Edward Charles ClosePrint Page

The East window was installed in memory of Edward Charles Close who died on May 7th, 1866. Bishop Tyrrell designed the window and glass was made in England by a team of glaziers paid for by inhabitants of the district in memory of the builder of St James Church.

Edward Charles Close (Senior) (1790 – 1866) was a British soldier, engineer, New South Wales colonial magistrate, member of the New South Wales Legislative Council and early European settler in Morpeth.

Lieutenant Edward Close promised God that if he survived the Spanish Peninsular War he would build a church as an act of thanksgiving. Close survived, and the foundation stone of St James church was laid on January 2, 1837. The construction of sandstone walls, using locally quarried stone lined with handmade bricks, was carried out over a three year period. The church was completed in 1840 and consecrated on December 31, with St. James as its' Patron, by William Broughton, the first Bishop of Australia.

THE CLOSE MEMORIAL WINDOW- By reference to an advertisement elsewhere, it will be seen that the ceremony of unveiling the stained glass window erected in St James Church, Morpeth as a memorial to the late E C Close, will take place on Sunday next, and not on Thursday (today), on which occasion the sermon will be preached by the Rev. Robert Chapman, incumbent of St. Mary` s, West Maitland.
Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW),
25 July 1872.

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