Uniform worn in this stained glass window

[Perth Digger]

Attached is a stained glass window dedicated to Private Macdonald Dixon, attached to the 7th Buffs from the Royal East Kent Yeomanry when killed in France on 3 May 1917. The window is probably based on The Great Sacrifice painting, but the uniform in Dixon's window looks to me more like a pre-1914 (Yeomanry?) uniform (although I know nothing of the subject of uniforms).  Any ideas about the uniform gratefully received.

Thanks

 

Mike

[FROGSMILE]

The uniform and headdress is representative of the 1902 ‘drab’ (brownish khaki) service dress uniform, but some of the glass panes appear to have changed shade to a curious reddish colour.  The equipment crossing the chest is a P1903 leather bandolier on one side and a light cotton web ‘haversack’ strap on the other side.  It is the standard uniform representative of mounted duty soldiers early in the great war.

Edited 12 August , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[Perth Digger]

Thanks, Frogsmile. That would fit in with Dixon's mounted service. Colours are probably artistic licence.

Mike

[FROGSMILE]

1 hour ago, Perth Digger said:

Thanks, Frogsmile. That would fit in with Dixon's mounted service. Colours are probably artistic licence.

Mike

Yes a bit of art in there no doubt Mike.  Perhaps there was also some limited access to the colour meant to render the drab shade, or perhaps it’s just faded and been affected by sunlight over the years since it was erected.

Edited 12 August , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[Perth Digger]

Allowing light in while at the same time creating a didactic, colourful and sparkling space is what stained glass windows are all about. Too much drab uniform doesn't help with the light.

[FROGSMILE]

5 minutes ago, Perth Digger said:

Allowing light in while at the same time creating a didactic, colourful and sparkling space is what stained glass windows are all about. Too much drab uniform doesn't help with the light.

Yes, perhaps it was intended to be bi-coloured uniform, but I don’t think that the reddish shade used on one arm and one leg was a good choice.

[Perth Digger]

I agree; not one of the best windows I've seen. It's part of what is now a set of windows commemorating various Dixons.

[FROGSMILE]

30 minutes ago, Perth Digger said:

I agree; not one of the best windows I've seen. It's part of what is now a set of windows commemorating various Dixons.

It seems really odd given that all the other colours (cap, trunk of jacket and bandolier, etc.) work quite well.  It’s just one leg and arm that appear so incongruous.  I wonder if those panes suffered a mishap such as WW2 bomb damage, or subsequent vandalism.

[Perth Digger]

Probably needs someone with more artistic knowledge than me to suggest an answer. There's no evidence of bomb damage or repair that I know of.

[FROGSMILE]

2 minutes ago, Perth Digger said:

Probably needs someone with more artistic knowledge than me to suggest an answer. There's no evidence of bomb damage or repair that I know of.

Have you been able to inquire with the church/chapel’s verger Mike?

Edited 12 August , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[Perth Digger]

No, I haven't contacted the church, although a few years ago my nephew went there and took pictures for me. I often find that church authorities usually don't have a clue about the history of their building.

Mike

[Chasemuseum]

On 14/08/2022 at 13:49, Perth Digger said:

church authorities usually don't have a clue about the history of their building.

Always worth a shot. Some know just about everything and will bore you to tears with the detail, while others know nothing and care even less.

If they have records of who manufactured the stained glass window, then if the maker still exists they may have detailed archive records of the original order. A friend's husband used to repair church stained glass and he had had considerable success in sourcing information from the manufacturer's. Unfortunately they have both passed, otherwise he would have been a useful link.

[TEW]

On 12/08/2022 at 16:44, Perth Digger said:

Probably needs someone with more artistic knowledge than me to suggest an answer. There's no evidence of bomb damage or repair that I know of.

Artistic knowledge doesn't apply to me!

Having found which church it is I have managed to deduce that the Victorian East window was damaged by a land mine in WWII.

No idea which elevation has the M Dixon memorial but damage is therefore possible.

There is another window pair to Maude Dixon which I think must be by the same artist, she died 1932.

No similar colour disparity to my eye.

Dates for both Dixon memorials? Might they both date to post 1932?

100 + years ago the church was renowned for its stained glass windows.

Apart from the WWII damage on the east side some of the other windows are either plain glass or look odd. Below are fragments of 15thC glass on north side.

These may all be WWII bomb damage but if so that means the M Dixon memorial window replaced one of the renowned (possibly 15thC) windows.

TEW

[FROGSMILE]

I did/do think that the colour difference is so stark and incongruous that bomb damage or vandalism (which the Luftwaffe was good at) was a probable cause. 

[Chasemuseum]

Frankly, its a poor restoration. If done well it would have been imperceptible. 

[Perth Digger]

Attached is the draft drawing of the window from Canterbury's Faculty records. The date is 1920 and there is also a draft for a 2-light window on the north side of the nave dedicated to two women of the Dixon family, one who died in 1916 and one in January 1920. Dixon's window is copied from another that had an inscription at the bottom that Dixon's father wanted left out. This doesn't preclude the window having been damaged and restored, although I have gone through the British Newspaper Archive for the 1940s without finding any report. But again, the local newspapers tended not to make much of the effects of bombing in small communities. In 1944, for example, a flying bomb was shot down and it exploded on a village near Folkestone. The Baptist church was destroyed and people killed, but the newspapers had only a couple of small paragraphs.

TEW, do you have a source for the damage to the east side, please? I'm sorry not to have mentioned the village at the beginning: St Mary's Teynham, Kent.

Thanks to all.

Mike

 

Teynham Faculty.pdf

[TEW]

I found a few sources for the WWII damage.

https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMZ5JT_Stained_Glass_Windows_St_Mary_Teynham_Kent

http://www.teynham.org/world_war_2.html

I had a look through BNA searching for DIXON TEYNHAM and either GLASS or WINDOW.

There are results for those terms which relate to the various family windows. Bridges Dixon died in 1937 and had a window memorial unveiled 1939. I don't have a paid up subscription so can't see the original.

Not sure if the links will work.

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004230/19390610/039/0003

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001347/19390610/015/0001

The above led me to Charles Igglesden 1928:

http://www.lynsted-society.co.uk/resources_documents_historic_sources_a_saunter_through_kent_.html#teynham

He describes the Dixon windows but seems to run to about six of them (excluding the 1939 one).

First link seems to have all the windows of Teynham circa 2018. Can't read the inscriptions but I think all the Dixon ones are there. The 1939 window is a three light work. Possibly by Hemmings again.

Noted the family trade & probate via other Google searches, certainly had the money to spend on such things.

TEW

[Perth Digger]

Hi Tew

Apologies for the late reply and thanks for the links, all bar the second one, for which the registration has apparently expired, I could download. No power here while they replaced electricity poles.

Igglesden has other Kent articles too.

Mike