St Edward's, 150 Years

St Edward’s: 150 Years

Chapter 4 / The Chapel

THE COPES

TheredcopeshowsStEdward,KingandMartyr,seatedonwhatmay be a heavenly throne, suggesting that he has overcome death and attainedeternallifethroughhissainthood.Thereiswhatseemstobe a reference tohimbeinganAngle (as inAnglo-Saxon) at thebottom right.Thesymbolsarethoseofthecupanddagger;hewasmartyred by being stabbed in the back whilst receiving a cup fromhis step- mother. The shields are made in blue and gold, the School colours. The red Chasuble depicts the cup and dagger once again, symbols of the martyrdom of St Edward, King and Martyr. Around thesymbolsareangelsplayinginstrumentsrepresentingtheheavenly

worship of God, which it is the purpose of all earthly worship to emulate. The red colour is such that this Chasuble would normally be worn on Saints Days, particularly on those who have been martyred,withtheredrepresentingblood.RediswornatPentecost to symbolise the advent of the arrival of the Holy Spirit in fire and wind, and is also worn in Holy Week leading up to Easter Day.

Diagramofthestained glass of the Chapel by Nicola Hunter and Nicola Perkins.

of 1888 in memory of an OSE, Robert Morgan Tamplin (Roll no 359), a fine organist, who died heroically in a fire while saving others at the Theatre Royal, Exeter, in 1887. In addition to those windows that are shown in the diagram there are two more recent Memorial Windows at the west end of the nave designed by Hugh Easton and completed in 1950: that on the northern side of the central aisle to Thomas Chamberlain, the School’s founder, who had died in 1892, and the other to Warden Sing (who died in 1947) on the southern side of the central aisle. The Kenneth Grahame window (1936) in the Memorial Chapel, given by his widow, Elspeth Grahame, was designed by Christopher Webb, includes the words ‘Its walls were as of Jasper’ and shows a scene from a tale in his book Dream Days . The east window over the altar in the Memorial Chapel was presented by W.H. Weatherley in 1933 in memory of his son William Robert Weatherley (F, 1922–7), a former Head of School, who died at the age of 22; it was designed by Christopher Well. Oak panelling was added to the Chapel walls in 1903 as part of the Boer War Memorial, and plaques for the three OSE lost were placed on the panelling together with the names of two others lost in earlier conflicts. This custom was subsequently continued for the fallen OSE of the First World War.

The School’s Jubilee in 1913 was celebrated with Simeon returning to conduct the Choral Eucharist in the Chapel and to officiate at Evensong, when he preached the sermon. The Chapel was filled to capacity for both services and a long procession at the morning service included the choir, the Warden (Sing) and all three ex-Wardens, the Warden-in-waiting (Ferguson), three Bishops, three Archdeacons, and the vicar of Summertown. The Bishop of London preached the sermon. During the Great War there were memorial services, the reading of the roll of the known dead at a special Matins each Friday by the Warden, and the Chapel was a place of quiet and prayer at such a ghastly time. The bells were not sounded throughout the war and the clock was stopped. Wilfrid Cowell (who served the School for a record 57 years) continued to add individual panels for those who fell in the Great War, and they were needed in large numbers. In 1914 the top three steps to the altar were removed and the present platform installed which at last exposed the whole of the central window and the string course below and gave more space around the altar. Eventually the entire Nave was refurbished with wooden pews and the floor replaced with wooden boards. In about 1924 the pulpit was removed to give more space and later the number of pews, which had replaced the chairs

The stained glass of the Chapel deserves special consideration as much of it is by the notable Victorian practitioner Charles Eamer Kempe (1837–1907). There follows a diagram showing the windows by Kempe and others installed in the chancel and nave up to 1910. From his time as a student at Pembroke College, Oxford, Kempe had been a member of the Oxford Movement. His severe stammer precluded him becoming a priest and he decided ‘if I was not permitted to minister in the Sanctuary I would use my talents to adorn it’ (from Kempe’s obituary printed in The Church Times for 7 May 1907; we thank the Kempe Society for this information). He was a pupil of one of the leading ecclesiastical architects, George Frederick Bodley (1827–1907), from whom he learned about Gothic architecture, which enjoyed an important revival in the 19th century, was embraced by the Oxford Movement,

and included a renewed interest in stained glass. His trademark was a golden garb , or wheat sheaf, taken from his own coat of arms. The subject of the four chancel windows either side of The Crucifixion are the seven sacraments and death/burial. It is noteworthy that Simeon gave the window entitled Marriage himself in 1884 to commemorate his own marriage. On the south side of the nave, at its east end, are two windows with figures of Charity and Hope of 1901 and 1903, also by Kempe, given in memory of Felicia Mary Skene, Warden Simeon’s friend and confidante, and Alfred Spurling; the latter was killed in action at Rietpoort in 1901 at the age of 21. Opposite is a Baptism of Christ of 1910, intended as the first in a series of scenes from the childhood of Christ and given in memory of Joseph Sandell, who died in 1908 at the age of 34. At the west end of the nave, also on the north side, is the dramatic The Three Holy Children in the Fiery Furnace

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