Edmund Samuel Parkes Print Page

The stained glass window was erected by Bank of Australasia colleagues in memory of Edmund Samuel Parkes who died from injuries received in the Windsor train accident of 1887.  A carved stone reredros was also erected in the church by personal friends.  He was very active in the church at Balaclava.

Edmund Parkes was primarily employed in the office of a leading firm of shipbrokers in London, and afterwards entered the service of the London and Westminster Bank. He subsequently became joint manager of the Alliance Bank in London, but resigned in 1867 to enter the service of the Bank of Australasia in Melbourne, sailing for Australia in August 1867. He was appointed Inspector in Nov. 1867, General Inspector in Oct. 1871, and succeeded Mr. D. C. Macarthur in 1876 as Superintendent, a position which he held down to the time of his death. On May 11th, 1887, Mr. Parkes was injured in a railway accident on the line between Prahran and Windsor, near Melbourne, and died the same day, after having had both his legs amputated.

On the evening of Wednesday the 11^th May 1887, the Brighton express train crashed into the rear of a passenger train between the Prahran and Windsor railway stations in Melbourne. Over 150 people were injured and six  people were killed.

The stained glass window erected in Holy Trinity Church, Balaclava, by the officers of the Bank of Australasia to the memory of Mr. E. S. Parkes has just been completed. It represents full length figures of the four evangelists, with their traditional symbols, and has been well executed by Messrs. Gibbs and Howard, of London. Below the window is a handsome brass plate with a suitable inscription. In addition to this memorial, a carved stone reredos has been erected in the chancel by a few personal friends of the late Mr. Parkes. The heads of the various branches of the Post and Telegraph department have also placed a stained window by the same firm, and representing the crucifixion, in the south transept of the church, in memory of the late Mr S W. M'Cowan, formerly deputy Postmaster-General. Both the deceased gentlemen were for many years active members of the Balaclava Church vestry.
Telegraph, St Kilda, Prahran and South Yarra Guardian (Vic.),
17 March 1888.

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