Category St Luke’s

Aug 15 2012

1879: St Luke’s Church, Bothwell, Tasmania, Australia.

The chancel of St Luke’s Church at Bothwell in Tasmania has a magnificent memorial stained glass window by Ferguson & Urie created circa 1879.

The memorial subject of the window is ‘Hunter Young’ (1823-1878) who died in his sleep at the age of 54 in the historic town of Bothwell in Tasmania on Sunday the 19th of May 1878. Hunter had the unfortunate employment title of “Scab Inspector for Bothwell.” His unenviable task was to inspect and fine any farmer found to be selling diseased sheep from the local properties. By all accounts, despite his job, he was well respected and had many friends who later subscribed for the erection of the window. His gravestone still exists at Bothwell Municipal Cemetery.
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Photos taken: 12th  August 2012.
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The memorial text on the window reads: “ERECTED IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF HUNTER YOUNG BY SOME OF HIS NUMEROUS FRIENDS. A.D. 1879”.

Historic newspaper transcriptions:

Launceston Examiner, TAS, Monday 20th May 1878, page 2.

“TASMANIA (From our own correspondent) Bothwell, May 19”.

“Mr. Hunter Young, Scab Inspector for this district, was found dead in his bed this morning. An inquest will be held at noon to-morrow”

The Mercury, Hobart, TAS, Tuesday 21st May 1878, page 1.

FAMILY NOTICES

“YOUNG.- On May 19, at Bothwell, Hunter Young, aged 54”.

Launceston Examiner, Wednesday 22 May 1878, page 3.

“DEATH OF MR. HUNTER YOUNG.- A telegram from Bothwell in yesterday’s Mercury gives additional particulars to those already published by us. It states that Mr Hunter Young, Inspector of Sheep, was found dead in his bed at his lodgings at Bothwell on Sunday morning. Mr Bumford knocked at his door a little before church time, and receiving no answer, he entered his room and found Mr. Young lying apparently asleep, but quite dead.”

Launceston Examiner, TAS, Friday 24th May 1878, page 3.

“BOTHWELL. (From our own Correspondent.)”

“An inquest was held at the Council Chambers on Monday last, before A. Reid, Esq., and a jury of seven, on the body of Hunter Young, late sheep inspector of this district, who died suddenly at his lodgings early on Sunday morning last. The principal witness examined was Mr Edward Bumford, who deposed – I am a householder residing at Bothwell; I knew the deceased Hunter Young, the subject of this enquiry; I have seen his body this morning in presence of the coroner; he lodged at my house; his duties as inspector of sheep called him from home frequently; he returned home on Saturday afternoon last, having been away since Tuesday; he appeared well and more cheerful than usual; he took a hearty supper after he came home, and went out about 5 p.m., but returned about 8 o’clock and asked if his watch had been sent home, but on being told that it had not said, that he must go and enquire about it; after I had been in bed a good while I heard Mr Young return and slam the door to, but I do not know what time it was; as he did not rise at the usual hour on Sunday morning I knocked at his bedroom door about half-past ten, and receiving no answer I opened it and went inside and found deceased apparently asleep but quite dead; I closed the door and reported the circumstance to the Superintendant of Police. The superintendant of Police and Constable Bumford were also examined, Dr Naylor having made a post mortem examination gave evidence as to the cause of death – he described in professional language the result of his examination, the purport of which was that deceased had died from natural causes, namely, cerebral apoplexy. A verdict to that effect was returned accordingly.

The remains of the deceased gentleman were interred at the Bothwell cemetery on Tuesday afternoon, when a large concourse of friends attended the funeral, Mr Young was a very old resident of the Clyde and Ouse districts and was well known and much respected by settlers generally.  May 21st.”

The Mercury, Hobart, TAS, Saturday 8th June 1878, page 2s.

“OBITUARY”

“Mr. Hunter Young died suddenly at Bothwell on the 18th may. He was a son of the late Captain Young, formerly of the Ouse, and brother-in-law to William Tarleton, Esquire, the present Police Magistrate of Hobart Town. He held the office of Inspector of Sheep for the Western portion of Tasmania for many years, and not withstanding the disagreeable duties pertaining to his office, which he had occasionally to carry out, it is not known that he ever made and enemy. He will be much missed in the Bothwell district, and, in fact, everywhere else where he was known, which was everywhere on the south side of the island”.

Restoration/Conservation:
This Ferguson & Urie window underwent restoration and conservation work by Tasmania’s stained glass expert, Gavin Merrington of ‘Original Stained Glass’, Hobart. Tasmania, in June 2004.

