Image of the Month

Friday 1 September 2023

Doodles and accounts

These amusing doodles were made in a set of audited accounts dating from 1929-1933 by Canon Alexander Nairne.

The grand monument shown in this print, which was made in 1810, is one of the larger and more elaborate memorials in St George’s Chapel, and yet the identity of its subject became something of a mystery in more recent times.

Canals and coal

The Dean and Canons’ interest in areas outside Windsor was prompted by their property holdings, including Ansty in Warwickshire. As well as material directly related to their property, the archives also hold plans of proposed new railways and canal lines ...

Keep it under your helmet

These striking carved heads are part of the original, fifteenth-century woodwork that decorates the quire of St George’s. For centuries they have looked down on visitors from above the Garter Knights’ stalls, where they act as helmet stands. These photographs were taken in the 1920s when restoration work was being carried out in the quire.

50 years of the Guild of Stewards

May 2023 is the 50th anniversary of the Guild of Stewards. The Voluntary Stewards, intended to give guidance to visitors to the Chapel, were launched with 50 people covering Sunday afternoons in 1973. They gradually expanded to cover duties ...

Happy 675th birthday to us!

2023 marks the 675th anniversary of the College of St George. In honour of the occasion, an exhibition of historical artefacts connected with the foundation of the College, the Chapel, the Military Knights of Windsor and the Order of ...

Sugar and spice...and vegetable blood

This enticing chapter title comes from William Salmon’s London Dispensatory. William Salmon (1644-1713) called himself a ‘professor of physick’. His prolific writing output was partly due to his habit of condensing the work of others in his books. As well ...

John Gilbert, Keeper of the Hundred Steps

The character depicted in this watercolour sketch is described as “John Gilbert ‘On duty’ after 40 years’ service. J.G. was latterly employed until his death in keeping clear ‘the Hundred Steps’.” [reference: SGC F.136c] The painting was done by ...

The west steps of St George's Chapel

The grand west steps of St George’s Chapel have become an iconic view within Windsor Castle, particularly in recent years when they have featured prominently on occasions of national importance. It is remarkable then that this famous sight is ...

A sign of the times

In any large building open to the public, there are a lot of signs. St George’s is no exception. There are signs welcoming, directing, informing and warning visitors. There are wooden notices, metal notices and plastic notices. There are blue, ...

A First World War hero

Colonel Keith Furze, Military Knight of Windsor, served in the British Army in the First World War and kept a journal of his experiences.

The Eliots and their friends

Dean Philip Eliot's visitors' book records the many family and official visitors he hosted in the Deanery between 1891 and 1917.

Reading in tongues

This remarkable volume from the Chapter Library is a polyglot edition of the New Testament [reference SGC RBK B.241]. It was published in Nuremberg in 1599 and contains twelve translations of the text printed alongside each other.

A Musical Sketch

This sketch of a man holding a bottle appears in one of the music books of the former Windsor Glee Club [SGC GD/50/23]. Judging by the inscription on the contents page, it may have been owned by one John ...

On His Majesty’s service

Newly on display in the Chapel Archives is a sixteenth-century letter personally signed by King Henry VIII which confers a special privilege to one of the canons of St George’s Chapel. Canon Simon Haynes was a successful clergyman and ...

An Address fit for The Queen

On 17 June 1952, shortly after her accession to the throne on 6 February, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II received Addresses from representatives of organisations including the Dean and Canons of St George’s Chapel and the Military Knights of Windsor, ...

Licence for a male servant

This small slip of paper licenses the Dean and Canons of Windsor to employ one male servant in the year 1873. Richard Cope, then the Chapter Clerk, had paid 15 shillings on their behalf for this privilege – effectively a ...

A beetle's eye view

The 1920s restoration of St George’s Chapel was an extraordinary, decade-long effort undertaken a century ago to stabilise and preserve the building's woodwork and stonework for the future.

Celebrating World Book Day

St George's Chapel library is home to one of the longest novels ever published (four times the length of The Lord of the Rings). Learn more about its history and the great story it tells to celebrate World Book Day 2022.

God bless The Queen

‘God bless the Queen with a full measure of her father’s wisdom, integrity and charm, and God bless the new reign!’ - Eric Hamilton, Dean of Windsor and Domestic Chaplain to George VI and Elizabeth II.

The medieval Vicars' Hall

Now housing St George's Chapel's Archives and Chapter Library and events for St George's House, the Vicars' Hall was built 600 years ago with the intention of keeping idle men out of mischief.

The architect's regret

From 1920-1930, Sir Harold Brakspear oversaw complex restoration works to St George's Chapel. He was dismayed to find that some necessary works would alter the iconic view of the Chapel's south front forever.

