Currently on display at St Paul’s Cathedral is a beautifully embroidered altar frontal that was made in 1918-19 by wounded and disabled servicemen as part of their rehabilitation.
Painstakingly restored for the First World War centenary, the frontal is the subject of a new book entitled ‘From the Hands of Heroes’. Besides telling the story of the embroidery, the book reproduces the delicately hand painted pages of a Memorial Book created at the time by the men themselves. It also highlights the contribution made by soldiers based at Chailey Hospital, which became famous during the war for pioneering an innovative handicrafts-based therapy called ‘educative convalescence’.
The connection with Chailey was revealed during research into one of the names on the Memorial Book pages, Private Augustus Cecil Wren of the 6th Battalion, the Bedfordshire Regiment, whose granddaughter was contacted with the help of a local history group.
-
- St Paul’s Cathedral Altar Frontal – picture courtesy of St Paul’s Cathedral
-
- St Paul’s Cathedral Altar Frontal – picture courtesy of St Paul’s Cathedral
-
- St Paul’s Cathedral Altar Frontal – picture courtesy of St Paul’s Cathedral
-
- Wounded soldiers working on the Altar Frontal for St Paul’s Cathedral
The Chailey link was subsequently confirmed by the East Sussex WW1 Project, which has a photographic album from the time showing an embroidery class with a caption referring to the St Paul’s altar frontal. The photograph is one of several included in the book to be drawn from the archive collection held at The Keep in Brighton.
‘From the Hands of Heroes’ is published by Memory Lane Media.
For information about the St Paul’s altar frontal project, visit www.stpauls.co.uk/history-collections/history/ww1
This story was submitted by Andrew Humphries
