Jesus College Chapel, Oxford, Oxfordshire

George Caleb Hedgeland (1825-98) was the son of John Pike Hedgeland, the architect and later stained glass artist, who work on the restoration of the medieval windows at St Neot, Cornwall. Hedgeland was admitted to the Royal Academy as an artist in 1845 and probably learnt the art of stained glass from his father. He achieved considerable success in the 1850s, exhibiting at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and rising to prominence as the designer of the west window at Norwich Cathedral (1853).

Unfortunately ill-health curtailed his career in England and he emigrated to Australia in 1859. There is no evidence that he work again in stained glass. His short career and the change of taste in stained glass that took place in the latter part of the century, resulting in Hedgeland fading from view, but his talents and bold pictorial style deserve a wider recognition.

Source: George Hedgeland: one life – in two parts by Angela Phippen posted on glaas inc research

Note: As a result of Angela Phippen’s investigation into the life of George Hedgeland, his descendants were encouraged to place his surviving works on paper into repositories where they could be conserved and potentially used by other researchers, including the Stained Glass Museum at Ely.