World Book Day and a Bible in disguise

On Thursday 5 March we celebrate World Book Day with a display of special Bibles. This beautiful volume was published in 1613, but claims to be a first edition from 1611.

The legacy of King George III

29 January 2020 marks the two hundredth anniversary of the death of King George III. He made Windsor a favourite Royal residence and oversaw extensive restorations in St George's Chapel.

Happy New Year

New Year’s Day 1812 in St George’s Chapel began with the baptism of Henry Batson, son of Edward Woodly [Woodley] Smith and Sarah, his wife. The event is recorded in the earliest surviving register book of baptisms, marriages and burials kept by the Chapel Archives [SGC R.1].

A happy Christmas and a bright new year

This festive scene was drawn by Alfred Young Nutt in 1900 for a Christmas card. Nutt was Chapter Surveyor, with responsibility for the buildings in the Lower Ward of Windsor Castle, for the Dean and Canons of Windsor from 1873 ...

Man augments the earth

John Robinson, Dean of Windsor had an extraordinary career as a diplomat and bishop. While resident in Windsor he remodelled the Deanery incorporating his unusual motto using Scandinavian runes.

The missing title page

One of the curiosities of the St George’s Chapter Library is a volume of Luciferi...Ad Constantium (Paris, 1568). It is missing its original printed title page, but we find in its place a highly accurate hand drawn replica of the missing title page.

Golden Anniversary of the Windsor Festival

2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Windsor Festival. The photograph featured this month was taken at the first concert of the Festival held in St George’s Chapel in 1969.

A grave business

The plans featured this month were produced in 1789 by Henry Emlyn, a local carpenter and aspiring architect. They detail the gravestones which once marked burial sites throughout the nave and quire aisles of St George’s Chapel. Today you would ...

The Merchants Map of Commerce

Cartography of the seventeenth century was both science and art. However, despite increased exploration, mapmakers and their printers often shared similar geographical misconceptions. One of the most famous inaccuracies of the time is the depiction of California as an ...

High Misdemeanours: the Earls of Strafford

In 1640 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl of Strafford, faithful supporter of Charles I, was impeached for ‘high misdemeanours’. His son and heir, William Wentworth, lived a quiet life by comparison. Both were Knights of the Order of the Garter.

Signed and sealed by Henry VIII

By this document, dated 26 July 1521, Henry VIII granted licence for a door or gateway to be made in the North Wall of Windsor Castle, Unusually, the document is authenticated by the King’s signature as well as a seal.

Red herrings on the first of April

On 1 April 1352 the people of Great Yarmouth sealed an agreement to give more than 10,000 red herrings to the Dean and Canons of Windsor. They continued to do this every year for more than five hundred years. The agreement describes it as a freely given gift, but historians have suggested there might be a darker mystery behind it.

Books within books

In honour of the upcoming World Book Day, the featured image this month is of two fragments used in the binding of a book held in St George’s Chapter Library: James Usher, Archbishop of Armagh ‘An answer to a challenge ...

Mary Tudor and the Great Charter of Liberties

This ornate initial ‘P’ contains an illustration of Queen Mary I and her husband, Philip II of Spain. It begins a document confirming the rights of the College of St George, called an inspeximus [SGC X.3.7]. Mary I was ...

An Adventure in the Dominion of Canada

In February of 1927, the gentlemen of St George’s Chapel crossed the ocean and journeyed through the Dominion of Canada. The Council of the Canadian Education Society had invited the St George’s Chapel Choir to tour the country by train ...

The Funeral of Queen Charlotte

On 2 December 1818 a funeral was held in St George’s Chapel for Queen Charlotte, who had died on 17 November. The queen was buried in the new Royal Vault in St George’s, which had been commissioned in 1804 by her husband, King George III. This image of the Royal Vault was completed by Alfred Young Nutt, surveyor at the Chapel, in 1849. It shows the vault as it would have originally appeared.

Remembering the First World War

The Great War, now commonly called the First World War, officially ended on 11 November 1918, when the Armistice was signed at 5 am and came into effect at 11 am. Sir Walter Parratt, Organist since 1882, informed the boys ...

Signs of life in the library

A recent visitor searching for scholarly annotations in St George's Chapel's 1542 edition of Chaucer's works was surprised to find evidence of a rather different kind of use.

George Digby: irresponsible brilliance

An abundance of talent is not always allied with wisdom and sound common sense. This was certainly true of George Digby (1612-77), 2nd Earl of Bristol and Garter Knight, who was once described as one of English history’s most dangerous men.

