The Stained Glass of William Wailes in Lancaster
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Contrebis 2019 v37 THE STAINED GLASS OF WILLIAM WAILES IN LANCASTER Colin Stansfield Abstract This paper details the previously unrecorded stained-glass work by William Wailes in Lancaster. Introduction When one considers stained glass in Lancaster, one’s thoughts turn first to Shrigley & Hunt, the city’s largest, best known and best recorded maker of stained glass (Waters 2003). They were, however, latecomers to the trade locally. The earliest recorded specialist artists were the Seward family business who had added stained-glass production by around 1825. Other major producers included William Abbott, the Penny Street plumber, from 1860 and Arthur Hunt who established Shrigley and Hunt as major stained-glass makers in 1872/3. By the end of the Victorian period there were eleven principal glass makers in seven establishments in the town (Waters 2003, 8–10; Edwards 1974: Trade Directory 1905). Just as Lancaster stained-glass makers sold their work outside the town, so other firms supplied Lancaster buildings. Among these were two very prolific, nineteenth-century glass makers, William Wailes of Newcastle and John Hardman of Birmingham. This paper concerns the works of Wailes in Lancaster (Torbet 2003). His stained-glass studio in Bath Street, Newcastle, provided windows to ecclesiastical and secular buildings in Lancaster and Preston. A local champion of Wailes’s work was Richard Newsham of Preston who owned land in and around Lancaster. He funded windows by Wailes for a number of local churches and other buildings. This paper argues that there are several more stained-glass windows by Wailes in Lancaster than have been previously acknowledged. William Wailes, stained-glass maker of Newcastle Born in 1808 he began his working life in Newcastle aged 15, apprenticed to a grocer. He then set up his own grocery business in the 1830s on Mosley Street. Increasingly his partner managed the grocery business while, at the rear of the shop, William pursued his passion for stained glass. By 1832 he had established his glass business and had sold the grocery to his partner. With a number of men (who later joined him in his glass works) he went to France and Germany to study the making of stained glass. They visited Munich (probably Mayer’s company) before returning to Newcastle and starting a stained-glass works at Grey Street and then Bath Street. He quickly made his name and came to the attention of Augustus Welby Pugin who had already employed William Warrington and then Thomas Willement before becoming Wailes’s partner between 1842 and 1845 and designing many of his windows along with Francis Oliphant. Pugin was dissatisfied with Wailes’s work (though it was cheaper) and, leaving him, he persuaded John Hardman of Birmingham, who supplied much of Pugin’s church furnishings, to open a studio to produce stained glass. After Pugin left in 1845, William Wailes employed three other designers to provide cartoons for his sixty operatives and they often repeated Pugin’s designs when requested. Wailes’s eldest son, Thomas, joined his father in the studios and when William’s eldest daughter, Margaret married Thomas Rankine Strang the firm became Wailes & Strang in 1861. Wailes retired about 1875 to the substantial mansion he had built at Saltwell in Gateshead, though he continued to visit the works until his death in 1881. His grandson, William Wailes Strang also joined the firm which closed in 1914 (Torbet 2003, 10–21; 24–7). 4 Contrebis 2019 v37 Wailes’s work in Lancaster Torbet’s book (2003, 137) lists the East Window of the Priory Church in Lancaster as the only example of Wailes’s work in Lancaster. Hartwell and Pevsner (2009, 410) also list a window in Lancaster Royal Grammar School. Fieldwork by the author, using stylistic evidence, has shown that William Wailes supplied windows to four churches, a convent and two schools in Lancaster. Attribution criteria Only two of Wailes’s Lancaster windows can be attributed to his studio with complete confidence because the window contains either the firm’s WW monogram (the East Window in the Priory Church) or a full signature (the Lancaster Royal Grammar School’s window) (Figure 1). However, many stained-glass firms in the nineteenth century (Wailes included) did not regularly ‘sign’ their windows and Wailes’s firm often signed only one window when several were placed in a building. However, stained-glass windows can be attributed with some confidence to a particular firm by the stylistic and design devices that recur in their windows, much as each painter has a recognisable style. Based on Torbet’s work (2003, 149) and the author’s fieldwork, these typical devices for Wailes’s