Note 198 — Chapter XVII · PRIVATE LIFE.

A few weeks after Mr. Brunel’s death, a meeting of his friends was held, when it was determined to raise some memorial to him. A statue was made by the late Baron Marochetti, and a site for it promised by the First Commissioner of Works; but it has not yet been erected.

Mr. Brunel’s family, by the permission of the Dean of Westminster, have placed a memorial window in the north aisle of the nave of Westminster Abbey.

Along the bottom of the window (which consists of two lights, each 23 feet 6 inches high and 4 feet wide, surmounted by a quatrefoil opening, 6 feet 6 inches across) is the Inscription, ‘IN MEMORY OF ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL, CIVIL ENGINEER. BORN APRIL 9, 1806. DEPARTED THIS LIFE, SEPTEMBER 15, 1859.’ Over this are four allegorical figures (two in each light): Fortitude, Justice, Faith, and Charity. The upper part of the window consists of six panels, divided by a pattern work of lilies and pomegranates. The panels contain subjects from the history of the Temple. The three subjects in the western light represent scenes from the Old Testament—viz. the Dedication of the Temple by Solomon, the Finding of the Book of the Law by Hilkiah, and the Laying the Foundations of the Second Temple. The subjects in the eastern light are from the New Testament—viz. Simeon Blessing the Infant Saviour, Christ Disputing with the Doctors, and The Disciples pointing out to Christ the Buildings of the Temple. In the heads of each light are angels kneeling, and in the quatrefoil is a representation of Our Lord in Glory, surrounded by angels.

The work was placed in the hands of Mr. R. Norman Shaw, architect, who prepared the general design, arranged the scale of the various figures, and designed the ornamental pattern work. The figure subjects were drawn by Mr. Henry Holiday, and the whole design was executed in glass by Messrs. Heaton, Butler, & Bayne.