Design for the West Window

The west window of St George’s is the only window in the Chapel to retain any of its original Tudor glass. However, that was almost not the case, as this eighteenth-century scheme for its re-design shows.

140th anniversary of the death of George, 5th King of Hanover

A grandson of George III and cousin of Queen Victoria, George 5th King of Hanover inherited the family's territories in Germany. He was exiled from his kingdom following a Prussian invasion and after his death his body was brought to St George's Chapel, Windsor, for burial.

No offence!

This stone screen can be found at the entrance to the Urswick chantry chapel. The pious inscription asks for prayers for the soul of Christopher Urswick, who had been Dean of Windsor, and more unusually for the souls of all those whom he had offended.

Worm's cabinet of curiosities

This 'cabinet of curiosities' is the personal museum of Danish physician, antiquary and natural historian Ole Worm. His studies of the objects within it are the subject of a seventeenth-century text in the Chapter Library.

The Royal Maundy at Windsor

In March 2018 the Office of the Royal Maundy will be celebrated at Windsor for the third time in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. The Royal Maundy dates back to 1210 and has been held at Windsor on a number of occasions historically.

The Magna Carta of Chester

This impressive great seal of Edward IV was applied to a document from 1463, re-confirming a grant of privileges originally made by the Earl of Chester in the thirteenth century.

Farewell from Bournemouth

When Philip Frank Eliot was appointed Dean of Windsor in 1891, the parishioners of Holy Trinity, Bournemouth, presented him with a beautifully decorated book to mark their gratitude for his service for twenty-three years as their vicar.

A crib for Christmas

This delightful ceramic Nativity scene, designed in 1980 by Benjamin and Barbara Holgate, is displayed in St George's Chapel every Christmastide.

200th Anniversary of the Death of Princess Charlotte of Wales

6 November 2017 marks the two-hundredth anniversary of the death of Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales. This engraving shows the funeral ceremony held for her in St George's Chapel, Windsor, prior to her burial in the Royal Vault.

Unrolling the past

The account rolls of the Canon Treasurer give glimpses into the life of the College in its earliest days. Uncovering the details contained within each roll has been a challenging and rewarding task undertaken by three trainees.

The Supper at Emmaus

In the Ambulatory, at the east end of the Chapel, hangs an unheralded treasure: a seventeenth- century tapestry version of Titian’s painting ‘The Supper at Emmaus’, woven at the Mortlake Tapestry Factory.

Mapping the unknown

This seventeenth-century map of the Arctic Circle comes from Atlas Sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura by Gerardus Mercator, which can be loosely translated as ‘Atlas, or cosmographical meditations on the fabric of the world and the figure of the fabric’.

A Loyal Address on the Accession of Queen Victoria

One hundred and eighty years ago, on 20 June 1837, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent acceded to the throne of the United Kingdom as Queen Victoria.

Matilda of Wallingford

Matilda, the granddaughter of Wigod, the Saxon thegn or lord of Wallingford in Berkshire, was sufficiently wealthy and powerful to have her own seal for the authentication of documents, even after her marriage. One of the earliest examples of a ...

St George at St George’s

The feast day of the patron saint of England, and the saint after whom St George’s Chapel is named, falls on the 23rd April. Here in the Archives we have decided to take a look at the many depictions of ...

Henry VIII’s New Dotation

Maisters and brethren this day I have been w[ith] maist[er] Almosn[er] / and seen the kyngs wylle wherein he entendeth to mortesse / vi C li [£600] of termp[er]all londe. This is part of a letter written by Dean of ...

In the beginning was the Word

Upon the shelves of the Chapter Library an intriguing version of the New Testament can be found. From the outside the book is impressive: soft brown leather, tooled and stamped, and adorned with brass bosses, the tips of which have ...

The Old East End

This is the earliest known photograph of the inside of St George’s Chapel, dating from the mid-nineteenth century [SGC PH C.93a]. Although the east end is a familiar sight to many, this picture may look a little strange as the ...

An accurate description of the New World

In 1671 cartographer and bookseller, John Ogilby, published America, being an accurate description of the New World.[1] Ogilby’s book was in fact an English translation of a monumental work on North and South America by Dutch writer Montanus with the addition of ...

Developing St George's School

This photograph, taken in 1894, shows some of the first pupils and teachers of the recently expanded St George’s School outside their new premises at Travers’ College. Up until the late nineteenth century, the main focus of the choir school ...

The first College seal

In 1352, the first official statutes of the College of St George required the Warden [Dean] and Canons of Windsor to have a common seal. A seal (an impression made in wax from the engraved seal matrix) was to be ...