windows in the middle of the nineteenth century include the following: the use of bright reds and cobalt blue; images, often evangelists, in roundels within a light; a square low down in a light showing an image of an angel; a flat-topped or open-topped number 8 in inscriptions; a red- and-white banded halo on the Christ figure; and grisaille work in background or foliage (Figure 2 and Endnote 1). All the windows attributed below to Wailes, apart from the two signed windows noted above, are based on this stylistic attribution. Many of the buildings in which Wailes’s work is found in Lancaster also contain works by other firms, notably Shrigley & Hunt and Hardman, and when the styles are viewed together the differences are clear. Figure 1 The Wailes WW monogram (left) and signature (right, courtesy of Lancaster Royal Grammar School) The local examples of Wailes’s work Examples of Wailes’s work in Lancaster can be found in the following buildings: Church of St John the Evangelist, North Road; Christ Church, Wyresdale Road; Cathedral Church of St Peter, East Road; St Peter’s Convent Chapel, Balmoral Road; Lancaster Priory (formerly the Priory Church of St Mary); Lancaster Royal Grammar School, East Road; Ripley St Thomas School, Ashton Road. 5 Contrebis 2019 v37 Further afield, Wailes windows can be found in St Helen’s Church, Kirkland / Churchtown, Garstang; Christ Church, Fulwood, Preston; and Preston Minster (St John’s and St George’s). Figure 2 The red-and-white banded halo on Christ (left) and the flat- and open-topped number 8 (right). St John’s Church is Georgian (probably by Henry Sephton in 1754–5) with a tower by Thomas Harrison in 1784 (Hartwell and Pevsner 2009, 371). The semi-circular apse has two Georgian windows with semi-circular heads. They are unattributed (Redundant Churches Fund n.d., 7 and inside back cover). Stylistically the stained-glass is by Wailes. Each window has three ovals arranged vertically with scenes from the Gospels. A thick leaded border with floral decoration surrounds the ovals (Figure 4 left). They are dated to 1870 (The Churches Conservation Trust n.d.). Christ Church was built in 1855–7 by Henry Martin of London (Hartwell and Pevsner 2009, 407). Most of the stained glass is by Shrigley and. Hunt. The window by William Wailes has three lights and is in the north-west corner on the north wall. St Peter’s (Roman Catholic) Cathedral was designed by the Lancaster architect EG Paley and built in 1857–9 (Hartwell and Pevsner 2003, 369). Most of the stained glass is by Hardman or Shrigley and Hunt. The Cathedral has a Wailes window, which has probably been re-sited in the church from the north wall of the convent when the glazed wall replaced the original outside wall. Catholic Convent and Chapel has three windows in the chapel which was built in 1851–3 (Hartwell and Pevsner 2003, 371). Two single lancet windows on the east wall and a rose window on the south wall are by Wailes. Lancaster Priory. The earliest stained glass we know about was a window on the east wall of the south aisle dated 1785 (Shorrock 2018). William Wailes was consulted in the 1840s due to concern about its condition, probably through the efforts of Richard Newsham, a local landowner and strong supporter of Wailes’s work. The restoration of stained glass was part of Wailes’s usual work at this time and in 1842 he had already undertaken stained-glass restoration at York Minster (Torbet 2003, 27). The Priory window was restored as a memorial to the Rev. John Manby who died in 1844. However, after a survey in 1963, the window was deemed incapable of further restoration and was replaced in 1965 by the present window with its striking design by Abbott & Co (Shorrock 2018). 6 Contrebis 2019 v37 When Wailes acquired a commission in a church he often presented a scheme for new glass in other windows: this could be taken up immediately or done piecemeal as finance or the request for a memorial window presented itself. By this means he was able to obtain the job of supplying a new East Window in 1847, at the same time providing a scheme for the rest of the chancel. Seven windows were proceeded with, in addition to the East Window, and can be seen today. Apart from the work by Wailes the Priory has windows by Shrigley & Hunt and Abbott (both of Lancaster), Edmundson of Manchester, Hardman of Birmingham and Powells of Whitefriars. Apart from the monogrammed East Window all the other Wailes windows are unsigned and are attributed to him on stylistic grounds. The dates of the windows are given where known, otherwise the date of death of the person commemorated is offered. The Priory has produced a leaflet that shows the 22 major windows and identifies them alphabetically from A to V (Figure 3; Lancaster Priory n.d.).