Aug 29 2026

Herbert Moesbury Smyrk (1861–1947)

Stained Glass Artist – Herbert Moesbury Smyrk (1861–1947)

Herbert Moesbury Smyrk was a stained-glass artist with Ferguson & Urie in the mid-1890’s. He was nomadic, and his stained-glass work can be traced across nearly every major Australian studio from the 1880’s to 1947.

Overview

Herbert Mosebury/Moesbury Smyrk was a widely travelled stained-glass artist and designer who worked across England, the United States, Australia and the Pacific. Though he never ran a studio under his own name for long, he supplied designs and glasswork to many of the leading stained-glass firms of his era, and later in life turned to writing and illustration under the pen name “Herbert Moesbury.”

Early Life and Training

Born 1 December 1861 at “Brontè Villa,” Guildford, Surrey, England, the seventh child of Charles Frederick Smyrk (a surveyor/auctioneer) and Sarah Ann Miller.
Baptised 22 June 1862 as “Herbert Mosebury Smyrk” — the unusual middle name came from his grandmother, Elisabeth Mosebury.
Trained with leading London stained-glass firms including Heaton, Butler & Bayne; Lavers, Barraud & Westlake; and Gibbs & Moore. A 1935 press profile states he was apprenticed around age 14 to Powell and Shellard after being selected from the Lambeth Schools of Art.
The 1881 England census lists him, age 19, as a “Glass Draughtsman” lodging in Elswick, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
By his own later account, he stowed away on a ship bound for America, worked in New York and then California (Judson Studios, San Francisco) before heading to Australia.

Melbourne (1884–1891)

Arrived in Victoria aboard the Chimborazo, reaching Melbourne 23 February 1885, and joined Brooks, Robinson & Co.
By 1886 he had partnered with Charles Rogers to form Smyrk & Rogers, 166 Little Collins Street. The firm undercut rival Ferguson & Urie to win the glazing contract for St Mary’s Anglican Church, and exhibited at the 1887 Adelaide International Jubilee Exhibition.
Married Laura Elizabeth Davies in Melbourne on 9 July 1888; they had two sons, Rowland Herbert (1888–1953) and Harold Nelson (1889–1956).
The Smyrk & Rogers partnership was dissolved by mutual consent in September 1888; Rogers continued the business alone. Smyrk & Rogers completed the stained glass for St Mary’s, North Melbourne, that October.
A separate 1888 source (of disputed fit with the timeline) links him to Adelaide and the Adelaide Easel Club around this period, including a window for the original St Augustine’s Church, Unley.
Travelled to London and back with his family (1891–92).

Ferguson & Urie, Melbourne (c. 1894–96)

Worked as stained-glass artist for Ferguson & Urie, 100 Franklin Street, Melbourne.
Attributed works from this period include the C. H. Armytage memorial window at St Mary’s, Balmoral (c. Jan 1895) and the Cr. William Ievers memorial window at St George’s, Carlton (Feb 1896, destroyed by fire in 1924).
Also associated with decorative glass for a private residence (“Watersdale”) in North Melbourne (1895) and a Last Supper window for St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Werribee (1896).
Contemporary press consistently praised his liberal use of silver stain and his lighter, less heavily painted treatment of glass compared with the norm at Ferguson & Urie.

Adelaide, with E. F. Troy (1896–1898)

Engaged by decorative firm E. F. Troy, Flinders Street, Adelaide, as chief designer. Notable commissions include:
The “Good Shepherd” memorial window for Father Joseph Peters, St Ignatius’ Church, Norwood (1896).
Windows for private clients (C. H. De Rose’s Medindie residence; Delano and Eickhoff commissions).
The Ascension and Resurrection windows, St Margaret’s Church, Woodville (1897), memorialising John Bristow Hughes and the Harrison family respectively.
A three-light east window (Ascension, Good Shepherd, Light of the World) for St George’s Church, Gawler, in memory of Canon Coombs (1897–98) — reportedly the largest stained-glass window made in South Australia at the time, at a contract price of £200.
Windows for the Kent Town Wesleyan Church.
Active in the Adelaide Easel Club, exhibiting alongside artists such as Hans Heysen; served as the club’s honorary treasurer until resigning in February 1898 ahead of his return to England.

Perth, with Barnett Bros (1899–1900)

Emigrated with his family to Western Australia in 1899 to join Barnett Bros, Hay Street, Perth.
Designed “The Good Shepherd,” described locally as the first stained-glass window made in the colony.
The same design, exhibited by the WA Commission at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, won a bronze medal — a career highlight.

Sydney and Personal Loss (1901–c.1906)

Living in Sydney by 1901.
His wife, Laura Elizabeth, died on 7 October 1902 at their Sydney home, aged 33.
Returned to England afterwards, joining William Morris & Co. (Ruskin House), Westminster, as a principal glass-painting artist for roughly a decade (sources vary between about 9 and 10 years).

