Hugh Ray Easton

Hugh Ray Easton (26 November 1906 – 15 August 1965) was a British stained-glass artist.^[1] His workshop was in Cambridge.^[2]

Rose window, All Saints' Church, Hockerill

Battle of Britain Memorial Window in Westminster Abbey

Biography

Hugh Easton was born in London, son of Frank (a doctor) and Alice (née Howland). He studied in France and worked for the firm of Blacking in Surrey before setting up a studio in Cambridge. During the Second World War he served at the Ministry of Information with the rank of commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR). Most of his windows were made in Harpenden at the studio of Robert Hendra and Geoffrey Harper. He and his associates worked on many windows for churches and other institutions after the war. He was the designer of a memorial window in the Battle of Britain Chapel in Westminster Abbey.^[3][4]

Many of his windows contain his 'weathervane' signature, e.g. East window, South Aisle, St Mary the Virgin church, Burwell, Cambridgeshire.^[1]

Easton died on 15 August 1965 at the King Edward VII Hospital for Officers, London.^[1] A memorial service was held in the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey on 24 September 1965.

Notable works

Royal Tank Regiment memorial window at St Peter upon Cornhill, London

• Croome Window, Church of St. John the Baptist, Cirencester
• Durham Cathedral, County Durham
• All Saints' Church, Hockerill, Bishop's Stortford
• St Andrew's Church, Ham, London
• St Elphin's Church, Warrington
• Holy Trinity Church, Coventry
• Church of St Paul's in King Cross, West Yorkshire
• The Barn Church, Kew, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
• St Peter upon Cornhill, City of London
• St Edward the Confessor Church in Sutton Place, Guildford
• St Mary The Virgin, Burwell, Cambridgeshire
• Westcliff High School for Girls, Essex
• Rolls-Royce Battle of Britain Memorial Window, Derby^[5]
• Dutch Church, Austin Friars, London
• St John the Divine's Church, Morecambe, a large west window featuring the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

See also

• Gerald Coles

References

1. Swash, Caroline. "Easton, Hugh Ray (1906–1965)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32960. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. "Hugh Easton. (1906-1965) : Stained Glass in Wales". stainedglass.llgc.org.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
3. pixeltocode.uk, PixelToCode. "Hugh Easton". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
4. "The Royal Air Force Chapel". Official website. Archived from the original on 22 September 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
5. "Rolls-Royce Battle of Britain window is rededicated". BBC News. 31 October 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2021.

External links

Media related to Hugh Easton at Wikimedia Commons