The Charleston Banner. Twenty-five years in the making, in memory of a lost brother.
This striking banner was embroidered by Miss Irene Charleston in memory of her brother, Lieutenant Frederick Charleston, who died in 1915 from injuries sustained at Ypres. It was offered to Guildford Cathedral in 1961 because it prominently features the descending dove of the Holy Spirit, to whom the Cathedral is dedicated. The design also includes rays of light and two angels in praise.
Irene Charleston was a professional embroideress who specialised in ecclesiastical work for the firm of William Morris. She studied lettering with Mr McDonald Gill and design with Mr E. W. Tristram, and she was a member of the Embroiderers’ Guild from 1921. She taught embroidery and design for many years.
Irene designed the banner in her spare time, but she had made only limited progress when she had to set it aside to care for her ageing parents. Work stopped again with the outbreak of the Second World War. She returned to the banner after the war, and by 1960 it was almost complete, some 25 years after she had begun.
Her rector, the Reverend Canon Brady-Johnson of St Margaret’s Church, Lee, suggested she write to Guildford Cathedral and offer the banner in her brother’s memory, since its dedication to the Holy Spirit echoed the Cathedral’s own. In May 1960, Lady Maufe, wife of the Cathedral’s architect, Sir Edward Maufe, approved it for display. Sir Edward had invited her to advise on the designs and materials for all the Cathedral’s textiles. The banner was installed before the Cathedral’s consecration in May 1961.
The Charleston Banner shows that cathedral textiles can hold deeply personal stories. It began as one woman’s private act of remembrance, was shaped by war, family duty and a quarter of a century of patient work, and became part of a new cathedral at the moment of its consecration. It is a reminder that behind many of the textiles in our cathedrals is a single maker, and a loss that was carried in thread.
See all of wonderful Threads of Faith entries here.