Return to the Pacific, America and Later Career

Around 1916 he travelled again to the United States, working extensively in Los Angeles at the Judson Studios, including a major commission (reported as a $50,000 contract for 16 windows in a $1,250,000 church) executed with four assistants over about a year.
Spent significant time in Tahiti, an experience he later wrote about at length.
By 1914 he was associated with James Sandy & Co., Sydney, as head of their new stained-glass and mural decoration department.
Returned to Australia by 1935, joining Frank G. O’Brien Ltd., Waterloo, Sydney, undertaking new commissions including windows and an altarpiece for St Francis’ Church, Paddington.
Other firms associated with his work over the decades include R. S. Exton (Brisbane).

Writing and Illustration

Adopted the shortened pen name “Herbert Moesbury” for his literary and artistic work.
Published The Trader’s Story (Radcliffe Press, Sydney, 1922), an illustrated narrative poem set in the Pacific islands, noted for its restrained, melodic verse; described as the first in a planned series.
Contributed illustrated poems to the Weekly Times (December 1922).
Wrote “The Scapegoat,” a short story of betrayal and reconciliation set partly in Tahiti, published in The Australian Women’s Weekly (March 1939).
In November 1925, two Adelaide papers (The News and The Mail) published his reminiscences of years lived in Tahiti — covering the island’s history (including the Bounty mutiny), Tahitian hospitality and physical vigour (with lengthy quotation of Captain Cook’s 1769 journal), the monotony of the local diet, the prevalence of elephantiasis among long-term white settlers, and his eventual homesickness and departure for San Francisco.

Family Notes

Sons Rowland Herbert (1888–1953) and Harold Nelson (1889–1956); Harold later represented Great Britain in diving at the Olympics.
A separate Smyrk relative, Leopold Charles “Charlie” Smyrk (1876–1956), was a decorated British Army veteran (Boer War and WWI) and long-serving licensee of the Dolphin Hotel, Guildford — connected to Herbert through their shared Guildford-based family (their fathers/grandfather, Charles Frederick Smyrk, was a Guildford auctioneer and surveyor).

Death and Legacy

Died at Woollahra, Sydney, in 1947, aged 85.
Never established a lasting studio under his own name, but is credited with designing for numerous major Australian firms (Brooks Robinson, Smyrk & Rogers, Ferguson & Urie, E. F. Troy, Barnett Bros, James Sandy & Co., Frank G. O’Brien Ltd.) across Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Sydney, as well as work in England (William Morris & Co.) and the USA (Judson Studios).
His stylistic hallmarks are noted as refined figure drawing, expressive painted faces, English Gothic composition, luminous colour, and a distinctive lightness achieved through silver stain rather than heavy overpainting.
Because studio-made windows were typically credited to the manufacturing firm rather than the individual designer, many of his works remain only tentatively attributed, and researchers note his career is still not widely recognised despite its scope.

Compiled from my research collection of newspaper clippings, genealogical records, and museum catalogue entries, with dates and sources as noted in the original clippings from the National Library of Australia’s Trove, Sydney Living Museums, and others.

Short link to this article: https://wp.me/p28nLD-3Ns

Nov 26 2022

1894: St Mary’s Anglican Church, Balmoral, Victoria.

After 1894, finding extant stained-glass windows created by the historic stained-glass firm Ferguson & Urie of North Melbourne is rare. A mention of one of their windows at St Mary’s Anglican Church in the tiny township of Balmoral is a significant bonus for my research of the company.

Balmoral is a tiny town 73km northeast of Casterton and 80km South of Horsham in Western Victoria. It was settled in the early 1850s and today its population is under 300.

Caroline Armytage[1], the wife of Charles Henry Armytage laid the foundation stone of St Mary’s Anglican Church at Balmoral on the 27^th of September 1894 [2] and the Bishop of Ballarat officially opened it on the 24^th of January 1895. An account of the church furnishings and fittings was chronicled in detail but there was only a brief mention of the stained-glass window in the chancel;

“… a chancel in early English style, with handsome triple east window (presented by the Armytage family in memory of the late C. Armytage, Esq., of Fulham), by Ferguson and Urie…” [3]

There was no indication of what the window depicted so that just left me a mystery and enough curiosity to undertake a 260-kilometer trip to see if it still existed and if so, what was in it?

The date of the tabloid article indicates the window was likely made in late 1894. The Ferguson & Urie company closed in late December 1899, so finding extant examples of their stained glass in this period their final decade is rare.

At the time the Balmoral window was made, the original founders of the company had died. James Urie, in 1890 and James Ferguson, in 1894. The company was then in the hands of their sons, James Ferguson Jnr and William Urie. Neither founders nor their sons were stained-glass artists in the company, so at this late stage in the company’s history, identifying which of the firm’s remaining stained-glass artists who may have had a hand in the design and painting of the windows becomes vague.

We visited Balmoral in August 2017 to see the window at St Mary’s. The three-light window is the only stained glass in the church, others are generic lead-light.

From left to right the window depicts St Peter, Christ, and St Andrew. There is no doubt it was a Ferguson & Urie window, but the figurative depictions of St Peter, Christ, and St Andrew were very different.

