“All Mr. Kempe’s work is celebrated for its beauty and artistic feeling, but in St Luke’s windows he has certainly excelled himself. The colours are perfect, the drawings of the figures are exquisitely beautiful, and the nearer one approaches, the more beautiful they seem to be”.
St Giles Parish Magazine, July 1892

Mr. Kempe has excelled himself …
Many must have gazed at the east (apse) windows at St Luke’s – but how many were aware they were seeing work by C.E.Kempe, the renowned Victorian glass artist? It was only when St Luke’s hosted a visit from the Kempe Society, that I appreciated the significance of the apse (and other) windows as I walked around with members as they identified and photographed Kempe’s work.

The Tractarian artist C.E.Kempe
Charles Eamer Kempe was born in 1837; he developed a severe speech impediment which, he realised, would prevent him becoming a clergyman. However, he decided that ‘if he was not permitted to minister in the Sanctuary he would use his talents to adorn it’.

He began putting his design skills to work while studying architecture with his friend George Bodley’s firm and was soon trusted with the decoration of walls, ceilings and window designs for the churches (e.g. the Bishop Hooper memorial window in Gloucester Cathedral) that Bodley was building or refurbishing in the ‘correct Gothic manner’. Kempe became more and more drawn to stained glass as a means of establishing the Christian message and, by 1866, was working as an independent designer. An intensive study of medieval glass inspired him to adapt his style so as to harmonise with the atmosphere of old and new churches.

By 1869 he had started his own London workshop and by the end of the century he was employing 50 people. Unlike the other large Victorian studios, he never allowed his work to deteriorate. His studio also produced designs for church furniture, including reredos, and even vestments!

From 1895 the studio adopted the ‘wheatsheaf’ (from the Kempe family crest) to sign their work. However, St. Lukes apse window predates this (1892), so you will hunt for it in vain.

Kempe died in 1907, but by his wish the studio continued under the name of C.E.Kempe & Co Ltd under his younger cousin. To distinguish glass from that produced by the Kempe studio, a ‘tower’ was added to the ‘wheatsheaf’. This you can view in windows in the South Aisle since they are post-1907.

But as the Gothic cult faded and the years of the Depression set in the demand for expensive memorials died and, after 60 years and 4,000 windows, ‘Kempe’s’ closed in 1934. But scholarly opinion considers that Victorian art reached its zenith as much with Kempe as with Morris or Burne-Jones.

St Luke’s lights
So much for the background, but what of St Luke’s windows? Basically the east (apse) windows, or lights, portray Our Lord and eight of his disciples in the upper parts and scriptural scenes connected with Our Lord after His resurrection in the lower parts. Look carefully and you can identify the disciples by their initials surmounted by a crown – there are several ‘floating’ near their heads. (Are some initials ascribed to the wrong disciple?)

It is likely that the money ran out before all the windows were completed, hence only five Kempe lights, not seven!

So starting from left to right as you look towards the apse:

Light 1 Blank
Light 2 Philip (P) and Bartholomew (B). Philip has a book and a knife.
Underneath: Women at the tomb with angels
Light 3 Peter and Andrew
Underneath: The risen Christ with Mary Magdalene
Light 4 (Centre): The Risen Christ
Underneath: The meal at Emmaus
Light 5 James and John (initials ‘I’ are the Latin equivalent of ‘J’)
Underneath: Christ with Thomas
Light 6 Thomas and Matthew (holding a book and bag)
Underneath: Appearance to Peter at Tiberius
Light 7 Blank

It is possible that the disciples are as listed in Matthew 10 v2, and that Light 1 would had displayed James the Less and Thaddeus, and Light 7 Simon the Zealot and Mathias.

All the remaining windows were installed in the first three decades of the 20th century. In the south aisle, starting from the east end:
portrayed are Saints Columba, Paulinus, Aidan, Oswald, Augustine, Birinus, then two blanks, Saints Luke, Edmund, Hugh.

The only Kempe light in the north aisle is of Saint Katherine. Note here the Latin grammatical error: should be S’ta ( i.e Sancta) NOT S’tus (Sanctus) Katharina! There are three lights in the Lady Chapel: Saints Mary and George, The Crucifixion and Saints Michael and Luke. The latter window carries the dedication of the Wait family in memory of their son killed in the First World War. (This window suffers from some inferior repairs).

Other examples
There are many examples of Kempe’s work around the country, from Cathedrals to schools. Indeed, I viewed three Kempe apse lights at St Mary’s Church, Isles of Scilly. The lights are known locally as the ‘Schiller’ window; together they commemorate the shipwreck of the SS Schiller in 1875, with the loss of 300 lives.

The Kempe Society
The Kempe Society encourages the recognition and recording of Kempe’s work, as well as its preservation and maintenance. They will be pleased to note that recently we have added protective polycarbonate to the outside of the apse windows.

It is appropriate to close with another quote from the St. Giles Magazine of 1892: “St Luke’s has good reason to be proud of this new addition to its beauty”.

I am grateful to the Vicar, Rev. Nigel Hardcastle, for access to Parish records.