Created in 1889 by Melbourne stained glass manufacturer Ferguson and Urie, the Mrs. James Hickford memorial stained glass window may be found in the eastern wall of the chancel of Christ Church Brunswick. The window was described in The Argus newspaper of Tuesday 1st of October 1889 as being "of a diaper pattern enriched with appropriate floral designs, and form a welcome addition to the many excellent stained glass windows which now adorn the church." The window has the quite "So He giveth His beloved sleep." The window features beautiful fleur de lys and Tudor roses amid the latticing, and a panel of beautiful white Madonna lilies make up the panel between the biblical quote and the dedication.
Little is known of Mrs. James Hickford, other than she died several years prior to the installation of the window in Christ Church, Brunswick. Her husband however is quite a different matter. When James Hickford died in 1915, the Brunswick and Coburg Leader featured an article about him as one of the oldest residents of Brunswick. An excerpt from the article published on Friday 10th of September, 1915 reads: "The Late James Hickford. By the death of Mr James Hickford, of Barkly street, Brunswick loses one of its earliest residents. He came to Brunswick in 1852, immediately after his arrival in Victoria. Mr Hickford was born in London in 1825, just when George Stephenson was experimenting with the first steam engine, "The Rocket." which was to revolutionise the world. The world since 1825 has seen great changes. The passing of the Reform Bill in 1832, the coronation of Queen Victoria, the abolition of the Corn Laws, and the discovery of gold in California and Australia, bring history down to 1852, when there was a rush of vigorous active young men from all parts of Great Britain to Victoria, laying the foundations of that spirit of enterprise and endeavour which has always been characteristic of Victorians. The spice of uncertainty and reasonable speculation and the taking of risks are generally conducive to great enterprises being undertaken. Mr Hickford's family come from good old English stock. His father attended Christ's Hospital, more familiarly known as the Blue Coats' School and was a contemporary of Coleridge and Charles Lamb. On his arrival, Mr James Hickford. like all new arrivals, went to the diggings, but had no luck there and returned to Brunswick. His artistic taste was evidenced in his decorative skill. shown in many of the chancels of the churches in the metropolitan area. He was for many years the master of the School of Design. ln the early Brunswick days penny readings were much in vogue. and Mr Hickford was a well known figure in Brunswick and Coburg at these social functions, which were always well attended. Mr Hickford was also the oldest Past Grand of the Brunswick Lodge of the Manchester Unity Order of Oddfellows, and was for many years a prominent member of this extensive and useful friendly society. He also took a keen interest in Freemasonry, and was one of the founders of the Davies Lodge, of which he was secretary until the day of his death, when he was in his 91st year. he attended the rank of Past Grand Senior Warden, and was extremely popular amongst the members of the Craft, but especially in his own lodge where he was familiarly known as "Dad". He had gained many friends, who held him in high esteem, and despite his great age, he will be much missed."
Christ Church, built almost on the corner of Glenlyon Road and Brunswick Street in Brunswick, is a picturesque slice of Italy in inner city Melbourne. With its elegant proportions, warm yellow stuccoed facade and stylish Romanesque campanile, the church would not look out of place sitting atop a rise in Tuscany, or being the centre of an old walled town. This idea is further enhanced when the single bell rings from the campanile, calling worshipers to prayer.
Christ Church has been constructed in a cruciform plan with a detached campanile. Although not originally intended as such, at its completion, the church became an excellent example of "Villa Rustica" architecture in Australia. Like other churches around the inner city during the boom and bust eras of the mid Nineteenth Century as Melbourne became an established city, the building was built in stages between 1857 and 1875 as money became available to extend and better what was already in existence. Christ Church was dedicated in 1857 when the nave, designed by architects Purchas and Swyer, was completed. The transepts, chancel and vestry were completed between 1863 and 1864 to the designs created by the architects' firm Smith and Watts. The Romanesque style campanile was also designed by Smith and Watts and it completed between 1870 and 1871. A third architect, Frederick Wyatt, was employed to design the apse which was completed in 1875.
Built in Italianate style with overture characteristics of classical Italian country house designs, Christ Church is one of the few examples of what has been coined "Villa Rustica" architecture in Victoria.
