Commodore James Graham GoodenoughPrint Page

The stained glass window commemorates James Graham Goodenough (1830 - 1875). The window was erected by public subscription and the subject of the window "Adoration of the Lamb " was chosen by his widow. 

James Graham Goodenough CB CMG (3 December 1830 – 20 August 1875) was an officer in the Royal Navy who went to become Commander-in-Chief, Australia Station from 1873 and died aboard HMS Pearl off the coast of Australia from wounds inflicted from poisoned arrows in an attack by natives of the Santa Cruz Islands.

A memorial site to him exists at the Carlisle Bay Primary School, on Santa Cruz Island in the Solomon Islands.

THE LATE COMMODORE GOODENOUGH. To the Editor. 
Sir — Will you allow me space in your columns to make known a few facts respecting the memorial to the late Commodore Goodenough, which has been placed in the Church of St. Thomas, North Shore, near to the cemetery in which his remains lie buried. It must be now nearly two years ago since it was decided to erect such a memorial by public subscription, in the form of a stained-glass window looking towards his grave. The work was not to exceed £250, and Sir Hercules Robinson, who was then Governor of the colony, headed the subscription list with a donation of £20, on behalf of Lady Robinson and himself. When £150 had been gathered, and there appeared every prospect that the remaining £100 would be soon subscribed, the window was ordered from Messrs. Clayton and Bell, the well-known English artists in glass. But while it was in hand the prime mover in its erection, the Rev. G. C. Bode, late incumbent of the parish, was suddenly called away by death ; and with him was lost all clue to whatever further gifts had been promised to complete the required sum. Any special effort to collect it was also left in abeyance. Shortly after my appointment to the charge of this parish I was informed that the window was on its way from home, and two months ago it arrived. But the sum of £100 remained still unpaid upon it. On hearing this Sir Hercules Robinson at once forwarded another £10 towards meeting the deficit, and Captain Purvis, R.N., of H.M.S. Danae, sent a like amount as an offering from himself and his ship's company. Sir Hercules also assures me that, "so wealthy and generous a community as that of Sydney will not prove unwilling, if appealed to, to contribute the small sum of £80 towards the memorial erected near the grave of such a distinguished British officer, who perished whilst on duty upon the Australian Station, and whose remains are buried in their midst." From my short acquaintance with the colony, I believe His Excellency is right, and that the facts, as stated above, need only who respected and admired, and still love, the memory of the late Commodore. At all events, I know no better way of testing the truth of Sir Hercules words than by making such appeal through the columns of the public Press. Through the same medium all subscriptions will be acknowledged. I will only add that the design for the window was chosen in England by the widow of the late Commodore— that the subscription states that it was "erected by his friends in Australia," and that all who wish can at anytime see it in the north transcept of this beautiful church.—
Believe me, yours faithfully,
STEPHEN H. CHILDE. St. Thomas's Parsonage, 
North Shore, Sept. 24.
Evening News (Sydney), 27 September 1880.

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