Dean Marc Antony de Dominis

Marc Antony de Dominis arrived in England from Croatia in 1616, having abandoned a successful career in the Roman Catholic Church where he had been a bishop and, from 1602, Archbishop of Split. However, de Dominis had disliked the interference ...

Sir Jeffry Wyatville

August 3rd 2016 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of the architect Sir Jeffry Wyatville. As the pictured ledger stone indicates, Wyatville was buried in St George’s Chapel on February 25th 1840; a fitting resting place for one who contributed greatly to ...

Schorn Tower Inscription

The Schorn Tower, which rises above the south-east corner of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, contains a spiral staircase leading to two tower rooms currently used for storage. On climbing the stairs one passes a niche on the right, formerly ...

Points of Punctuation

Where now we might mark an important section in a text with an asterisk, or strike through it with a highlighter pen, medieval scribes and scholars often used a much more artistic approach. Here in the margin of one of ...

The missing will of Canon Oxenbridge

Within St George’s Chapel, Windsor, are several chantry chapels. These side-chapels, accessed from the nave, the quire aisles and the crossing, were established in the 15th and early 16th centuries by individuals and families who wished to ensure that prayers would be ...

The Panel of Kings

This set of painted panels depicts four medieval royals: three kings and one Prince of Wales. They are each dressed in parliament robes of blue scattered with gold fleur-de-lis and red mantles lined with ermine. Each stands on a pedestal ...

Stallplate of James, 4th Duke of Hamilton

The stallplate of James, 4th Duke of Hamilton, is found amongst the many hundreds of stallplates that adorn the quire of St George’s Chapel. These stallplates seem like jewelled windows, providing brief glimpses into the history of the Order of the ...

A musical burlesque

Under the direction of Sir Walter Parratt, Organist at St George’s Chapel from 1882 to 1942, choristers were expected to work hard to produce the exacting standard of music expected of them in the Chapel. However, even in the Victorian ...

New Year 1889

The St George’s Chapel Archives holds a collection of Chapter bills from the eighteenth and nineteenth century. These record sums of money paid for works done in the College, such as bricklaying and carpentry, and for the provision of services, ...

The Adoration of the Magi

This scene, the Adoration of the Magi, may be found depicted in stained glass in the great east window of St George’s Chapel. Designed and installed by Clayton and Bell in 1862-1863, the window was intended as a lasting memorial ...

Not the Henry VI Helm

The helm depicted in this drawing hangs by the grave of King Henry VI in the South Quire Aisle of St George’s Chapel. In this plan, drawn up by Her Majesty’s Office of Works, Westminster, in November 1937, it is ...

The Knights of the Garter at Agincourt

Sir Thomas Erpingham was one of eleven Knights who had received the Garter before the Battle of Agincourt took place; whilst a further fifteen knights who had served in the battle were appointed to the Order of the Garter after ...

The Mirrour of the World

When I first saw this image in the prologue to The Mirrour of the World [SGC RBK M.239] printed by William Caxton in 1480 I thought that the seated figure surrounded by eager readers could be the perfect embodiment of Caxton himself, ...

The Herbert Chantry Chapel

Lady Elizabeth Herbert was buried in St George’s Chapel in around 1507. She had been a ward of King Henry VII as a young woman when, after her father’s death in 1490, she inherited his barony and extensive lands in ...

Sir Winston Churchill's Garter stall plates

2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill KG. As customary on the death of a Knight of the Garter, Churchill’s Garter achievements (banner crest, helm and sword) were removed from his Garter stall in St George’s ...

Veterans of the Battle of Waterloo

Between July 1830 and April 1882 one hundred men were admitted to the post of Military Knight of Windsor. Exactly one fifth of these men were veterans of the battle of Waterloo, the famous victory of the United Kingdom and ...

An impartial collection of the great affairs of state

An impartial collection of the great affairs of state, from the beginning of the Scotch rebellion in…MDCXXXIX. to the murther of…Charles I… is the major work of John Nalson (c.1638-1686), an English clergyman, historian and political pamphleteer. The first volume of ...

King George III in 1820

This remarkable engraving of King George III as an old man by Charles Turner [SGC F.155] was produced using mezzotint – a smoother, more refined printing process to create tones than the earlier, clumsier method of cross-hatching and dots. Published ...

Wolsey's angels

In 1524, Thomas Wolsey, who had served as a Canon at St George’s from 1511 to 1514, commissioned the great Italian Renaissance sculptor, Benedetto da Rovezzano, to construct a magnificent tomb for him. Work was well underway by the time ...

Workmen of the 1920s restoration

This photograph shows a number of workmen from the firm John Thompson & Sons Ltd. outside St George’s Chapel in the late 1920s. A major repair contract was issued to Thompson & Sons in 1920 for the restoration work that ...