Slipping through the front door at the bottom of the campanile, the rich smell of incense from mass envelops visitors. As soon as the double doors which lead into the church proper close behind you, the church provides a quiet refuge from the busy intersection of Glenlyon Road and Brunswick Street outside, and it is quite easy to forget that cars and trams pass by just a few metres away. Walking up the aisle of the nave of Christ Church, light pours over the original wooden pews with their hand embroidered cushions through sets of luminescent stained glass windows by Melbourne manufacturers, Ferguson and Urie, Mathieson and Gibson and Brooks Robinson and Company. A set of fourteen windows from the mid-to-late Nineteenth Century by Ferguson and Urie depicting different saints are especially beautiful, filled with painted glass panes which are as vivid now as when they were created more than one hundred years ago. The floors are still the original dark, richly polished boards that generations of worshipers have walked over since they were first laid. The east transept houses the Lady Chapel, whilst the west transept is consumed by the magnificent 1972 Roger H. Pogson organ built of cedar with tin piping. This replaced the original 1889 Alfred Fuller organ. Beautifully executed carved rood figures watch over the chancel from high, perhaps admiring the marble altar.
Albert Purchas, born in 1825 in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales, was a prominent Nineteenth Century architect who achieved great success for himself in Melbourne. Born to parents Robert Whittlesey Purchas and Marianne Guyon, he migrated to Australia in 1851 to establish himself in the then quickly expanding city of Melbourne, where he set up a small architect's firm in Little Collins Street. He also offered surveying services. His first major building was constructing the mansion "Berkeley Hall" in St Kilda on Princes Street in 1854. The house still exists today. Two years after migrating, Albert designed the layout of the Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton. It was the first "garden cemetery" in Victoria, and his curvilinear design is still in existence, unaltered, today. In 1854, Albert married Eliza Anne Sawyer (1825 - 1869) in St Kilda. The couple had ten children over their marriage, including a son, Robert, who followed in his father's footsteps as an architect. Albert's brother-in-law, Charles Sawyer joined him in the partnership of Purchas and Sawyer, which existed from 1856 until 1862 in Queens Street. The firm produced more than 140 houses, churches, offices and cemetery buildings including: the nave and transepts of Christ Church St Kilda between 1854 and 1857, "Glenara Homestead"in Bulla in 1857, the Melbourne Savings Bank on the corner of Flinders Lane and Market Street (now demolished) between 1857 and 1858, the Geelong branch of the Bank of Australasia in Malop Street between 1859 and 1860, and Beck's Imperial Hotel in Castlemaine in 1861. When the firm broke up, Albert returned to Little Collins Street, and the best known building he designed during this period was St. George's Presbyterian Church in East St Kilda between 1877 and 1880. The church's tall polychomatic brick bell tower is still a local landmark, even in the times of high rise architecture and development, and St, George's itself is said to be one of his most striking church designs. Socially, Albert was vice president of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects for many years, before becoming president in 1887. He was also an inventor and philanthropist. Albert died in 1909 at his home in Kew, a wealthy widower and much loved father.
The stained glass firm of Ferguson and Urie was established by Scots James Ferguson (1818 – 1894), James Urie (1828 – 1890) and John Lamb Lyon (1836 – 1916). They were the first known makers of stained glass in Australia. Until the early 1860s, window glass in Melbourne had been clear or plain coloured, and nearly all was imported, but new churches and elaborate buildings created a demand for pictorial windows. The three Scotsmen set up Ferguson and Urie in 1862 and the business thrived until 1899, when it ceased operation, with only John Lamb Lyon left alive. Ferguson and Urie was the most successful Nineteenth Century Australian stained glass window making company. Among their earliest works were a Shakespeare window for the Haymarket Theatre in Bourke Street, a memorial window to Prince Albert in Holy Trinity, Kew, and a set of Apostles for the West Melbourne Presbyterian Church. Their palatial Gothic Revival office building stood at 283 Collins Street from 1875. Ironically, their last major commission, a window depicting “labour”, was installed in the old Melbourne Stock Exchange in Collins Street in 1893 on the eve of the bank crash. Their windows can be found throughout the older suburbs of Melbourne and across provincial Victoria.