Blue Mountains History Journal Issue 2

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Blue Mountains History Journal 2; 2011 But, in 1913, Miss Phillips, herself, made major donations to St. Luke’s church of a baptismal font (Figure 12D), and a stained glass window with a crown (Figure 13C; also see Woolston 1999, p.37) which is behind, and on the southern side of, the communion table. A Miss Board is reputed to have donated the matching stained glass window with a cross which is inscribed “Presented by a visitor to Medlow” (Figure 13A); it is behind and on the northern side of the communion table. It may be significant that the stained glass west window of St. Aidan’s, Blackheath, was given by Mrs. Board (Hodgkinson 1984 p.28). (photos – Mrs. Elsa Courts) Figure 13. Windows and Donors A North window B East window C South window Miss Board Miss Strafford Miss H.P. Phillips Also in 1913, Miss Strafford, a Medlow parishioner, gave the stained glass window that is behind the communion table on the eastern side of the church (Figure 13B); the image is a copy of the painting of Christ knocking at the door: “... , representing Holman Hunt’s famous picture, ‘The Light of the World’ and faithfully rendered by Messrs. J. Ashuin (sic) and Son, of Sydney, ...” (Anonymous 1913i). [The manufacturer of the central window was actually John Ashwin & Co., Stained Glass Works, 31 Dixon Street, Sydney (Sands 1913, pp.45, 894).] It was donated by Miss Strafford in memory of her brother-in-law,Rev. Richard James Read, and her sister, Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Read, who joined the congregation of St. Luke’s in 1903 when they retired to Medlow. Two of these donors were not exactly identified but were probably: 1. Miss Lucy Board (? 1929) of 36 Gordon St, Paddington (Sands 1913, p.937) who had a connection with the area because her brother was Edgar Board, an Alderman of Blackheath Municipal Council (December 1925 – May 1937) and Mayor (April 1926 – December 1929), an affluent Draper owning many properties in Blackheath. and 2. Miss Wilhelmina H.M.A.S. Strafford (1849-1918) of Allowah, 46 Redan Street, Mosman (Sands 1913, pp.546 & 1572) whose sister (1843-1907) had retired to Medlow. From at least 1914, Wilhelmina owned Lots 27/28 and part Lot 29 of DP 2873 on which was the house Kanimbla in Belgravia Street, 24 Back to Contents
Blue Mountains History Journal 2; 2011 Medlow Bath (Blue Mountains Shire Council Rate Books 1914 to Blue Mountains Shire Council Rate Books 1919). 1926 Captain Cornwallis Wade-Browne, was an Army officer formerly of the 11th and 48th Foot Regiments (1855-1866), whose step-grandfather Sir John Eardley-Wilmot had been Governor of Van Diemen’s Land (1843-46). Wade-Browne owned several plots of land at Medlow, one of which was a farm of 50 acres named Oriel (Pors.328-331, Blue Mountains Shire Council Rate Books 1918) that lay beyond the eastern end of St. Albans Road and is now in the Sydney Water Catchment Area. He was a regular worshipper, as was his first wife Eudora Mary Anne who predeceased him in 1893; both are buried in Blackheath Cemetery, Church of England, Row 1, No.11 (Blue Mountains Family History Society 1989, p.95). His son’s benefaction is recorded: “... the Rev H.A.C. Rowell (sic) dedicated a magnificent oil painting and tablet to the memory of the late Mr. Cornwallis Wade-Brown, a devout churchman and a staunch supporter of St. Luke’s. Mr. John Wade-Brown, only son of the deceased gentleman, unveiled the painting, which he purchased in Italy. The subject was “The Shell” portraying Our Lord and St. John the Baptist, after the famous painting by Murillo. The brass tablet was engraved “To the Glory of God and in memory of Cornwallis Wade-Brown, who worshipped in this church from 1902-1923.” ... St. Luke’s is perhaps the prettiest of the small churches in the Blue Mountains.” (Anonymous 1926). The latter date is inaccurately reported as Cornwallis Wade-Browne died on 8 July 1922 and that is the year engraved on the plaque (Figure 14)! (photo Peter Rickwood 2011) Figure 14. Cornwallis Wade-Browne memorial plaques, now in St Aidan’s Church, Blackheath. post 1934 There were two brass vases inscribed ‘H.A.C.R.’ (Figure 15A), these being the initials of the Rev. Harold Arthur Campbell Rowsell (18?? - 1941), Rector at St. Aidan’s 1922-1934 (Hodgkinson 1984, p.20; Finney 2005; NSW BDM 1941). Whether he donated the vases, or whether another donated them in his memory, is not known but as they are engraved with his term of office they have to postdate 1934. 25 Back to Contents
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Blue Mountains History Journal Issue 2

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