A 16th century view of Windsor Castle

This 16th century engraving, which was included in Braun and Hogenberg’s Civitatis Orbis Terrarum Volume II (Cologne, 1575), has recently been acquired by the Friends of St George’s and Descendants of the Knights of the Garter for St George’s Chapel Archives and ...

The Gilebertus Door

The Gilebertus door has been standing since the mid-thirteenth century and is one of the few surviving parts of the earliest chapel at Windsor Castle. The east wall of the present St George’s Chapel was originally constructed as the west ...

Bonfire Night 1770s

On 5 November, sometime in the 1770s, crowds gathered in the Lower and Middle Wards of Windsor Castle to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night. The occasion, presumably an annual one, was captured by influential English watercolourist, Paul Sandby, in a lively ...

The Denton Black Book

This illuminated manuscript is the opening page to a two-volume work known as the Denton Black Book [SGC IV.B.2 & 3]. As with the similarly named Black Book of the Garter, the name refers to the colour of the books’ ...

The seal of Sir William de Dive

This month’s ‘Image of the month’ features a fine 13th century wax seal depicting an armed knight on horseback which was used to authenticate a conveyance of land in Deddington, Oxfordshire [SGC XV.32.1]. The name of the conveyancer, William de Dive, ...

A Tale of Two Lay Clerks

Both the subject and the artist of this etching [SGC F.120/a] were lay clerks at St George’s Chapel. It may be assumed that Stephen Heather and Josiah French would have known one another well, as the final ten years of ...

William Vertue’s contract of 1511

In 1511 Henry VIII was involved in the drawing up of an agreement between Dean West and master mason William Vertue for the vaulting of the Lady Chapel at Windsor and the completion of the exterior, including the buttresses, battlements ...

Prince George's Notebook

Between 1879 and 1882, His Royal Highness Prince George of Wales served as a midshipman on-board HMS Bacchante, an ironclad screw-propelled corvette of the Royal Navy. These images are taken from the notebook that he kept during a voyage at sea ...

An interesting discovery in the Deanery

During the current restoration of the Deanery, several archaeological finds have been discovered under the floor boards. One of the most interesting is the 17th century trade token featured here as ‘Image of the month’. Dating from 1669, it was issued by ...

Katherine of Aragon's Book

The Chapter Library of St George’s College is home to approximately 6000 rare books, which have been collected by the Deans and Canons of Windsor over the centuries since the College’s foundation in 1348. The library’s contents cover an enormous ...

The Ancient Society of College Youths

In the Curfew Tower (formerly known as the Clewer Tower or Julius Caesar Tower) there is a peal board erected to commemorate a visit by the Ancient Society of College Youths on 10 April 1787. Grandsire is one of the ...

From sitting room to strongroom in the blink of an eye

Sir Walter Parratt was an organist and composer who served as Organist in St George’s Chapel for forty-two years. During that period he and his wife, Emma, lived below the Vicars’ Hall in No. 12 The Cloisters: the building which ...

The 1729 Great Haseley Estate Survey

On 20 March 1478 Elizabeth Woodville, Queen Consort of Edward IV, granted the manor of Great Haseley in Oxfordshire to the College of St George, together with the manors of Bassetsbury and Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire and Pyrton in Oxfordshire, and ...

Adoration of the Magi, Beryl Dean

This tapestry is one of a set of five commissioned from Beryl Dean by the Dean and Canons of Windsor to hang in the Rutland Chantry. When she began the project in 1969, Miss Dean was initially given two years ...

Dean Christopher Wren

Photographed by Dr John Crook. Copyright: The Dean and Canons of Windsor This fine portrait of Christopher Wren (1589-1659) is one of a series of portraits which usually hangs in the Deanery (currently under refurbishment) of some of the most renowned ...

William, Count of Ostrevant KG

The fascinating story of how the 82nd Knight of the Garter came to be nominated in 1390 during the period of a truce in the Hundred Years War can be read in Froissart’s Chronicles. It is also mentioned in the entry ...

Captain Nicholas Burgh

Housed in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is a portrait by Cornelis de Neve of an elderly gentleman wearing a red or Murrey gown and a dark blue, nearly black, mantle embroidered with the shield of St George. These represent the Elizabethan ...

F.G. Minter and the King’s Beasts

This photograph [SGC PH ROB.21/2] taken by Robert Burns Robertson, Chapter Surveyor, from the top of the Schorn Tower in 1925, shows part of the St George’s Chapel roof with the newly reinstated King’s Beasts adorning the parapets. Looking north-west ...

