St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church, Gosberton.
Who was Doctor Wilson, and why is he honoured with a stained glass window in the church?
Dr. Alexander Sweet Wilson, a Glaswegian, was Gosberton’s Doctor for 40 years. He died at the age of 69 in 1959. Nationally, he had served for many years as a member of the Joint Medical Services Committee of the British Medical Association (B.M.A.), and was for some time secretary of the Lincolnshire branch of the B.M.A. He was also a member of various health-related committees in the District.
He was an active member of the Gosberton branch of the British Legion and was appointed president in 1956. No wonder, then, that when he died in 1959 a memorial service in his honour at St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church was crowded to capacity. Such was the esteem in which he was held, that a window in the South Aisle was re-glazed in his memory. It is a fine work of stained glass in the gothic tradition, containing the following inscription:
“Remember in prayer with thanksgiving the soul of ALEXANDER SWEET WILSON physician in these parts for forty years who died the sixteenth of August 1959. R.I.P.”
Who is the figure featured in the stained glass?
In commemoration of Dr. Wilson, the stained glass in the window features medical symbolism and references. The figure is that of Saint Luke, thought to have been a physician by trade, and shown here carrying a book and a pen (quill), typical symbols (or ‘attributes’) depicted in artworks of him. At his feet is the symbol of a snake coiling around a staff, commonly used to represent medicine.
It is pleasing to see the ancient craft of creating stained glass windows is still being practiced, with equal skill to those of the craftsmen of old. Long may this skill be preserved.
