Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

St John the Baptist viewed from the north west (junction of Station Rd. & London Road.
From a post card dated 1906 in the author's collection.

Architect's plan of St John the Baptist, signed Arthur Blomfield.
Lambeth Palace Library.

Church of St John the Baptist, London Road, Bognor, circa 1906.

Posted 16 September 2023.

The heading on this page should really read "lost and found" as will become clear below.

The new church of St John the Baptist was built in high Victorian Gothic style in 1882, to a design by Sir Arthur Blomfield. It has been variously described as, "one of the town's few distinctive buildings", "uninspired" (Victoria County History of Sussex),¹ and by Pevsner, in the Buildings of England series as, "big, hard, and heartless..... as a reminiscence of the handful of sincere buildings he [Blomfield] put up in his youth".² Ooof, brutal, though it has to be said that this is not one of Blomfield's finest.

In 1821 a local builder, Daniel Wonham speculatively built a chapel of ease to St Mary Magdalene, South Bersted, dedicated to St John the Evangelist and located in Waterloo Square, Steyne, close by the sea front.^{3 4} It was designed by a little known English architect, Edmund Pink,^{5 6} and consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury on 25^th January 1822.⁷ Being on land given by St Wilfrid to Theodore, Archbishop of York when he was reinstated to his See of York, this makes the parish a "peculiar" and therefore the archbishop is patron. In 1873 the parish of St John was formally created, and the chapel upgraded to Parish Church status.⁸ However, by 1879 a much larger church was required to fulfil the needs of the growing population of the town. In 1880 the foundation stone for the new church of St John the Baptist on London Road was laid, but it was not until 1886 that the building was consecrated.⁹ The old chapel was demolished in 1891-2, with the exception of the tower which stood until 1961 when it was finally demolished as well.¹⁰

The new St John the Baptist was described as of flint and red brick. The interior was polychrome brick and stone dressing. More photos of the church at, Gravelroots, Francis Frith (interior), Sussex Parish Churches, and Bognor Regis Museum Facebook page. The church was closed in 1971 and demolished the following year. Branches of Boots and W. H. Smith were built on the vacant plot. Boots still occupies the site (2023).

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North Aisle East: Parable of; the Prodigal Son, The Lost Silver, Good Samaritan.

Plan of St John the Baptist, Bognor Regis. Photos of the windows awaited.

Posted 17 September 2023.

War Memorial Window: Courage, Christ Consoler & Victory: 1916.

The Bacon Studios window installed at St John's in April 1916, is a rare survivor of the wholesale demolition of a church. Using contemporary reports, it has been possible to piece together the chequered history of this window, and its fortunate survival, albeit disjointed.

The memorial window was installed in memory of Captain Mervyn Keats Sandys by his mother, Clarissa Marion, and his brother Major George Owens Sandys. Captain Sandy was killed at Le Touquet near Armentieres, France in October 1914.¹¹

The window was of three-lights. In the centre light stands Christ the Consoler, and to his right and left respectively the allegorical figures of Courage and Victory. The figures of Courage and Victory are virtually identical to those Bacon used at St Swithun's, Sandy, Bedfordshire in a war memorial window installed in 1921, and used a number of times in other windows. Above Christ a scroll is inscribed with the words: "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden". Beneath Courage are the arms of the York and Lancaster Regiment, and beneath Victory that of Sandys. Introduced into the window are the words, "My peace I give unto you", and, "I will give thee a crown of life". Below the window an inscription reads:

The window was dedicated on 20th August 1916, and was in one of the side chapels in St John's.¹²

George Owens Sandys survived the First World War,¹³ and would later move to Cumbria. In 1972 when St John's in Bognor was being demolished Sandys rescued the window and had it installed at St Mary's, Ulverston, albeit it fixed across two, two-light windows, thereby breaking up the scheme somewhat. The windows, which were installed by Abbott & Co. of Lancaster, are still in place in the vestry (formerly north aisle 1 & 2) at Ulverston, and can be viewed on the Ulverston Parish Church website. These will be included in an updated post when images have been obtained.

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The only other Percy Bacon and Brothers window confirmed at St John's from contemporary reports was installed in 1912. The window was dedicated to the memory of a Churchwarden, Arthur Thorby Long, JP, who had served the church in that capacity for over forty years. The window was described thus:¹⁴

It is interesting to note that the name of George Fellowes-Prynne is mentioned in the article. One might therefore assume he had some input into the design.

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1. Victoria County History of Sussex, Vol 4, p226.
2. The Buildings of England, Sussex. Pevsner, N, and Nairn I, Penguin, 1965, p108.
3. West Sussex County Council. Image of Bognor Seafront and St John's Chapel, Steyne. The old St John's church stood on the west side of Waterloo Square in Market Street. It can be seen in these images, the firstThe tower of the earlier Chapel of St John the Evangelist (arrowed), with the spire of St John the Baptist in the middle distance.
   The old tower was finally demolished in 1961.
   Undated aerial view, probably mid 1940s. Postcard in author's collection.
   
   
   The tower of the earlier Chapel of St John the Evangelist (arrowed).
   The old tower was finally demolished in 1961.
   Aerial photo of 1920. Photo courtesy Historic England Britain from Above. Photo Ref. EPW000760.
   
   Map of 1947 showing the location of St John's Tower in Market Street, west of Waterloo Square.
   With permission of the National Library of Scotland. CC-BY (NLS) license.
   
   with the spire of St John the Baptist in the distance.
4. See also West Sussex Archive Par24.
5. Lambeth Palace Library preserves plans and east elevation of St John's Chapel on which the names of the builder and architect are inscribed. Another drawing of the west end can be seen on the Sussex Parish Churches website.
6. Short biography of Edmund Pink on the Museum of History, New South Wales website.
7. Victoria County History of Sussex, Vol 4, p226.
8. Ibid, p226.
9. Ibid. p227.
10. See Sussex OPC website entry for St John the Evangelist Chapel, Steyne.
11. Obituary of Captain Mervyn Keats Sandys. Lives of the First World War website, and here (Imperial War Museum).
12. Bognor Regis Observer, 26 April 1916, p4. Report on dedication ceremony and description of the window.
13. For more on the life of George Owen Sandys see: Cumbrian Lives website.
14. Bognor Regis Observer and West Sussex Recorder - Wednesday 24 April 1912, p3. Report on the dedication of the window with description.