Church of Christ the King, Bloomsbury, London WC1
Address
Church of Christ the King, Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7LERecommended by
Highlight
Three two-light windows in the north transept and north chancel aisleArtist, maker and date
Designed by Lilian Pocock and made at Lowndes & Drury from 1931Reason for highlighting
A very fine set of windows featuring 6 Prophets, by this very talented, but under-represented artist.
Artist/maker notes
Lilian Josephine Pocock (1883–1974) was a stained glass artist as well as a theatrical costume designer, book illustrator and watercolourist. She was the daughter of the painter Lexden Lewis Pocock. Her training included lessons from 1906 at the Central School of Arts & Crafts. There she was taught by Karl Parsons (1884-1934), who had himself been taught at the school by Christopher Whall (1849-1924). Pocock left in 1910 to become Parsons’ assistant.
Sources:
Lilian Josephine Pocock on Wikipedia
The Artists of the Glass House by Alan Brooks and Peter Cormack, The Journal of Stained Glass, Vol. XLI, 2017
Lowndes & Drury was formed in 1897, by the artist Mary Lowndes (1857-1929) and the craftsman Alfred John Drury (1868-1940), with the aim of providing facilities for independent artists to design and make stained glass windows. They moved from cramped conditions in Chelsea to newly purpose-built premises, The Glass House, Fulham in 1906. The firm continued after the founders’ deaths, under Alfred Drury’s son, Victor, until he retired in the early 1970s. However, The Glass House premises continued in use under Carl Edwards and subsequently his daughter, Caroline Benyon, until she moved her studio to Hampton in 1992.
Source: The Glass House Special Issue, The Journal of Stained Glass, Vol. XLI, 2017
Other comments
Lilian Pocock’s final window for the church, based around the figure of Christ the King, was the east window in the English Chapel (1948). It is complimented by a fine set of windows on the north and south sides by A E Buss for Goddard & Gibbs (1954). Buss successfully emulates Pocock’s style to make a very satisfying whole for this lovely little chapel.
The south transept of the main church has a fine window by A K Nicholson (1906) and it was the success of this window, that led to the establishment of the A K Nicholson Studios.
In addition to services, the main church is open for an organ recital at lunchtime on the first Friday of the month and for lunchtime talks and evening mid-week groups on Wednesdays. The English Chapel is usually open for private prayer during the week from 8.30am to 4pm.