The Rise of the Antiquarian

Housed in the Chapter Library are many volumes which would have appealed to those Canons who liked to think of themselves as antiquaries, individuals involved in the study of antiquities. Numerous books on coins, local history, genealogy and ancient monuments ...

The Coronation Choir, 1953

The coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953 involved a lot of preparation for St George’s Chapel, despite the fact that it would take place in Westminster Abbey. The lay clerks and choristers were to form part ...

Seal of William Mugge

William Mugge or Mudge was appointed Warden of the College of St George, Windsor Castle, in 1349, the second cleric to hold the post after the foundation of the College in 1348. He was to serve in this office (subsequently renamed ...

Edward IV

This portrait of Edward IV, taken from the Black Book of the Order of the Garter, shows him as a true king, strong, powerful, and ready for battle. It is in stout contrast to the image of Henry VI, the Lancastrian ...

St George and the Dragon

On 23rd April each year the Christian Church celebrates St George’s day. This festival has a special significance for St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, not only because it is named after the saint, but also because of the close association ...

Thomas Cromwell - Traitor

In 1537, Thomas Cromwell had it all going for him. From his humble beginnings, he was now Lord Privy Seal, one of the highest ranking government officials under Henry VIII. High in favour with the King due to his success in ...

The Amending of Life

Housed in the Chapter Library at Windsor is a fifteenth century manuscript copy of Emendatio vitae [The amending of life], a spiritual guide written by early fourteenth century author, Richard Rolle of Hampole. The volume containing this title [SGC LIB MS.1]* also includes ...

John Holloway, Belfry Keeper

Hanging in the Curfew Tower, the bell tower of St George’s Chapel, are a series of photographs of the bell ringers past and present. The oldest of these is this photograph, showing the bell ringers who worked for the chapel ...

Money not art

In 1869, when this Punch cartoon was published, the Dean and Canons of Windsor were embroiled in a lengthy dispute with the Board of Works about repairs and alterations to the west Castle wall during the restoration of the Horseshoe ...

A King is Born at Windsor

“Thus arm’d fierce Edward did his Troops advance Resolv’d to Wast ye Stubborne Realm of France But Gracious Heaven stops his enraged Hand And loudly pleads in Thunder for the Land Edward obeys his Great Creator’s Will To yield to ...

Henry Fitzroy, son of Henry VIII

Henry Fitzroy, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII by his mistress, Elizabeth Blount, was born in 1519. Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir John Blount, had come to the King’s notice as a lady-in-waiting to his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. In ...

Oliver Cromwell's Ordinance

On 30th January 1649, King Charles I was beheaded at Whitehall and England became a Republic. At the time, what did this fundamental moment symbolise for not only Windsor Castle but the College of St George? Windsor Castle had been ...

Royal Arms of Philip and Mary

On the front of Mary Tudor Tower, the Governor of the Military Knights’ house in the Lower Ward of Windsor Castle, can be seen a carved panel displaying the arms of Philip II and Mary I. Such representations are rare since ...

The 1908 London Games

The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens on 6th April 1896, and one of the main events was the marathon, commemorating the legendary run by Pheidippides from Marathon to Athens to announce victory in battle. The 1908 Games ...

Garter Day 1948

In 1948, as one of several events to mark the six-hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the Most Honourable Order of the Garter and of its spiritual arm, the College of St George, a service of installation was held at St ...

The Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer is a central part of the Christian faith as practised by the Church of England. It is used in over 50 countries and in over 150 different languages. This year sees its 350th anniversary. During the 16th century, England ...

Mrs Coade's Stone

Between 1780 and 1790 a major refurbishment of St George’s Chapel took place under the direction of Henry Emlyn, largely funded by George III. As part of these works, Emlyn, originally trained as a carpenter, designed a new organ screen ...

The marriage of the Prince of Wales

This glorious print is one of a series showing the elaborate preparations for the wedding of the Prince of Wales, only the fifth to have taken place since the creation of the title, and the first at Windsor since 1361. ...

A Welcome Return

On 13 September 1867, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England removed in the region of four thousand documents from St George’s Chapel to their offices in central London. Almost a century later, on 23 July 1963, they were returned to their original ...

Popey-heads in the Quire

The woodwork of the Quire of St George’s Chapel was carved from oak between 1477 and 1484 to form part of the decoration in the newly constructed chapel of Edward IV. Aside from scenes taken from literature and proverbs, there are ...

Edward III, 1312-1377

Edward III was born in Windsor Castle on 13 November 1312, the first son of Edward II and Isabella of France. He became King on the formal deposition of his father on 25 January 1327. He ruled for the next ...

