Stained glass windows in St John's Cathedal
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Their appearance c.1908 is described on page 330 of "Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, etc.":
The cathedral contains some excellent examples of stained glass. The east window is filled by a memorial to the late Mr. Douglas Lapraik, who died on March 24, 1869. The subjects—the Crucifixion and the Ascension—are treated with a fine breadth of feeling and colour. The clerestory windows in the choir were presented by Lady Jackson, in 1900. In the north transept is a window to the memory of the late Dr. F. Stewart, a former Colonial Secretary, the subject being the sufferance of the children, whilst in the south transept it has been decided to insert a window as a memorial to the late Bishop Hoare.
The upper portion of this window is designed to show St. John in the Isle of Patmos, writing the Revelations, as instructed by an angel sent from God. In the top centre light appears the Lamb enthroned, and upon the Book with Seven Seals, worshipped by the elders, and surrounded by hosts of angels, who sing, "Amen, blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, and honour and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever." Encircling these are "they which came out of great tribulation," &c., holding palms (Rev. vii. 14). At the base of the window, pictures relating to the sea are placed; on the left, Christ calling the disciples, St. James and St. John, whilst mending their nets in the boat; in the centre, Christ stilling the tempest; and, on the right, Christ walking upon the sea and appearing to the disciples in the boat. In the window will appear the inscription: "To the glory of God, and in grateful memory of the episcopate of the Right Rev. Joseph Charles Hoare, D.D., fourth Bishop of Victoria. Born November 15th, 1851; consecrated St. Barnabas Day, 1898; died September 18th, 1906." The cost of the window has been borne by the community, and the designs are in the hands of the well-known Westminster firm of Morris & Co. An additional memorial to the late bishop is the brass tablet, erected by his wife. family, and relations in England, which sets forth the tragic manner of his death.
A window depicting the perils of the deep, in memory of Hongkong residents who perished in the wreck of the s.s. Bokhara off the Pescadore Islands, on the night of October 10, 1892, fills one of the smaller lights; another, representing St. Peter receiving the keys, is to the memory of the Hon. Mr. Donall, who died in 1873; a third was erected by the students of St. Paul's College as a tribute to Bishop Smith's devotion to the Colony; and, in a fourth, honour is paid to Elizabeth Frances Higgin and Emma Gertrude Ireland, two hospital sisters, who lost their lives whilst in the execution of their duty during the plague outbreak of 1898. In the baptistry, two windows of exquisite workmanship are erected to the memory of the wife of Edmund Sharp, a former trustee of the cathedral. In the north aisle are two windows presented by the officers and men of the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment, "in memory of their comrades who died in China between October 24th, 1858 and December 18th, 1860." A window to the memory of the widow of Henry Kingsmill, depicts women of Old and New Testament mention.
The stained glass was removed during the Japanese occupation, and replaced with clear panes. The pieces of stained glass pieces survived til the liberation of Hong Kong, but were never re-used. Stuart Wolfendale explains:
A. S. Abbott, in combative mode, wrote to the dean about putting an end to 'the jigsaw puzzle games' with the surviving window frag-ments and commissioning a new one. There had even been a suggestion that surviving pieces of the Bishop Hoare memorial window from the south transept could be incorporated into the cast somehow. On 8 August that year, Dean Rose wrote to James Parnell and Sons of London about making a stained glass east window. 'We still have the glass which was removed by unskilled workmen and stored badly. Can it be used again?' he asked. The answer was that it could not." As Marjorie Bray believes, the pieces were thrown away.
Page 190, "Imperial to International: A History of St John's Cathedral Hong Kong"
Old Colonial on Lapraik's Stained Glass Window
St John’s Stained Glass Window - Douglas Lapraik
In the course of yesterdays article on the old Clock Tower ( the clock for which was donated in 1862 by Mr. Douglas Lapraik) mention was made of the stained glass window in the Chancel of St. John’s Cathedral which commemorates that pioneer of local shipping. As I have mentioned in previous references Lapraik came out to Hongkong in the early Forties, and he first set up as a watchmaker. In 1845, he is listed as an Assistant to L. Just, one of the Colony's earliest watchmakers, and by 1846-7 Mr. Lapraik had established his own business. About 1860 he founded the local line of steamers which has developed into the Douglas Shipping Company, Ltd., and shortly after that sold his watchmaking interests to a former, assistant, Mr. George Falconer, who founded the present Falconer & Co.
Let us however,see what the old chronicles have to say, of the memorial window. An account dated August 10 1870, is as follows:-
Having had an opportunity of inspecting the stained-glass window just completed for the Cathedral, at Hongkong by Messrs. Cavers, Barraud and Westlake, we have no hesitation in pronouncing it to be a very fine work of art, worthy alike of the place it is to occupy and of the object of the donor Mr. J. S. Lapraik, who erects it as a memorial to his late uncle Mr. Douglas Lapraik.
It is intended to be substituted for the existing east window of the Cathedral and from this fact some idea may be formed of its large size.
The window forms five tall "'lancet” lights surmounted by a beautiful rose, an arrangement to which the design is well suited. The subjects are the Ascension and Cruxifixion of Our Lord with some types
The upper parts of the lancets are occupied by the Blessed Virgin and twelve apostles witnessing the Ascension of our Lord whose figure surrounded by angels fills in the rose window. Below and extending across the whole of the Central part of the five lights is the Crucifixion. Under this again are four " types " of a true sacrifice, the sacrifice of Abel, of Abraham, of Melchizedek and of Noah the central opening being occupied with a type of the Ascension viz. Elijah being taken up to heaven in the fiery chariot.
The subjects are all executed from admirable designs, in the style prevalent in the large churches of Flanders, and Germany during the sixteenth century, the breadth and boldness of which especially adapt it for large buildings. The colours are very fine, and notable for softness generally wanting in modern stained glass, which has not been acted on by the mellowing influence of time.
The cost of this window, we understand is about £1,000 sterling.