The History of the Sketches

How these sketches came into the possession of John Collins is a story in itself. William Glasby died in 1941 and his work was continued by his two daughters (Barbara and Dulcima) and Danks and Blackford. Neither daughter married, nor had children. When Dulcima died in a nursing home on 22 March 1975 there were many sketches and documents found in the attic and most were destroyed. But the Vidimus were saved but there appears to be some dispute over the ownership of the Glasby papers.

In her Will, [1] Dulcima, who had outlived her sister Barbara, gave instructions to her Executors to distribute her possessions as they saw fit, with the residue of the Estate left to " ... my very good friend Mrs. G. Colgate..."

We presume the Executors gave the Glasby papers to Lucie Bishop, who was associated with the Henfield Museum, East Sussex. Lucie Bishop donated some of the papers, drawings sketches to local churches, and the Peachtree Church in Atlanta, and to the Henfield Museum. The remainder of the papers and the cartoons Lucie gave to Dorothy Chalmers.

Lucie Bishop lived with Dorothy and her husband, and their child Diana at “High Dene” on the main street of Henfield. When Lucie died Dorothy moved from High Dene to Hove Park Villas, Hove. On Dorothy’s death, the cartoons passed to her daughter, Diana, via her Will. Diana subsequently left her possessions in her Will to her husband, John Collins.

Why was there a dispute?

There was some dispute over the ownership of the Glasby’s papers and the cartoons after Dulcima’s death. In the archive owned by John Collins there is a letter, dated August 1975, written by Mr H.N. Colgate, who was the son of the housekeeper of Barbara and Dulcima. In this letter, written on behalf of his mother, Mr Colgate argued that Lucie Bishop should only take a few cartoons, to keep as a memento, and also to be used in a proposed exhibition of Henfield inhabitants. The rest, he argued, should go to his mother.

Mr Colgate differentiates between “pictures” drawn by Dulcima and Barbara which should go to Lucie Bishop, as a memento of their friendship and the remainder the pictures and sketches and cartoons, the work of William Glasby, which should be given to his mother.

The rest of his letter explains how the different works can be identified. We know that William Glasby left everything in his Will to his wife Constance, and thereafter to his two daughters.

In September 2024 we received an email from Polly Warren, from Peachtree Church in Atlanta. Polly told us of a letter in the Peachtree archives, written by Hugh Colgate on 6 May 1975, shortly after Dulcima's death. In the letter Hugh Colgate states that his mother was good friends with the Glasby sisters, and his mother had in her possession the original water colour sketches and black and white drawings of the Peachtree commission. The letter asks if Peachtree - the church or members of the congregation - would be interested in buying any of the sketches.

All of the sketches in John Collins’ collection are drawn by William Glasby. They have a return address on the back of the design. For a period of time this appears to be a commercial address used by Glasby. But it allows us to place the dates of the sketches. Unfortunately the commercial order books for Glasby’s independent work are lost and it is not known how many commission’s Glasby undertook.

Hugh Colgate appears to have created the List of Vidimus we have used in this website. It may have been created earlier because in 1945 Barbara and Dulcima attempted to create a list of Glasby sketches, finding that many had been lost, usually because churches had not returned the draft Vidimus. A handwritten notebook of their work was at Henfield Museum when Donald Green visited but it is not there now.

Green et al (2008) provide a list of Glasby’s known work at the end of their 2008 Article. But our research and the John Collins’ archive shows that Glasby was even more prolific than was suggested.

The V & A museum has two cartoons. [2] In his letter of August 1975, Mr Colgate mentions that he has arranged for two representatives from the V & A to visit in October 1975 to discuss the Glasby Collection, but presumably this did not happen, or the V & A were not interested, given that there are only two examples of Glasby’s work in the V & A. There is a box of documents at the V & A dated 1975 and one of these documents refers to a solicitor's letter being sent disputing the ownership of the Glasby sketches.

Some designs have come to auction, for example in 2017 Christies sold two designs for “Day and Night”. [3].These realised £10,000. We were intrigued as to why the price was so high, was it because the Windows are now in the New York Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)? Christie’s suggested that the price realised for stained glass reflected the aesthetic value.

In 2020 Bonhams offered for sale “Three Nativity Studies and a pencil sketch” by William Glasby. [4] Tese could be sketches for Christmas cards.

The Henfield Museum in East Sussex also has a small collection of thirty- two sketches and some larger cartoons and other documents relating to the Glasbys. [5] Horsham Museum also has a collection of sketches. [5]

But the collection held by John Collins is the largest in the world.

The aim of the research project was to see if we could discover more about the history of the sketches and the final commissions. Our first enquiry was to track down how many of the commissions still existed. The majority of the sketches have details of the commission, as well as the return address for William Glasby, written on the back.

A second line of enquiry was to fill in the background detail of the Windows: who commissioned or paid for them. By engaging in this research project we hope to shed more light on the history of commissions for stained glass windows and to build upon the initial research of Green et al (2008).

We are conscious of how much the internet has helped us in our research. Donald Green made several lists of Glasby Windows, attempting also to identify Windows painted by Glasby for Holiday and Morris & Co. While he would have had the benefit of the notebook made by Barbara and Dulcima he does not appear to have seen the list made by Mr Colgate, or to have made contact with Lucie Bishop or Dorothy and Diana Chalmers.

Our research was achieved by tracking down the churches or memorials on the internet and sending emails, or Facebook Messages.

We are very grateful to all the people working in the churches for their replies and help, especially during the difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notes

[1] There is a copy of the Will in the John Collins' archive. Dulcima died on 22 March 1975, Probate was granted for an estate worth £1164 on 29 May 1975 [750506312A, Brighton]. Her address was: Kentwyns, Blackgate Lane, Henfield, East Sussex.

[2] Design for a twenty- four light stained- glass window at St Mart the Virgin, Stebbing, Essex by William Glasby. 1925: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O550564/design-for-stained-glasby-william/ Design for a lancet window by William Glasby. 'Exhibited at the RA 1903. To be returned to William Glasby, 12 Edwardes Square Kensington W.8.' and very faint and scored out '7 Clarendon Road, Putney'. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O550565/design-for-stained-glasby-william/

[3] William Glasby (1863-1941) christies.com

The windows are in MOMA, New York, Designed and executed by William Glasby | Day (one of a pair) | British | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)

[4] 10 https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/25943/lot/11

[5] We discovered the existence of these sketches through an internet search

A Stained Present | Horsham Museum

The cartoons were displayed in an exhibition at Horsham Museum in 2000 on Churches.

(c) Erika Szyszczak, 22 June 2021. (c) Update 12 March 2026.