Springinklee’s Nativity

This unusual depiction of the Christmas Nativity scene may be found in an illustrated Bible held in the Chapter Library (RBK B.210). Published in Lyon, France, in 1527 by Jacques Mareschal, this Latin version of the Bible (traditionally known as the ...

The King's Head

Charles I was beheaded on a scaffold outside the Banqueting House at Whitehall on Tuesday, 30 January 1649, and was buried in a vault under the Quire of St George’s Chapel, Windsor, on 7 February 1649. This much is accepted as ...

To elect a Pope

Housed in the Chapter Library is one of the most unusual items held in the collections of St George’s Chapel. Brought back from Italy by Walter Harte, Canon of Windsor 1750-1754, it is a bound volume of the daily scrutiny ...

Sir Reginald Bray KG

When Sir Reginald (or Reynold) Bray died on 5 August 1503, the present St George’s Chapel, commenced by Edward IV in 1475, remained unfinished. Although the Quire had been built and fitted out with magnificent carved woodwork, the walls of the ...

On acupuncture

This volume is the earliest detailed report on Chinese and Japanese medicine to be written by a European. Meaning ‘to prick with a needle’, the word acupuncture was coined by Willem ten Rhyne, a Dutch physician who was responsible for ...

Letters from the Western Front

In 1910 Arthur Stafford Crawley (subsequently Canon of Windsor, 1934-1948) had been appointed to a chaplaincy and to the living of Bishopthorpe by Cosmo Gordon Lang, the Archbishop of York. In 1915 the Archbishop gave him leave to volunteer with the ...

Musical Archives

From its foundation in 1348 under Edward III music, through the daily observance of the Divine Liturgy, has played a key role in the life and character of the College of St George. The College Statutes of 1352 provided for ...

Comic Pantomime

This lithograph by John Doyle, a popular political cartoonist, dates from the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign. Depicted as an inn keeper, the young queen welcomes four pantomime characters into her castle at Windsor, which has been renamed the ...

History of the Reformation

Housed in the Chapter Library is a copy of Gilbert Burnet’s masterly work on the Reformation of the Church of England [SGC RBK B.494]. Published between 1679 and 1715, it was for many years the classic account of the changes that ...

Restore or rebuild

In 1867, the Dean and Canons agreed to employ part of the sum they received from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in compensation for the loss of their estates to establish a ‘Fabric Fund’. Their first project was to be the rebuilding ...

Henry Emlyn, an uncommon genius

Henry Emlyn has been described as “an uncommon genius” to whom “posterity will be much indebited”. His restoration work on the chapel during the late 18th century blends seamlessly with the medieval, capturing the spirit of the original creators and ...

The Cross Gneth

This beautifully carved and brightly coloured roof boss, to be found in the easternmost bay of the South Quire Aisle, depicts one of St George’s Chapel’s most famous relics, the Cross Gneth.Kneeling on either side of this Celtic cross are ...

Christmas Charities

Records in St George’s Chapel Archives concerning the Dean and Canons’ local charities in the mid to late 19th century show a great commitment to alleviating poverty in Windsor, particularly during the festive periods. With the absence of any state welfare, ...

The Wolsey Chapel

The small chapel to the east of St George’s Chapel, currently the Albert Memorial Chapel, has been referred to by a number of different names over the centuries, one being ‘Wolsey’s Chapel’, as shown on the nineteenth century plan above ...

Ye heavenward bound ship

Lieutenant Charles Okes was buried in the catacombs of St Georges’ Chapel on the 12th May 1860. On the 17th September of that year, his brother Richard, Provost of King’s College Cambridge, wrote to Chapter requesting permission to erect a small ...

Dell' Arcano del Mare

When Sir Robert Dudley’s famous sea atlas Dell’ Arcano del Mare (‘On the Mystery of the Sea’) was published in Italy in 1646-1647, its author was over seventy years old. Written in Italian and illustrated by Antonio Francesco Lucini with over 200 engraved ...

Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia

Across the centuries the Knights of the Garter have included in their number many intriguing characters and historically influential figures; however, Haile Selassie I, who was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930 at the Cathedral of St George in Addis ...

Worn-out shoe

On 28 April 1854, Henry John Ellison married Mary Dorothy Jebb. The event was commemorated in this humorous account by Richard Jebb with illustrations by Lucy Blomfield, one of the bridesmaids. At the time, Henry was the Vicar of Edensor, ...

E.H. Fellowes, clergyman, musician & scholar

Edmund Horace Fellowes CH MVO, clergyman, musical scholar and historian, served as Minor Canon of Windsor for over fifty years, from 1900 to his death in 1951, the only Minor Canon to have served in that office under five Sovereigns. A ...