The company’s early figurative style is easily recognisable in the period of their first two stained-glass artists with the company, John Lamb Lyon [4] (from 1861 to 1873), and David Relph Drape [5] (from 1863 until his death 1882). Windows made after Drape’s death in 1882 leave some mystery as to who the artists may have been.

Dr. Bronwyn Hughes OAM proposed that the Balmoral window could be the work of stained glass artist Herbert Moesbury Smyrk [6].

Whilst many parts of the window are typical of Ferguson & Urie’s company style, the figurative work in the faces of St Peter, Christ, and St Andrew are quite different. Smyrk’s painting style is very delicate and he was quite prolific at using the traditional silver stain to create varying shades from light yellow to deep gold. Some parts of his figurative images let through a lot of light which wasn’t prevalent in early Ferguson & Urie windows created in the Lyon and Drape era. A further study of my photo collection of stained glass windows in this same period has now revealed more of Smyrk’s style under the guise of Ferguson & Urie, and many other windows created during his time with Ferguson & Urie are now attributed to him.

Positive evidence of Smyrk’s association with Ferguson & Urie is revealed in February 1896 when a memorial stained-glass window, dedicated to Councillor William Ievers MLA, was erected in St George’s church (now part of Corpus Christie) at Carlton. The window was executed by Ferguson & Urie and Smyrk was named as the designer [7]. The church was gutted by fire in 1924 and none of the original windows survived [8]

An obscure article in May 1896 provides further evidence of Smyrk’s connection to Ferguson & Urie when he writes to the editor of The Herald about the rules of Cricket. He signs off as; “H. Smyrk. 100 Franklin Street, 2nd May”. That address was the Ferguson & Urie Franklin Street Warehouse which they occupied in mid-1891.[9]

The window at St Mary’s, Balmoral has no memorial inscription on it but a nearby brass plaque records that it is dedicated to Charles Henry Armytage:

“In Loving Memory of Charles Henry Armytage, Died 26th April 1876”.

The Armytage family name is probably more well known to Melburnians for their period of ownership of the heritage-listed “Como House” in South Yarra where Charles died in 1876 [10]. It’s likely that his wife Caroline would have been the instigator for the erection of the stained-glass window at St Mary’s at Balmoral. It was also the first church to be built in the district.

Charles’ estate of £120,000 was left to his wife Caroline[11] with other complex divisions and trusts for his children. As was usual of the time, his will included archaic conditions that if Caroline remarried, her future husband could have no control of any of her estate, and nor would Caroline be liable for any future husband’s debts.

Image gallery:

Stained Glass Artists – Herbert Moesbury Smyrk 1861-1947:

Smyrk, seems to have passed through nearly every major Stained glass company in Australia between 1884 and 1947. His prolific association with so many companies makes attribution to his work very difficult.

Smyrk was born in Guildford, Surrey, England. At the age of fourteen was selected from hundreds of art students to be apprenticed to Powell and Shellard[12] as a stained glass artist and designer. [13]

On completion of his apprenticeship circa 1881, Smyrk stowed away on the ship ‘Queen’ at St Catherine’s docks in London which was bound for America. He began designing and painting windows for firms in New York and San Francisco. In 1884 he came out to Australia where he joined Brooks, Robinson & Co., in Melbourne.[14]

By March 1886 he was a partner of the Smyrk & Rogers stained glass company in Melbourne with Charles Rogers. That partnership was dissolved in September 1888 [15] and he returned to London to work with William Morris & Co.[16]

In later years, between many trips back to England, and America, and some years living a nomadic life in Tahiti, he returned to Australia where he designed and painted for Australian firms such as Ferguson & Urie in North Melbourne, E. F. Troy in Adelaide, Barnett Bros in Perth, R. S. Exton in Brisbane, James Sandy & Co in Sydney, and Frank G. O’Brien Ltd., at Waterloo in Sydney.

Herbert Moesbury Smyrk died at Woollahra, Sydney, in 1947 at the age of 85.

A more extensive biography of Herbert Moesbury Smyrk is in progress.

Acknowledgements:

My thanks to Helen Curkpatrick, the human history dynamo from the Wimmera National Trust, Ross & Pam from Longerenong, Denize Raggatt from the Balmoral Historical Society, Bronwyn & David Hughes for joining me on the Hamilton & Balmoral trip, and ABC Radio Horsham.

Footnotes:

[1] Caroline Morrell (nee Tuckwell), whom he married in 1856.

[2] Hamilton Spectator, Vic, Saturday 22nd September 1894, page 3.

[3] Hamilton Spectator, Vic, Saturday 26th January 1895, page 3.

[4] Biography: John Lamb Lyon (1835-1916)

[5] Biography: David Relph Drape (1821-1882)

[6] News, Adelaide, SA, Tuesday 3rd November 1925, page 8.

[7] Advocate, Melbourne, Vic, Saturday 15th February 1896, page 16.

[8] St. George’s Church, Carlton, Victoria 1896

[9] The Herald, Melbourne, Vic, Monday 4th May 1896, page 3.

[10] The Argus, Melbourne, Vic, Thursday 27th April 1876 , page 1.

[11] Biography: Charles Henry Armytage (1824-1876 )