Memorial Details
Memorial
Stained Glass Window and Plaque 1914-18 St. Aidan
Reference
S86.046
Place
SOUTH SHIELDS
Map ref
NZ 362678
Original Location
St. Aidan’s Church
Present Location
The church was empty and being offered for sale in August 1996. Tablet is now in St Stephens Church, Mile End Road.
Which war
1914-18
Dedication, Creation or Publication date
Unveiled 28th July 1920 by Rev. E.G. Wells, M.A., M.C., Vicar of Eastleigh.
Memorial Description
Stained glass west windows.
“One subject, taken from the Book of Daniel, chap.III, fills the whole of the windows. In the first window is shown the young men standing on the brink of the furnace with all its terrors. The tyrant sits proudly on his golden throne relentlessly inventing new torments, and orders in their hearing that the furnace be heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated. Around him stand his eager fluttering courtiers, his rough, stern, hard, professional soldiers. In the roaring flames of the furnace, out of sight of the Emperor, and as yet not seen by the gallant lads, is a glimpse of one who in His own person endured the fiercest pangs of torture, bodily and spiritual, as these boys are soon to undergo. And overhead is painted His crown and theirs – the crown of thorns.
In the second window the three men are standing erect and unbound; and beside them another, stronger, taller, more radiant than they; and opposite, the proud tyrant, no longer on his throne, but humbled to the dust, praying to the God he had mocked, his boasting gone, his throne empty.” South Shields Gazette
Plaque in oak frame, with gold crown and centre incised into the frame. The names are listed in four columns. Lettering is in sans serif capitals with a mixture of Gothic and italic in the dedication.
“One subject, taken from the Book of Daniel, chap.III, fills the whole of the windows. In the first window is shown the young men standing on the brink of the furnace with all its terrors. The tyrant sits proudly on his golden throne relentlessly inventing new torments, and orders in their hearing that the furnace be heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated. Around him stand his eager fluttering courtiers, his rough, stern, hard, professional soldiers. In the roaring flames of the furnace, out of sight of the Emperor, and as yet not seen by the gallant lads, is a glimpse of one who in His own person endured the fiercest pangs of torture, bodily and spiritual, as these boys are soon to undergo. And overhead is painted His crown and theirs – the crown of thorns.
In the second window the three men are standing erect and unbound; and beside them another, stronger, taller, more radiant than they; and opposite, the proud tyrant, no longer on his throne, but humbled to the dust, praying to the God he had mocked, his boasting gone, his throne empty.” South Shields Gazette
Plaque in oak frame, with gold crown and centre incised into the frame. The names are listed in four columns. Lettering is in sans serif capitals with a mixture of Gothic and italic in the dedication.
Materials used
Marble plaque in oak frame.
Inscription
The west windows are erected / in memory of / those who gave their lives in defence of their country, liberty and Civilization / in the Great War (1914-1918) by their friends and kindred in St. Aidan’s Church.
Names
Sculptor, Artist or Designer
Harold Rhodes, A.R.C.A., son-in-law of Mr. John Heys, Headmaster of the South Shields School of Art.
Notes
1. The original windows were blown out by bombing in 1939-45 and replaced by plain glass. However, the small windows at the tops of the arches survived.
2. “The windows suggest in their brilliancy and richness of colouring, that the use of different tones of pure glass, to gain the depth of shadow, rather than much applied pigment, gives a nearer approach to the glory of the stained glass of medieval times”.
3. Rev. E.G. Wells, Vicar of Eastleigh, was ex-C.F. of 68th Infantry Brigade comprising 12th and 13th D.L.I. and 11th N.F. He was also the brother of the resident Vicar of St.Aidan’s, Rev. L.S. Alban Wells, M.A.
2. “The windows suggest in their brilliancy and richness of colouring, that the use of different tones of pure glass, to gain the depth of shadow, rather than much applied pigment, gives a nearer approach to the glory of the stained glass of medieval times”.
3. Rev. E.G. Wells, Vicar of Eastleigh, was ex-C.F. of 68th Infantry Brigade comprising 12th and 13th D.L.I. and 11th N.F. He was also the brother of the resident Vicar of St.Aidan’s, Rev. L.S. Alban Wells, M.A.
Newspaper cuttings, photos or archival material
Photos of plaque: Simon Raine; Peter Hoy
Shields Daily Gazette 22/05/1919 reports appeal for names; 29/07/1920 reports unveiling
Shields Daily Gazette 22/05/1919 reports appeal for names; 29/07/1920 reports unveiling
External web link
Research acknowledgements
C. Sanders; Fitzhugh Collection, Middleton in Teesdale; James Pasby; Michael Mulhern.
Research In Progress
The names on this memorial are being researched by Peter Hoy.
Contact: peterhoy@hotmail.co.uk
Stained Glass Window and Plaque 1914-18 St. Aidan (S86.046)
SOUTH SHIELDS St. Aidan’s Church
The west windows are erected
in memory of
those who gave their lives in defence of their Country, Liberty and Civilization
in the Great War (1914-1918) by their Friends and Kindred in St. Aidan’s Church.
Robert Huntley Hedworth Richard Henry Locke Walter L. Scott William B. Browitt
Edward Reay Gordon M. Carling David Cunningham Edward Bell
Robert Dryden Moffitt Wilton Allan William G. Tweddell Harold Newton Macdonald
William Newton Harle Irving Henderson John Joseph Banks George Hatton
John Brotchie Charles Thompson John George Ogilvie Leonard Dawe
Robert Floyd Henry M. Weddle John A. Neilson George E. Holliday
John Alexander Macdonald Stephen Leslie William C. Cooper John James Mitchell
Alfred Austin Edwin Girling Sydney Taylor Joseph Askins
Joseph Sweeney John Williamson Christopher J. Young Matthias Yates
John B. Richardson Stewart A. White Jacob Young Robert George
James Hindmarsh Robert Norris Septimus W. Kell Thomas T. Rose
Joseph Swift Harold D. Johnston Charles Pinckney Ernest J.H. Williams
Robert Nicholson George Walker Albert H. Purvis John T. Adamson
Stephen W. Warwick Oliver Sidney Phinn Charles A. Holman John B. Souter
Luke Ramsey Anthony H. Kell William W. Wilkins Thomas H. Malcolm
John Blaikie William Ainsley Thomas Edward Burn Richard Park
Thomas Robertson John Dingle Robert Newlands Thomas W. Heppell
Thomas Burn Lucock Frederick Batey Walker S. Edmunds Albert S. Berkeley
Alexander Smith Frederick Donaldson Alfred Longstaff James M. Armstrong
James F. Fahey Henry S. Allan John C. Cree James Mallen
Edward W. Corbitt Arthur Poynter William Young Albert E. Elliott
Thomas E.S. Reay Thomas Relph Abbot James L. Witty Joseph Hutchinson
Alfred E. Birch Frederick A. Crane John S. Dennier Thomas L. Simpson
Andrew Preece Henry Ingram Edwin Smith William Leighton
James Hunter John J. Scott Henry B. Winlo John M. Smith
James Richardson Ernest J.B. Gooderham William F. Coughlan James W. Reay
Herman T. Wells Harold C.R. Browitt Rex M. Daniel Leonard Ramsay
Thomas Berry Andrew R. Legat Tom S. Richardson Robert Crathorne
Herbert Woodhouse Edward Woodhouse Gilbert L. Barnes George Lamb
NamesS86.046
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Parish Notes
Every Name A Story
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