Catherine Room Wall Paintings

It is difficult to believe that the spectacular wall paintings which adorn the Catherine Room were rediscovered only in 1965. During reconstruction work on the College’s domestic buildings, the remains of a painted frieze appeared under the limewash on three walls ...

Leapfrog in the Library

There has been a library at the College of St George since its establishment in 1348. The Chapter Library has been added to over the centuries by members of the College and is now cared for with the College Archives. The ...

Earl of Clarendon's Injunctions

The arms of Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, adorn the first letter of his injunctions as Lord Chancellor following his visitation of St George’s Chapel on 7 October 1662. Issued in London on 10 June 1663, the illuminated instructions to ...

The Oldest Chorister

This is one of three sketch designs for the brass memorial plate to John Mitchell, lay clerk, by A.Y. Nutt, Chapter Surveyor from 1873-1912, who designed six monuments for the chapel. This one can be found on the wall of the ...

Sir George Job Elvey

Sir George Job Elvey was Organist and Master of the Choristers at St George’s Chapel for forty-seven years, from 1835 to 1882, making him one of the longest serving Organists in the Chapel’s history. This image shows Sir George Job Elvey ...

The Old Dean

Published in “Vanity Fair” in 1876, this Spy cartoon, entitled “The Old Dean”, depicts the Honourable and Very Reverend Gerald Valerian Wellesley, Dean of Windsor, in a wintry scene. Armed with a walking stick and (folded) umbrella he trudges through the ...

The Nativity Image

In September 1959, the Dean and Canons were contacted by Miss St Leger Forrest, who believed that her great great grandfather had painted certain windows in St George’s Chapel (SGC CL 17/3 (26)). She described him as an artist in the ...

Pirates of the Caribbean

This image is taken from a rare book held in the Chapter Library at Windsor. It was printed in 1684 and is entitled Bucaniers of America: Or, a True Account of the Most Remarkable Assaults Committed of late Years upon the ...

Benjamin West, Monarch of Mediocrity

271 years ago this month, on 10 October 1738, the celebrated eighteenth century painter Benjamin West was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania. Historical painter to George III and Surveyor of the King’s Pictures for many years, Benjamin West had first come ...

The Charitable Gift of Sir Francis Crane

This printed seventeenth century broadsheet held in the St George’s Chapel Archives and Chapter Library (SGC XI.H.11) describes the twists and turns of a long running legal dispute concerning Sir Francis Crane’s bequest to the Poor Knights of Windsor. From ...

Elizabeth I's Statutes for the Poor Knights

This year has witnessed numerous events hosted to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the accession of Henry VIII, including an exhibition hosted by the Royal Collection in Windsor Castle. This month sees the anniversary of another event of great importance for the history ...

The Curfew Tower

At the western end of Windsor Castle stands the Curfew Tower, the belfry of the College of St George. With walls 13 feet thick at the base and standing 100 feet high, it was built between 1227 and 1230 as part ...

Ladies of the Garter

When Edward III founded the Order of the Garter in 1348 or thereabouts, he confined membership of the exclusive chivalric fraternity to twenty-six – the King and twenty-five loyal Knights who had distinguished themselves in battle. Despite the exclusively male nature ...

The Martyrdom of St Stephen

The Hastings Chantry Chapel, built within St George’s Chapel on the north side of the Quire behind the stalls, contains four paintings depicting scenes from the life and death of St Stephen. Each painting is about four feet in height, ...

Henry VIII's Tomb

Henry VIII had grandiose plans for his tomb at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, which were outlined in a document entitled ‘The manner of the Tombe to be made for the Kings Grace at Windsor’.* No expense was to be spared ...

A.Y. Nutt, Chapter Surveyor

Alfred Young Nutt was born on 5 May 1847 at Barrow on the Hill, Leicestershire, the youngest of 15 children. He left school at 14 to become an architectural pupil with an architect and surveyor in Leicester, where he met ...

Schorn Book of Hours

This intricately decorated illuminated manuscript known as the Schorn Book of Hours, written around 1430-1450, contains a collection of texts, prayers and psalms for Christian worship. Books of Hours are the most commonly extant form of late medieval illuminated manuscript. ...

The Stall Plates

Some 800 stall plates adorn the stalls of the Quire, with the earliest, that of Ralph, Lord Basset of Drayton dating from c.1390. Their original function was not to indicate the occupant of the stall (done by the helm and crest); ...

Foxe's Book of Martyrs Image of the month

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs In 1563 John Foxe published his Acts and Monuments, popularly known as the Book of Martyrs. In doing so, Foxe recorded the martyrdom of John Marbeck, one of St. George’s most famous organists. Or did he? ...

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