On the 12th and 19th of June 1873, the Sydney tabloids reported that a Ferguson & Urie window had been made for the Sydney Cathedral. The window depicted ‘Faith, Hope & Charity’ and was to be placed in the clerestory of St Andrew’s Church of England Cathedral in Sydney. The window was erected to the memory of Mary Ann Stephen (nee Pasmore), the widow of Judge John Stephen, the first puisne Judge appointed to the Supreme Court in the Colony of New South Wales. The window was subscribed for by her surviving children and was erected in the clerestory of St Andrew’s in 1873, ten years after her death in 1863 at the age of 89.
The memorial text on the window reads: “In memory of Mary Ann Stephen, The widow of John Stephen Esq., First Puisne Judge of this colony, Died in Sydney 1st January 1863, Aged 89 years”.
Photos of St Andrews Church were taken 8th May 2011. Photos of the stained glass window were taken by Ken Burke (via historian Karla Whitmore, 6th May 2013).
The Argus, Melbourne, Vic, Saturday 7th June 1873, page 5.
“A stained glass window, which has many elegant features, has been made by Messrs Ferguson and Urie, of Hotham for the Church of England Cathedral of Sydney. The window is to be placed in the clerestory as a memorial of the widow of the late Mr Justice Stephen. The principal figures represented are Faith, Hope, and Charity, with the last in the middle. Hope has her hand upon the anchor, and Faith carries the Bible and the Cross. The tracery of the window shows the lamb, and the pelican feeding its young. The window is most to be admired for the harmony of the colouring and the softness of the tone. A good general effect has been produced. The drapery on the figures has been exceedingly well done, and is somewhat in advance of the expression upon the faces. The letters underneath the figures state that the window is erected in memory of Mary Ann Stephen, widow of John Stephen, puisne Judge, who died in Sydney on the 1st of January, 1863, at the age of eighty-nine years. It is erected by her children. The height of it is 12 feet.”
The Sydney Morning Herald, NSW, Friday 2nd January 1863, page 1.
“On 1st January, at Eveleigh House, the residence of her son-in-law, Mary Anne Stephen, widow of John Stephen Esquire, first judge of this colony, and mother of Sir Alfred Stephen, in her eighty-ninth year.”
Judge John Stephen died on Saturday, 21st December 1833, his wife Mary Ann (nee Pasmore), survived him by a further thirty years.
The Sydney Gazette & New South Wales Advertiser, Tuesday 24th December 1833, page 3.
DIED, At Clairville, on Saturday last, JOHN STEPHEN, Esq., late Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The funeral of this respected gentleman is intended to be public, and will take place on Thursday next.”
The SydneyMonitor, NSW, Wednesday 25th December 1833, page 2.
THE LATE JUDGE STEPHEN.
Mr Justice Stephen endeared himself to the people of New South Wales, by his unflinching consistent integrity, in irving times.When the public press was assailed, he ever stood up for its independence. His views of the law were in its favour, and he did not shrink from expressing his views, in the worst of times; and when his office depended, in a measure, on his silence. When the Editors were under prosecution, and demanded a common Jury, according to the common law, under the plea, that the Act of Parliament could not set aside the common Law and natural justice, by its not permitting the prosecutor (Darling) to appoint the Jury. Judge Stephen was the only Judge who maintained the inviolability of this axiom of common sense and common justice.”
The Australian, Sydney, NSW, Friday 27th December 1833, page 2.
“Funeral of John Stephen, Esq. Late Judge of the Supreme Court.
The body of the above respected individual was brought ito town, from his country house at Clareville, accompanied by some members of his family, at 1 o’clock yesterday morning, and deposited in St. James’ Church, preparatory to its being interred in the new burying ground. About half past seven o’clock the gentlemen who attended the funderal having previously assembled in the Court House were summoned by the tolling of the bell into St. James’s Church, where the Rev. Mr. Hill read the first portion of the funderal service:- Precisely at eight o’clock the procession began to move in the following order. The Band of the 4th regiment, playing the Masonic March of Burn’s Fare-well. Members of the bar, two and two. A number of Civil Officers, Magistrates, Merchants, and private friends of the deceased followed. The procession was closed by about twenty carriages. The procession moved along George street, followed by a very considerable crowd, the band playing until they reached the burying ground.- On arriving there the Body was taken from the Hearse and carried to the grave by six of the Masonic Brethren, who were desirious of performing this last sad ceremony themselves. The funeral service having been read and the body lowered into the grave, the members of the Masonic Lodges proceeded to perform the ceremonies of their order, in compliance with a wish, expressed by the deceased a short time before his death, of being buried with the honours bestowed upon its members, by an institution to which he had in earlier life been attached. From the church to the grave, the procession was accompanied by a numerous concourse of spectators, who thus testified the respect with which the character of the deceased was held in the public estimation.”
Two and a half months after the reports of this windows creation, Ferguson & Urie stained glass artist and partner, John Lamb Lyon, prepared the final stages for his move to Sydney to start the Lyon & Cottier stained glass firm. On the 27th August 1873 advertisements appear in the Melbourne tabloids for the sale of his Dudley Street cottage and furnishings. On the 29th of August 1873 the Govt Gazette published the official dissolution of his partnership with Ferguson & Urie.
Biography:
John Stephen (1771-1833). (first puisne judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales).
Sir Alfred Stephen (1802-1894). (son of Judge John Stephen)
Other references:
The Sydney Morning Herald, NSW, Thursday 12th June 1873, page 5.
Queanbeyan Age, NSW, Thursday 19th June 1873, page 4.
The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, NSW, Thursday 12th June 1873, page 3.
The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 14th June 1873, page 753.
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