To the Glory of God and in loving memory of George William Haylock sometime Chorister and Organist at this church. Died Nov 9 1918. This window was erected by George Edward and Agnes Eliza, father & mother.

William Theodore Morris (1874-1944) and his studio had no link with Morris & Co, with which this firm was frequently confused. This Morris was a Londoner and son of Richard Morris (1842-1911) who worked in the field of glass design and decorative glass all his working life. William Morris set up a glass manufactory in 1901, moving to Rochester Row, Westminster in 1905. He also supplied ironwork before establishing a stained glass studio and brass foundry (much in demand after World War I for memorials) and the firm supplied leaded lights and casements for houses. In the 1930s, beset with financial difficulties, it was sold, whilst its premises were bombed in World War II. It restarted in 1946 in Great Peter Street, near other ecclesiastical suppliers, under F W Cole, chief designer and remained there until it closed in 1958.

To the Glory of God and in loving memory of George William Haylock sometime Chorister and Organist at this church. Died Nov 9 1918. This window was erected by George Edward and Agnes Eliza, father & mother.

William Theodore Morris (1874-1944) and his studio had no link with Morris & Co, with which this firm was frequently confused. This Morris was a Londoner and son of Richard Morris (1842-1911) who worked in the field of glass design and decorative glass all his working life. William Morris set up a glass manufactory in 1901, moving to Rochester Row, Westminster in 1905. He also supplied ironwork before establishing a stained glass studio and brass foundry (much in demand after World War I for memorials) and the firm supplied leaded lights and casements for houses. In the 1930s, beset with financial difficulties, it was sold, whilst its premises were bombed in World War II. It restarted in 1946 in Great Peter Street, near other ecclesiastical suppliers, under F W Cole, chief designer and remained there until it closed in 1958.

Kirkcudbright.

Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935).

Oil on canvas, c1919.

In 1915, Peploe made the first of a number of visits to Kirkcudbright. His paintings of the picturesque Scottish town emphasise the geometry of its architecture and, in doing so, reveal Paul Cezanne's influence on Peploe's analysis of form, colour and tone.

Samuel John Peploe was the oldest of the Scottish Colourists. He lived almost all his life in Edinburgh, but he often visited France, studied briefly at the Académie Julian, and made his home in Paris, 1910–13. During this time in Paris he moved from an Impressionist style to one influenced by Cézanne and the Fauves, but later his work became less aggressively modern. In the 1920s he frequently visited the island of Iona, which—together with still-life—was his favourite subject.

This painting by Charles Haslewood Shannon recounts the parable of the Ten Virgins, recorded in the Gospel of St Matthew in the Bible. In the story 10 women are instructed to wait overnight for the arrival of the bridegroom. According to Matthew, "It was already midnight when the cry rang out, 'Here is the bridegroom! Come and meet him!' The ten girls woke up and trimmed their lamps. Then the foolish ones said to the wise ones, 'Let us have some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.' 'No indeed,' the wise ones answered, 'there is not enough for you and for us. Go to the shop and buy some for yourselves.' So the foolish girls went off to buy some oil; and while they were gone, the bridegroom arrived.'(Matthew, chapter 25 v 6 -10.) The 5 women were not adequately prepared for their task and so not allowed in when they returned.

The marriage feast is a metaphor for heaven in this story. The parable teaches us that we must always be practically and spiritually prepared to be judged by God or we risk being shut out of heaven forever.

Shannon may have been questioning whether he was prepared to be judged by God when he made this painting. He lived with Charles de Sousy Ricketts, the son of an English father and a French mother. The pair met at 19 and 16 respectively as students at the City and Guilds Art School in Kennington in 1882.

The couple were artistic and personal partners for more than fifty years. They designed and illustrated books, established the occasional art journal ‘The Dial’ in 1889 and founded the Vale Press in 1894. The Press published around 75 books, including a complete reprint of the works of Shakespeare. They closed Vale Press following a fire in 1899 when most of the book stock and decorative materials were destroyed.

Ricketts and Shannon moved in a wide circle of artist friends and were key figures in the London art world from the 1890s onwards. Their friends included the poet and playwright Gordon Bottomley, the book illustrator Edmund Dulac, the portrait painter William Rothenstein and Oscar Wilde. Ricketts and Shannon also worked as illustrators for Wilde. Ricketts, for example, illustrated The Sphinx in 1895.

Shannon and Ricketts never publicly identified themselves as a homosexual couple. Shannon seems to have occasionally been attracted to women. His close relationship with Kathleen Bruce was upsetting to Ricketts, who wrote of his terror that they might marry. However, the two men were completely committed to each other. Rickett’s even gave up his own painting career as a young man so that the couple could afford to support Shannon’s own artistic aspirations. Their relationship was clearly spiritual and romantic. If not necessarily physical, it was certainly devoted.

Instances such as this demonstrate how difficult it can be to talk retrospectively about relationships using contemporary language and concepts. The prosecution and imprisonment of their good friend Oscar Wilde for homosexual acts made it impossible for Ricketts, Shannon and their peers to make their sexuality public.