the grounds just to the south of the house. The house itself was to become the vicarage and parish room. Sir Arthur Blomfield was contracted to prepare designs which were presented to and approved by the Incorporated Church Building Society in 1891.³ The plan permitted seating of 827 souls, all of which were to be free. The contract for the building works was reported to be worth £6,300, with an additional sum of £8,000 being needed to provide internal fittings and furniture. However, between the date of design approval and the laying of the foundation stone on 30^th June 1892, only £4,000 had been raised, resulting in Blomfield amending the design, and reducing the overall size of the church by about a third. This was achieved by lopping off two of the western most bays of the nave and the west porch (see plan below). Further economies were made, one of which was to only provide chairs for the congregation rather than pews as in evidenced by Blomfield’s annotation on his reduced plan of June 1893. Even this exceeded the budget, the whole cost totalling £4,500, and when completed the fund was £700 in deficit.

Sir Arthur Blomfield's Plan for St Peter's Upton Cross 1891. This original plan included two western bays and a west
porch which were not built in the initial phasse due to lack of funds.

Sir Arthur Blomfield's reduced plan of 1891. The two western-most bays of the nave and the west porch were left off.

The church was described as, “a tall building of red and yellow brick in the Early English style with a chancel screen of open brick arches supported on black marble columns,” and although funds did not permit any architectural elaboration it, possessed, “..both dignity and stability”. Unfortunately no images have yet been unearthed to confirm what the church looked like, though part of the building can be seen on a photograph of Upton House, Upton House on the corner of Upton Lane and Lancaster Road, early 20^th century.
Part of St Peter's can be seen on the right.

probably taken in the early part of the twentieth century. This reveals a tall nave with small, high windows, and steeply pitched roofs, as well as the heating chamber on the north side. The latter is not shown on the map of 1896, Area map of 1896 showing St Peter's Church in its truncated form, Upton House (Vicarage).
St Anthony of Padua's RC church on Lancaster Road still exists.
Image reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland CC-BY license.

so this was probably built later, perhaps when the church was extended..

The church in its reduced form was consecrated by the Bishop of St Albans on 3rd June 1893, and the parish of St Peter’s formed in 1894 from parts of All Saints (West Ham), St Mary’s, Emmanuel and St Stephen’s (Upton Park, East Ham). In 1908 the church was extended to a revised design by Blomfield's practice (Arthur Blomfield & Sons - Sir Arthur had died in 1899).⁴ Revised design by Sir Arthur Blomfield of 1908. This design extended the church westwards by the addition of a single bay to the nave
and aisles, and a redesigned west porch which incorporated an aspidal baptistery.

Even this was smaller than the original 1891 design, with only a single bay added to the nave, but the west porch was embellished with an apsidal baptistery. This extension cost an additional £17,000, and was dedicated on the 3^rd of June of that year.

In common with many large city Gothic Revival churches, dwindling congregations after the war resulted in St Peter’s being united with Emmanuel Church in 1962.  Ten years later it was declared redundant and demolished. The site of the church is now occupied by part of a school, and the former vicarage (demolished in 1968) by a block of flats (Lister Court).

The Percy Bacon Glass.

Shortly after the consecration of the church in June 1893, Percy Bacon & Brothers was commissioned to provide stained glass in a three-light window, commemorating the life of Miss Florence Harriette Sharp. A touching story attaches itself to the window. Miss Sharp was affianced to Robert Hunt, and a congregant at St Peter’s. She had recently attended the consecration of the church on 3^rd June 1893, and received communion on Sunday the 4^th. Tragically she died the following morning, though the cause of her passing was not reported.⁵ This is an extremely early work of Percy Bacon, and certainly one of the first dozen commissions he received. The windows depicted the figures of three female saints with connections to East Anglia; St Ethelburga, St Osyth, and St Eanswide. The face of St Osyth was painted from a photographic likeness of the unfortunate Miss Sharp, the first instance of Percy Bacon using this particular motif for a commemorative window. On a tablet beneath the window the dedication read: “To the Glory of God and the dear memory of Florence Harriet Sharp, who was present at the consecration of this church on 3rd June 1893; received Holy Eucharist here on Sunday June 4; and the following morning was called away to the presence of her Lord.”

An earlier window by Percy Bacon and Brothers, installed as part of the original build is mentioned by the Chelmesford Chronicle,⁶ and by The Builder,⁷ the latter specifically mentioning Percy Bacon and Brothers as the maker. Though the subject matter was not mentioned by either publication, the Chelmsford Chronicle reported that the window was in the south aisle, and had been placed in memory of Horatio Francis Blake, who died on 8^th January 1892. Both windows were installed under the supervision of the architect, Sir Arthur Blomfield. Percy Bacon and Brothers had worked with Blomfield previously at St Andrew's, Halstead, carrying out decorative works on the reredos and chancel walls (completed April 1893).

1. Essex Herald, 12th July 1892, p7. Report on the laying of the foundation stone by Lady Cowper.
2. British History Online: VCH Essex. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol6/pp114-123
3. Essex Herald, 12th July 1892, p7.
4. Chelmsford Chronicle, 9th June 1908, p3.
5. Chelmsford Chronicle, 22nd September 1893, p3. Report of the unveiling of the window in St Peter's.
6. Chelmsford Chronicle, 9th June 1893, p3.
7. The Builder, Vol 65 23 Sept 1893, p230.