 

Short link to this page: http://wp.me/p28nLD-1dg
Jun 13 2012

14-12-1866: St Luke’s Anglican Church, Yea, Victoria.

“Oh, Lord, I am shot”

Sometimes Stained Glass windows commemorate a life taken in tragic circumstances.

On the 14th of December 1866, a thirteen year old boy named Edmund George Taylor accidentally shot and killed himself  on the road to Yea in north east Victoria.

“…He was on the dray with a gun in his hand, when by some means or other it went off, and he contents were lodged in his chest, causing almost instantaneous death. His companions did not observe the gun go off, but only heard the report, and saw the deceased fall off the dray. He exclaimed, “Oh, Lord, I am shot,” and never spoke afterwards…”

It can only be assumed that his father, George Henry Taylor, a solicitor from Upper Hawthorn near Melbourne, had commissioned Ferguson & Urie to create the memorial stained glass window to his son. The window was erected in St Luke’s Anglican Church in Yea in North east Victoria. Whether the Yea Church was considered symbolic as the place to erect the window is not known, but it’s the destination his son never reached.

The date the window was actually created and erected in St Luke’s is not known. The Anglican Church of St Luke at Yea wasn’t constructed until 1869 and so it’s likely that the window was one of the first to be erected in the church and is also the window you see immediately on entering the church.

The central symbol in the window is an intricately designed blue cross on a rich ruby red background with floral and vine leaf designs in various colours. The cross is surrounded by the verse from Ecclesiastes 12:7.
“THE DUST SHALL RETURN TO THE EARTH AS IT WAS AND BE SPIRIT UP TO GOD WHO GAVE IT”.

The memorial text at the bottom of the window reads:
“IN MEMORIAM – EDMUND GEORGE TAYLOR – DIED DECEMBER 14th 1866”.

Photos taken 26th December 2011.

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The Age, Melbourne, Vic, Tuesday 18th December 1866, page 5.

“A boy, named Edmund George Taylor, aged thirteen years, the son of Mr. Taylor, solicitor, living at Boroondarra, was accidently killed last Friday. It appears that, together with his brother, he was in company with a man named John McCessey, who was taking a bullock dray to Yea. He was on the dray with a gun in his hand, when by some means or other it went off, and he contents were lodged in his chest, causing almost instantaneous death. His companions did not observe the gun go off, but only heard the report, and saw the deceased fall off the dray. He exclaimed, “Oh, Lord, I am shot,” and never spoke afterwards. An inquest was held upon the body on Sunday, by Mr Candler, when Mr Bragge, Surgeon, deposed that he made a post mortem examination of the body, and found a most extensive gun-shot wound in the stomach and chest, the third, fourth, and fifth ribs being shattered, and the right lung broken up, and in the apex witness found a mass of wadding and shot. There were some detached shots by the side of the spine. The direction of the wound was upwards and inwards. The firearm causing it must have been quite close to the person of the deceased. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.”

The Argus, Melbourne, Wednesday 19th December 1866, page 5.

“The name of the unfortunate lad who was lately accidentally shot while traveling in a dray in the neighbourhood of Boroondara, should have been Edmund George Taylor, and not Charles Frederick Taylor. The latter – the brother of the deceased – was present, and unfortunately, a witness of the accident”.

The Argus, Melbourne, Tuesday 18th December 1866, page 5.

“On Thursday last an accident, which terminated fatally, occurred to a lad thirteen years of age, named Charles Frederick Taylor, the son of Mr. Taylor, solicitor, of Boroondara. It appears that between eight and nine o’clock on the morning of the day named the deceased was seated in a dray with a gun in his hand, when the piece suddenly went off, and the boy immediately afterwards cried out, “My God! I’m shot.” No one knows exactly how the accident occurred; but as the deceased was attempting at the time to get off the dray, with the gun in his hand, it is probably that the lock struck against something. There was a large wound in the chest where the charge had entered. Mr. Chandler held an inquest on the body yesterday, when the jury returned a verdict of “Accidental Death”.

The Argus, Melbourne, Monday 17th December 1866, page 4.

“TAYLOR.- On the 14th inst., on the road to Yea, accidentally killed when carrying a loaded gun, Edmund George, the fifth son of George Henry, and Maria Taylor, of Upper Hawthorn, aged fourteen years.

Short link to this page: http://wp.me/p28nLD-14l

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