Mrs Helen Ferguson
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The window is located in
the East facing wall of
the North transept and was installed during the construction
of the transept in 1890 by
Meyer and Co.
Munich and London.
This window depicts Mary and Joseph with the infant Jesus fleeing to Egypt to avoid the Herodian persecution of children.
See below to see more detail of the main features.
The caption reads:
“He giveth His beloved sleep”
This part of Psalm 127:2
"It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep."
The dedication reads:
In memory of Helen wife of Robert Duncan Ferguson
Erected by her only sister Isabella Blackburn
The artwork in this window is particularly fine and in his book “Through a Glass Brightly”
Dr McGinty raises the possibility that this window was based on a design by Jemima Blackburn. There is circumstantial evidence for this based on the following elements:-
-
Jemima Blackburn was the sister-in-law of Helen Ferguson;
-
She was a distinguished artist and the donkey in particular is expertly represented in here;
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She is known to have produced designs for stained glass windows elsewhere, and
-
Joseph shows some similarity to her husband Hugh Blackburn.
For detail on Jemima Blackburn and the possibility of her designing this window click below.