ABSTRACT
The Stained Glass War Memorial Windows of Charles
William Kelsey
Shirley May Baird
Charles William Kelsey (1877-1975) trained in England and
emigrated to Montreal in 1922. His stained glass designs can be found in England,
Australia, the United States and in over sixty-eight churches in Canada. This thesis
focuses on his war memorial windows commissioned between 1921 and 1956. Forty-two windows
were studied: ten memorials for World War I, twenty-two memorials for World War II and ten
memorials for both World Wars. Research is divided into three main areas: how Kelsey
developed his reputation as a stained glass artist in Canada, the influences of the
English stained glass revival of the late nineteenth century that are found in his designs
and the choice of themes incorporated into his war memorial windows. Since his main
patrons were the Anglican and United Churches, these windows also provide examples of the
prevailing taste in religious memorials and demonstrate the variety of accepted and
recognized symbols and subjects for war memorial windows.
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